Social media viewing during an interview?

Thought for the day - have you actually asked a candidate during an interview whether you could view their social media profiles there and then? Hope you find the following article of interest.

Do you take social media into account when hiring?

The job of an interviewer is already hard enough – making the wrong selection decision could have dramatic consequences for the business. It’s therefore only natural that any Hiring Manager will want to use all the tools at their disposal to help ensure they pick the right candidate.

When it comes to checking and/or researching a candidates’ background, traditional methods have included prior employment references, educational confirmation checks and even criminal record checking. However in today’s internet centric world, is it possible that a candidate’s profile or personal branding ‘appearance’ on internet blogs, virtual gaming profiles, podcasts and of course Facebook, Google+ and Twitter, can help you make your decision?

We’re guessing that the vast majority of interviewers would say yes to that question, but doesn’t this raise  a number of other hotly contested questions? For example:

a)    Is it acceptable, or is it even legal, for interviewers to ask direct questions about a candidate’s social media interaction? Might this be considered as ‘legalised stalking’? Does research of this nature provide information that contravenes the laws on age, sex and disability discrimination?
 

b)   Even if it is legal now, what is the morality of accessing someone’s personal details, which could include family and children’s photos?
 

c)   Are you actually allowed to ask to view a candidate’s profile during an interview? Who has?

d)   Who or what do you believe? On the face of it, a perfectly honest and respectable candidate would have nothing to hide in providing the interviewer with links to their social media activity. However, it’s not difficult to imagine a situation where a candidate may decide to have a ‘professional’ looking Facebook page to divert attention from the real person’s character on a more ‘private page. Not only that, but what if a candidate’s account had been hacked and populated with false information in an attempt to stop them from getting a particular job? Is the candidate profile open to misinterpretation?

e)   What does it say about a candidate if they do not have a social media profile and what conclusions can you make if the candidate refuses to give you access to social media activity? Surely refusing to provide details would be common on privacy grounds?

f)     And if interviewers can use social media, why not the candidate too? How would you feel if the candidate carried out a social media search on you the interviewer? After all an interview is a two-way process.

Over the next few weeks, we will widen the debate on the use of social media within recruitment. We will expand upon some of the questions we have posed above and gather opinions on what might be best practice.

We’ve heard some pretty amazing stories about what candidates and employees have posted on the internet, but would love to hear your views and experiences.

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