Social Media Screening for Recruitment

Social Media screening – with discretion?

Algorithms  are good for economies of scale. They may not be, always good for context and nuance.

Harris Poll of over 1000 people in 2020, showed that 60-90% of employers, used social media to research job candidates.

54% reject candidates, based on their social media presence.

Social Media can be useful to hire, rather than disqualifying candidates.  The latter requires more discretion.

Social Media is better used for skills assessment.

Recruiters could look for green flags rather than red flags. 

Below is a case in point.

Josh, a Toronto based free lance writer, shook up Twitter, when he published a recruiter’s letter, informing that, the recruiter would not be moving ahead with his candidature.

The reason:  background screening showed his online presence was inconsistent with Company’s social media policy.

Recruiter cited a tweet, where he talked about burning down Whole Foods.

Josh re-tweeted his original post, which read: ‘If Whole Foods doesn’t stock ponzu sauce, I will set this place ablaze’.

Or, een team up with a social media provider.

Recruiters could be more thoughtful when screening candidates on social media.

AI recruitment tools also need to be more robust.

Common sense is  Key 

Please share your views in the comments.