As social media expands, so do social media background checks. Various employers will request a social media background check where the employment candidate is reviewed. Must employers are concerned with their new job applicant for for that matter their current employee disparaging managers or the company at large. I must say I have seen some scintillating examples where the employee had bad mouthed his boss in no uncertain terms. Or the employee has lodged complaints against the company, grousing about hours, pay, whatever.
With employment candidates, employers review what they said about past employers. They look for disparagement about the working conditions or specific managers and individuals. Employers look for behavior patterns and what the psychological makeup of a job applicant or employee may be.
Attorney Lester Rosen, a founder of ESR, admonishes against social media background checks in an article for Bank Information Security. He writes–
“Through social media, for the first time perhaps in human history, employers are able to literally look inside someone’s head. It’s a real treasure trove of information,” Rosen says. But is it too much information?
“You’re going to learn all sorts of things as an employer that you don’t want to know and legally can not be the basis of a decision,” he says.
I tend to agree with Rosen and what he has written. Nothing to argue about there. However, I see additional concerns with the social media background check as part of an employment screening package. Mainly, at what point do you draw the line between dysfunctional corporate behavior and actual transgression? An employee or job applicant may be a touch more individualistic, perhaps a bit eccentric. but does that mean they are not qualified for the position? In fact, many eccentrics were responsible for major breakthroughs in the arts and sciences, as well as business. Great innovators are often that because they tend not to stay between the lines. While we laud and even demand out of the boxing thinking, quite often we are critical of the type of personality, the behavior that can produce that innovation. We love the creatives, but can feel uncomfortable about the way they act.
I believe with too much social monitoring we not only limit ourselves but constrain the potential of certain individuals. We are sometimes fearful of their lack of conformity and yet grateful for their out of the box thinking and the innovation they can bring to the party. Sure, if someone disparages their employers or their supervisors or co-workers, there is certainly a cautionary note. But if a job applicant or employee is a little more freewheeling than most, is more content to talk about his ribald social exploits than he is to put up photos of his pets or family, this does not necessarily make him unqualified for the job at hand.
I have written about social media and background checks before. One such article is not surprising entitled, The Rise of the Social Media Background Check.
