Every employer knows that recruitment can be a trying ordeal. Even after conducting interview after interview, you might not always settle upon a candidate who turns out to be right for your organisation. With that in mind, it’s prudent to use every tool at your disposal to gain insight into whether your preferred pick is the right person for the job.
Thanks to the widespread rise in popularity of social media, that task has become a whole lot easier. By hiring a reputable company to carry out social media screening services on your behalf, you can fact-check the information an interviewee has given you, identify any potentially problematic behaviour and understand what makes them tick more keenly and comprehensively than ever before.
Still unconvinced? Read on to find out exactly what social media background checks are, the advantages they can offer and why you should only ever contract an experienced agency – like M19 Solutions – to carry them out for you.
What does social media screening involve?
Simply put, social media screening refers to the practice of assessing a candidate’s credentials, character and suitability for a given role via their social media interactions online. By trawling through their activity and surveying the posts which they’ve uploaded, liked, commented on or otherwise interacted with, it’s possible to gain a more comprehensive overview of their past history and present temperament.
In particular, a social media check looks out for evidence of behaviour that could potentially cause friction in the workplace, lead to controversy or damage your company’s image in the wider public sphere. This could include any number of different things, but is generally limited to the posting or endorsement of content which celebrates, endorses or makes light of:
- Violence or the threat of violence
- Sexually implicit material
- Toxic or obscene language
- Hate speech and intolerance
- Insults, bullying and abusive behaviour
- Drug-taking
- Illegal activity
While that is by no means a comprehensive list, it does give you a good idea of the kind of red flags that social media background checks can catch. At the same time, it’s also an effective method of verifying the information the candidate has given in the interview, as well as better understanding whether they’d be a good fit for your organisation.
Which social media platforms should you screen?
While social media checks can include any and all platforms, some are more relevant and easier to screen than others. As LinkedIn is a business networking site, candidates should be making a concerted effort to showcase their professional side on this platform. If this isn’t the case, for instance their profile text is offensive or they’re leaving inappropriate comments, this is a red flag, especially on a work-related site for jobseekers.
As the biggest social media platform in the world, Facebook would be next on most employers’ lists. Though depending on the candidate’s privacy settings, this site and its sister platform Instagram, can be harder to screen. This is because often only those who are friends with the candidate will have access to their posts and profile.
If you are able to view what they’re sharing, you’ll want to look at both their photos and written content. Explicit images or videos and offensive captions are obviously problematic. However, so are posts about their workplace that break privacy rules such as sharing trade secrets or revealing customer information, so you’ll need to watch out for those too!
With Twitter, on the other hand, unless the candidate’s profile is set to private, anyone can view their activity on the platform. This includes tweets they’ve posted, those that they’ve retweeted (shown an affinity with) and those they’ve reacted to or commented on. Similarly, public TikTok videos (often posted by younger people) can be seen by anyone on the internet, including those without an account, so be sure to check for any that include instances of bullying, violence or criminal acts.
What are the advantages of social media checks?
Assess their behaviour
First and foremost, social media screening for employment can be an excellent tool for unearthing behaviour, opinions or characteristics which have the potential to cause problems for your business in the future. This could entail anything from intolerance towards fellow employees to a track record of drug-taking to hostile, aggressive or violent behaviour. Avoid disputes, steer clear of controversy and weed out unsuitable candidates by screening their social media profiles prior to hiring them.
Not only will this eliminate unnecessary tension within your workforce and preclude the possibility of reputational damage among your consumer base, but it will also reduce employee turnover and stop you having to repeat the firing and hiring process all over again. Ultimately, that’s good news for the harmony of your staff and the bottom line of your business bank balance, which is surely a desirable outcome in the eyes of any manager or owner.
Cross-check information
A secondary benefit of social media checks is the ability to cross-check information that they have given during the application and interview process with what they have posted online. For example, if a candidate explains a prolonged period of unemployment through illness or injury, but their posts on social media tell a different story, you’ll be able to ascertain that they may not be completely honest or trustworthy before they even begin to work for you.
Check their personality fit
Finally, social media screening isn’t all about catching out a candidate and revealing the negative aspects of their personality. It can also unearth beneficial information that they might have neglected to share with you directly. Online activity can sometimes betray positive characteristics about a person, including compassion, diligence, modesty and humility. These are things like a candidate may not necessarily feel comfortable relating to you directly, but which could significantly enhance their attractiveness as a potential employee.
Why choose M19 for your social media background checks
So now that you understand what social media investigations are and why they can be helpful to you and your business, you may think it would be an easy undertaking for you, your HR team or another in-house arm of your company. However, there are several very good reasons why it’s strongly advisable to outsource such work to a third-party company who are fully versed in all aspects of the practice.
Legalities
Firstly, there’s the legal element to consider. Social media checks are an entirely legal and ethical discipline – as long as they’re conducted in a compliant manner. That means only screening relevant information, processing it in a fair and lawful manner and ensuring that protected class data (such as the age, gender, religion, race, sexual orientation and nationality) does not interfere with the decision-making process.
Consistency
It’s also incumbent on anyone screening social media profiles to ensure that the checks are consistently and uniformly performed from one candidate to another. For example, if you scour the entire history of activity for one individual on five social media platforms, you must ensure you do the same for all other applicants for the role. This ensures everybody receives the same fair and even-handed treatment.
While this might sound simple in theory, it can be a tricky feat to pull off in practice when you have a vested interest in the outcome. Meanwhile, it can also be difficult to stop your own beliefs, preconceptions and prejudices from influencing your decision once you have come across certain information, which could land you in hot water with an employment tribunal later down the line.
Expertise
Aside from the legal ramifications, there’s also the matter of competence and professionalism. At M19 Solutions, we have extensive experience in carrying out social media screening checks and have powerful artificial intelligence (AI) solutions at our disposal to make sure no stone is left unturned. This, coupled with the astute analytical eye our human agents bring to the table, means our service is second to none.
Our team of private investigators in Manchester can conduct social media background checks for as many individuals as you like, ensuring that the process is performed to an impeccable standard and meets all legal obligations. We’ll also supply a full record of the screening process, including supplementary data and screenshots to support the conclusions we present to you. This way, you can have complete peace of mind that any decision you take is as well-informed as it possibly can be.
Talk to the team at M19 Solutions today!
To learn more about social media screening and whether it’s right for you, get in touch with M19 Solutions today. You can give us a ring on 0161 706 0057 or drop us an email at info@m19solutions.co.uk and one of our experienced team will get back to you at our earliest convenience.