Using Social Networking Sites in the Recruitment Process: Brilliant or a Legal Trap?

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Some say social networking is the best thing that has happened to recruiting. After all, what every employer is looking for is the finest talent available because the success of an organization depends upon the skills and dedication of its employees. More importantly, individuals and organizations are most effective when their respective values, goals, and interests are aligned. It is a well-known fact that the industry of recruiting and interviewing needed to change drastically to address the issues businesses face when they do not properly match an individual to the position. These issues include turnover, poor morale, burnout, and employee relations issues. Unfortunately, the interviewing process alone does not identify the behavioral factors that are essential to determine a good cultural match between the job candidate and the organization.

The decision to hire someone in the past was based on a resume and an interview which identified an individual’s skills and education. However, employees are generally fired for their poor behavior. Most managers spent 90 percent of their time on employees who have behavioral issues that create a disruption to the work environment. Of every ten individuals who are asked to leave a job only one individual is asked to leave because he or she does not possess the skills necessary to successfully complete the work. This is a clear indication that behavioral issues and social patterns that are not detected in the traditional interview process are very costly.

Is the answer to use social networking sites to identify these behavioral issues and social patterns? According to a survey conducted by IT Business Edge, over 66 percent of the respondents had already used social networking sites to identify and hire job candidates and another 13 percent of the respondents plan to start using social networking sites this coming year as a major part of their recruiting process. There is no doubt that social networking sites are becoming a very popular recruiting tool. In a webinar recently hosted by Taleo and Pinstripe it was revealed that social networks may help fill in the missing links to a recruiter’s recruitment strategies. The missing links that are revealed on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn may be the difference between hiring a good match for an organization and hiring someone that will not support the culture of the organization.

On some of the more informal sites such as Facebook, a person’s age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, religion, and political affiliation are frequently available. Furthermore, if the individual uploads a picture an employer can usually guess the ethnicity of the individual. Many recruiters would agree that this is valuable information, but is there a downside to this? Can a recruiter create potential legal issues for the organization by using information found on social networks to make a hiring decision?

It is reasonable to assume that everyone should know what they provide online is open to the public. However, that may not always be true. Furthermore, even though the information is open to the public, whether it should be used in the hiring process can create ethical and legal issues.

Here are some general recommendations to consider: remember, you should always seek legal advice from corporate counsel about the advisability of using online searches. This is not an exhaustive list, just a few things to think about.

• Job applicants are protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. This law makes it illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex. If you gather information that may include details of a person’s protected characteristics, can it lead to an appearance of discrimination?
• Many times individuals fail to realize that what they are disclosing on a social network to their friends and networks are public in nature. So, that brings about the question of, as an employer, are you tapping into information that is breaching an individual’s privacy rights, particularly when it comes to health information?
• Issues related to ethics provide another quandary. From an ethical standpoint, what is acceptable and what is unacceptable to use in determining whether a job candidate will be successful in an organization? There certainly needs to be some organizational guidelines established. The hard part is monitoring this process.
• Last but certainly not least, what about the accuracy of the information gathered? Remember, social networking sites are primarily used to connect or reconnect with former business associates, friends, and high school and/or college acquaintances. However, these sites are also used to impress others. It would not be unusual for someone to stretch the truth a little. Anyone who has been in the recruiting business for any length of time knows that resumes are frequently embellished. When trying to impress an old classmate, one might very easily embellish a little.

As the economy improves and the labor market tightens, it will be necessary to continue to seek alternate or nontraditional methods to determine whether a candidate is a good match to an organization. However, organizations need to be aware of the risks involved. Discrimination claims filed with the EEOC have been on a steady increase since 2007. In 2008, there was a 15 percent increase in the number of claims from the previous year. More than 25 percent of the total claims filed were related to age discrimination. An ideal example of a situation that could bring about an age discrimination claim is if someone was not hired as a result of his or her age being known to the employer through a social network.

It is a well-known fact that LinkedIn is a social networking site many baby boomers use. An example of a situation that caused one employer a considerable amount of time and money is when a recruiter made a judgment call to not hire a very qualified job candidate because what was revealed on LinkedIn lead the recruiter to believe that the candidate was over 50 years old. As a result, a younger and less qualified individual was hired. One probably is wondering how the more qualified applicant found out what happened. To make a long story short, the answer is "you never really know who your friend is and who your adversary may be on a social networking site"! In this particular case, it was difficult to defend the recruiter’s decision. Situations of this nature not only create a liability for the organization, but may also tarnish the employer’s reputation.

At the very least, recruiters should track the information that is acquired through social networking sites and how it is used in the hiring process. This will add a significant amount of work to the process, but it would be time well spent if a claim of discrimination is filed. The goal is to record information that could be used to defend the recruiter’s actions.

As we all know, there are many risks out there, organizations need to decide how much risk they are willing to tolerate and if the risks outweigh the benefits!

Dr. Kathleen Dodaro, President of Dodaro & Associates HR and Business Consulting. Dodaro and Associates is a national consulting and training company based out of Denver, CO. It is comprised of a group of individuals who are passionate about helping organizations increase their return on their human capital investment.