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Should I really care about a candidate's Facebook profile?
A fellow recruiter told me that she will disqualify a job candidate based on an unfavorable Facebook post. I generally don't think that someone's profile counts as a resume, and should be handled differently. Most applicants these days have very strict security as well, so is it even ethical to do an in-depth search? Should I discount a promising candidate because of pictures of questionable behavior on Facebook? To what extent do you think that 'Facebook professionalism' plays into their real-world professionalism?
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3 Answers
Mary,
I believe that someone’s professional and private life can live in completely separate silos. Originally, Facebook started as something for college students to share fun/exciting times with their friends and help with their own social status; not as a way to promote professional agendas. Although Facebook has fundamentally changed to a marketing platform, there are still many ‘legacy’ users who use Facebook for its original intent; as a social tool. The Internet in general continues to serve as a technology that allows for the depersonalization of communication and experience. The more we rely on high level, often extraneous information about someone’s personal life, the farther away we get from the goal of the interview process; evaluating someone’s ability to perform a task, fit a role. Do not allow Facebook to develop your opinion on someone before you have even met them, go old school and develop your opinion in a face to face meeting.
This is definitely a hard topic to handle, if I were in the recruiting position I would look at it this way: is their behavior extreme to the point that it would be embarrassing to have a conversation with one of your customers about that employee's actions? If so, I would not evaluate the person as any lesser, but I would have to question their judgment in regard to making such behavior publicly viewable, and as such, it would take some serious evaluation of their positive traits. In other words, if they are eager to share their hang-over with the world will they maintain professional boundaries when in the face of a customer?
As far as "digging deeper" to find out about potential hires, I am entirely against such a practice - if it is in their personal network, I feel that should stay personal. Under normal business circumstance any less-than-opulent characteristics would stay under wraps so I do not consider that valid hiring criteria. I hope this helps in your decision. : )
I have witnessed the rise and fall of potential recruits strictly based on their limited view Facebook profile. I feel like anything is fair game to be scrutinized by if it is freely available, public information; like a limited view Facebook profile. When a candidate has anything that could be deemed as a 'red flag' it begs the question, "Does this person realize the impression they are giving with this?" Which is totally valid. If they are oblivious to this it only leads one to think that they might not be as astute as you'd like.
With that said, I don't think it should be a 'line in the sand' type of thing that would automatically disqualify a candidate. If hired, they should be expected to adhere to the standards set by the employer for social media profiles that can be linked to the company.
Furthermore, I think it is more important to monitor the ongoing activity on social media sites of employees to insure that no questionable or private info is made available to the public if a profile includes the employer.
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