Whether you are actively sharing your thoughts on Twitter or going through your distant cousin’s pictures on Facebook, social media has given people a way to connect and interact with anyone, at any time.  The popularity of social media is riveting as Facebook has seen about 1.05 billion users per day in 2016 alone. The simple click on a profile has made this popular form of communication easy and convenient to learn all the details of a person without any face to face contact. While most people might believe that the information they share on these accounts are solely seen by whom they choose, in many cases, this information is available to a wider audience than expected. In fact, this easily accessible information has been used by organizations in the recruitment and hiring process, as many employers have admitted to accessing social media accounts in efforts to screen potential employees with and without their knowledge.  As social media remains mainstream, the presence of this social avenue in the hiring process has the potential to thrive and become a routine screening method.

The emergence of social media in the personal sphere has also brought forth the presence of social media in the business sphere. Companies can take advantage of social networking sites for marketing and advertising of their products and services as a fast and convenient way to reach their audiences. Outside of the advertising for the company, social media has been helpful in finding employees. Organizations who seek to find potential candidates use this resource to “…Maximize dependable role behavior and ensure applicants are trustworthy…” (Black, Stone, & Johnson, p 115). Popular sites like LinkedIn and CareerBuilder were created with the job and business realm in mind since their primary use is to look for jobs and professionally network. Being able to pique the interest of the top talent in a given industry is a great advantage for sustainability and competition for many companies. Therefore; employers use these sites to find the most highly qualified candidates. Something important to note here is that the potential employee presents themselves accordingly—Business site, business behavior. While these sites are still considered social media sites, an argument can be made that there is a fine line drawn between a companies using LinkedIn profiles versus Facebook profiles to collect data on prospective candidates. There is a line that separates personal from business. In practice, it would beneficial to gain an understanding of what information the company in interested in attaining from either profile to assess the longevity of this way of screening applicants.

The interview portion of the standard hiring process gives an employer the ability to get to know more about their candidate in a face to face interaction. It helps the employer get to know things about that person that cannot necessarily be written on a resume, like how a person manages their body language and common business etiquette. The growth of social media has given people the ability to share more than just the written aspects of their personal lives online. Here is where the employer might find benefits in finding out more about potential candidates by viewing their profiles. Considering my previous mention of the types of social media used, business versus personal, an employer might decide to use both to get a more well rounded view of exactly who their candidate is and what he or she represents. When a personal site is used, the employer is then privy to information about their candidate that reveals more than a professional networking site would display.  Other researchers have studied the effects of social media in the hiring process but few articles have been written in regards to the major caution of privacy rights and implications that lies within the data that companies actually use to judge their employees.

A company that looks to use this practice has to take into account the potential negative reactions by applicants because the information shared on these sites usually reveal protected classes like age, religion, race, and familial status. Patricia Sanchez Abril argues that “Employer intrusion into an employee’s personal life threatens the employee’s freedom, dignity, and privacy…” (Abril, 2012, p. 69).  Studies have shown that applicants do, in fact, perceive companies that use social networking sites as part of the selection process as being less fair in their decision making, therefore frowning upon this practice. Even with the privacy concerns of such a screening process, a business professor at Saint Mary’s College, James Rogers shared with several students that, “In most states…it is legal for an employer to ask for a prospective employee’s social media passwords,” in hopes to warn prospective employees about the nature in what they post on their personal social media accounts.

As research and articles are developed that speak on various aspects of the connection between social media and the hiring process in organizations, this paper seeks to contribute to the study by exploring how the presence of social media has impacted the hiring process and whether or not this presence is trending to become an influential and necessary aspect to acquiring a job.  As Joos, suggested, social media tools would work as supplements to the traditional hiring practices. A main question to consider is” Will screening potential employees through social media become a normal practice in the recruiting phase of employment?”

References

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CareerBuilder survey finds companies use social networks to research potential job candidates. (2012). Manufacturing Close-Up.Retrieved from Business Insights: Essentials

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