Social Media Screening

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’.

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

➡️Or, even team up with a social media provider.

➡️AI recruitment tools also need to be more robust.

➡️Common sense is  Key

✅Please share your views in the comments.