Social Networking and Recruiting

Recruiting and Social Networking Jennifer Castro July 13, 2009 BUS-512 M72 Employment Law WARNING: Social networking can be hazardous to your job search.

What is social networking?
is a social networking website with an interactive, user-
submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups,
music, & photos.
is a free-access social networking website that allows users to join
networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to
connect and interact with other people. People can also add friends
and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to
notify friends about themselves.
is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share
videos, and view them in MPEG-4 format.
is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables
its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets.

How are employers using social networking sites?
41.2% “Google” a candidate’s name
Is it really that candidate?
Imposters online
Viewing social profiles to see if candidate would fit into the culture.
Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, etc..
Viewing YouTube videos that the candidate has posted
To determine if candidate participates in illegal activities.

What can be seen?
Protected class info
Race, color, sex, creed, national origin
Other info
Sexual orientation (protected in some states), disabilities, and political views
Posted photos
May be incriminating or not favorable
Online ranting or blog postings
Twitter’s “What are you doing?”

How are employers using online info?
Disqualifying candidates based on photos posted on social profiles
Disqualifying candidates based on what a candidate is saying online
Complaints about the workplace
Political or religious views
Possible discrimination on protected classes
Potentially dishonest, judgmental HR managers that actually use this information to base hiring decisions

Is it legal to view social profiles?
Various state privacy laws that protect off duty conduct of employees, but not much to protect applicants
Currently no cases have been decided on discrimination using social profiles so far
Is expected to start happening in the future
Yes, it is legal to view social profiles
Not legal to discriminate, but hard to prove

Examples of use:
Email example:
Applicant applied for a job to mentor children
Was disqualified solely based on her email address
Address made it clear would not be a good fit
Bozeman City, Montana
Has all city applicants provide their usernames and passwords as part of their background check policy
So far all applicants have complied
MySpace example
Highly qualified candidate’s MySpace profile was viewed by hiring manager
She chose another candidate based on what she saw on his profile (love of violent films, sexual exploits)

What are the experts advising?
Some recommend searching social networking sites
Inexpensive
Easy to use
High availability
Can judge if someone would be a good fit for the company’s culture
Some recommend not using social networking sites
Hiring managers should base hiring decisions on qualifications
Is it really a morally right thing to do?

Using social networks to recruit
Employers can create their own profiles on sites to post jobs
Helps advertise and promote the business
LinkedIn
40 million professionals networking
Recruiter can contact people in their network to find a specific candidate
Post recruitment videos on YouTube
Why the candidates would want to work for the company
Google
U.S. Military
TweetMyJobs.com
Jobs are sent to candidates phones via text through Twitter

Recommendations
If searching social networking profiles, at least let the candidate know about it
Part of background check policy
If base hiring decisions on what is seen, document a non-discriminatory reason for rejecting the candidate
Have a uniform hiring system so all applicants are treated fairly
Make sure to have company policies regarding the use of protected class information
When in doubt, seek legal counsel
For Job Seekers— DO NOT POST SOMETHING YOU DO NOT WANT A POTENTIAL EMPLOYER TO SEE!

ANY QUESTIONS??

Social Networking and Recruiting

by hrjennifer on Sep 21, 2009

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Social Networking and Recruiting — Presentation Transcript