Social Media Screening Do’s and Don’ts for Recruiters

Social media screening is a great way for companies to learn more about the candidates they are looking at to hire for a position. There also are some downfalls when it comes to social media screening and it’s crucial for recruiters to be aware of these downfalls, so it doesn’t affect the company.

Social media screenings are the act of a company looking through a person’s social media accounts especially their LinkedIn’s. LinkedIn is generally used as an online resume by most and is a great platform for companies to see that person’s recommendations, previous jobs, and previous job duties. Not only are recruiters able to gather all this information but they are also able to learn people’s interests, groups they follow, posts they liked, etc. The recruiters really can get a feel for who the candidates are through their social presence.

Where recruiters can get in a sticky situation when it comes to social media screenings is if they start ruling candidates out for age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion, or sexual orientation – in other words discriminating these candidates. This can turn into a major compliance issue. Recruiters need to remember while social media screening not to just go for what’s familiar or common to them in all aspects including interests as well. Recruiters should be doing these screenings with the focus being about finding job related information.