Blog Image
Profile Image Verifile
October 28 2013

Preemployment Screening and Social Media

"While it 's not a standard practice to consider potential employees ' social media presence during the application process, it might become so in the future as technology continues to improve and people spend more time interacting online. This was the focus of an ASIS International Information Asset Protection and Pre-Employment Screening Council (IAPPES) conference call. ""It 's a reality that that data trail is going to start to be crunched and munched by computers and people are going to start making decisions on those things,"" says Dr. Charles Handler, executive scientist for Logi-Serve, LLC. Handler says it 's only a matter of time until people in charge of making hiring decisions begin to use applicants ' LinkedIn and Facebook profiles to evaluate them, which could lead to legal consequences. And while thirty six states have introduced laws, or have legislation pending that prevent employers from requiring employees to provide them with their social media account passwords after they 're hired, there is still a lack of legislation about using social media in the hiring process, specifically when using it as a hiring disqualifier. Handler says that companies need to hold all of their employment screening tools to a higher standard and ensure that applicants are being evaluated in a standardized way that tests the skills that are critical to successful job performance."