how much online screening should companies do on potential employees during the recruitment process? it's an increasingly valid question now that so many of us have an online presence
The Chartered Institute of Professional Development (CIPD) has produced a guide to what constitutes good practice for employers conducting pre-employment checks on job applicants.
While it goes beyond simple online research into a candidate's background, it does look into how far employers should actually go in using social media checks in support of the recruitment process. It is a growing issue: recent research conducted by the CIPD showed that two out of five employers look at job applicants' online activity or profiles on sites such as Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn at the recruitment stage.
In a recent separate survey by Acas, 45% of those involved in hiring staff said they were already using social media tools in recruitment, including screening candidates by viewing their profiles, and around 40% said they would make greater use of them in the future.
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Vetting a candidate's online activity is not unlawful, but employers need to be careful they are not basing recruitment decisions on discriminatory factors – for example, age, race, sex, religion, sexual orientation and political beliefs. The law on discrimination applies equally to online as well as offline vetting.
The CIPD's guide addresses this and other issues that recruiters need to consider. It says they should consider applying a set of principles if they wish to access a candidate's social media profile. These include:
• distinguishing between private and professional social media – so LinkedIn is legitimate, but a private Facebook is not.
• not discriminating online in the same way they wouldn't offline.
• a candidates' profile should not be used for a "trawling exercise", as opposed to a search for specific information directly relevant to the job.
• a candidate should be informed at the outset if online sources may be used to collect information about them.
• an opportunity should be provided to the applicant to respond to material findings if their online profile has formed part of the decision process.
• employers should develop a clear policy towards the use of social media in recruitment.