A section from CIPD shown briefly

1. CIPD’s Pre-
Employment Checks
Section: Using Social Media to Support
Recruitment

2. Not all information found from the web is
always accurate. In light of this, responsible
organisations should allow candidates to
respond to any information obtained.
Organisations should then take account of
migrating facts or explanations of
inaccuracies before withdrawing offers.

3. Avoiding legal challenges, candidates should
be made aware by employers that searches
will be conducted in the early stages of the
process.
Employers must ensure to target finding
information relevant to the conclusion of
whether or not to employ the candidate.

4. Employers need to consider the Employment
Practices Data Protection Code 2002 when
using social media for recruitment processes.
The code deals with the impact of data
protection laws on the employment
relationship.
Employers should bare in mind the law on
discrimination equally applies to online and
offline checks – including interviews.

5. It’s unclear how far a ‘right to privacy’ applies
in terms of social media making it difficult to
lay down rules for employers.
However, in the EU and US, law and practice
is more restrictive than the UK. It’s easy to
assume the UK will head in this direction
also.

6. References:
Personnel, C.I. of and 2016, D. (2013) Pre-employment
checks for employers | guides. Available from:
https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/emp-
law/recruitment/pre-employment-checks-guide [Accessed
25 November 2016].
(2011) The employment practices code. Available from:
https://ico.org.uk/media/for-
organisations/documents/1064/the_employment_practice
s_code.pdf [Accessed 25 November 2016].