Why HR & Social Media Don't Mix

You may have been told that "everyone" is using Facebook as a screening tool. This may have been true for a short time, but the HR profession has thought twice about the risky practice.

In 2011, a SHRM study found that 71% of HR managers surveyed said their organization had never used or had discontinued using social networking websites to screen job candidates due to the legal risk of revealing protected characteristics, such as age, race, religious affiliation, and marital/family status. Survey respondents were also concerned about the reliability of the information found on social media sites, as well as the lack of relevance to work-related potential or past performance of the candidates.

You have probably seen those lists of interview questions NOT to ask prospective employees. They read something like:

• How many kids do you have?
• How do you spend your Sunday mornings?
• How old are you?
• Do you have any medical issues?
• Etc.

See what the NLRB says...

Now think of the kinds of information people disclose on their Facebook pages. They typically include things like:

• How many kids they have.
• How they spend their Sunday mornings.
• How old they are.
• Full summaries of their medical issues.
• Etc.

Remember, it doesn't matter if you are just "taking a peek" or don't end up using the protected information in making a hiring decision. Merely looking at a job applicant's site is enough to raise a  presumption that your hiring decision was influenced by the content of the site — after all, why else would you have looked in the first place? And remember, you can't unsee what you've seen.