Ten years ago…..no make that 5 years ago, how many of us would be able to proudly state that we had our own blogs, 500+ Facebook friends or membership in 50 LinkedIn groups? Times are a changing, and we now have the World at our fingertips….okay, at least at end of a keyboard!
However, every step forward towards a total cyber community also entails an element of dropping of the guard and loosening of the security belt. Then comes the issue of the terabytes of information that we all exchange and store by using this wonderful free service. What happens to this information and who is entitled to have access to it?
There is currently a battle raging in cyberspace about whether it is ethical for a recruiter to check connections and conversations of a person on social networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. Some rage on about such actions being unethical because such information is “off limits”, whilst others retort that by posting the information on the internet makes such information public, so that accessing it and using it to evaluate a prospective candidate is ethical.
There are enough tools out there to evaluate a candidate at a face-to-face interview, to determine whether the candidate fits the role profile sought. No one will ever get it 100% right, and there will be those that will fail to meet the company’s core values when they seemed to be the perfect candidate, whilst others will prove to be a very good fit, although at the interview they appeared less comfortable. Then again the results are as much about the candidate as the interviewer, the interview criteria, the job profile narration, the advert in the paper and the actual needs of the line manager with whom the new employee will be working. This is about people and working environments, and both are highly variable. Therefore, having precise checklists is impossible. It is not about checking on people’s after hours (because that is what the social networking sites such as Facebook are supposed to be – “AFTER” work) behaviour. This is about getting the most suitable person for the job on conditions acceptable to both the candidate and the prospective employer.
In this sense it may useful to separate sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook, because they seem to be providing different services. To me Facebook is more personal and less formal, i.e., Facebook users relate more information about what they are doing, more frequently and exchange information about their personal lives, including pictures and videos of their families and personal lives. They discuss sports, politics, religion, sex, etc and sometimes make silly comments, unaware that they may be used by a prospective employer, who would be viewing the postings in quite a different context. LinkedIn on the other hand is more skewed to professional networking (eg. professional references and recommendations) and building business contacts, and hence provide more information on a person that would be relevant to a prospective employer. The freedom of including comprehensive details provides the opportunity to persons to include a variety of information that is perhaps difficult to insert into a concise 2 page resume (using 10 point Ariel font!) and would certainly be useful for a fuller evaluation of a candidate. Furthermore, no one puts up pictures of their new puppy or baby on LinkedIn, but you’re sure to see the picture of the candidate’s wife’s sister’s daughter’s new born on Facebook!
I am inclined to support the view that recruiters could and perhaps should examine a candidate’s background on his LinkedIn profile (public view) before or after an interview. I have included a link to my personal LinkedIn profile in my own CV in the past, and it has been well accepted. After all, I have setup my LinkedIn account to inform the public about myself, so why should I fear anyone having a look at it (hence my public profile on LinkedIn is the full profile!).
As to whether I want a prospective employer to know that I support Manchester United Football club (which I don’t!) or that I like B&W photography (which I do), or that I ran over a cat yesterday (which I didn’t!) and that my wife and I had a wonderful vacation in Bali (which we did!) is not for an unknown person to consider, especially in the context of prospective employment. Therefore, people checking out a candidate’s Facebook-type personal details about his/her personal life, family, hobbies, etc, is taking it too far.
There is an aspect of classification of the information that is freely available on the internet that needs to be carefully considered before a final conclusion can be drawn. All one has to do is Google search a person and a host of information is available on screen, unless that person is “invisible” on the internet. A lot of the information on the internet is owner originated. But there are also a lot of information out there that is not originated by the person concerned.
In the case of Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media sites, the content is created by the owner, but the “intention” of the creator is different. This is the critical factor in determining whether the information on the internet should be used to evaluate a person or not, when making a hiring decision.
To put it simply:
- evaluation of Facebook-type “personal” information for recruitment: NOT ethical (as the information is not intended for career evaluation);
- evaluation of LinkedIn-type professional information for recruitment: IS ethical (as the information is intended for career evaluation)…
…..and thus the information concerned is being used as originally intended.
If the recruiter wants to conduct extensive background checks, as a security precaution due to the specific nature of the role (eg. substance abuse counselor),then he/she has other more reliable tools available (rather than checking out the bikini clad babes in a person’s Facebook photo album).
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