There has been a
lot of buzz about social media background checks becoming the future of
background checks for employment.
There are even some companies offering employers and recruiters a
service that will track down information on job candidates by scouring the
internet for posts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, blogs and other social
media sites. But what are the pros
and cons of supplementing the traditional background check with a social media
background check?
1.
One
benefit of a social media background check is that employers and recruiters can
find information on job candidates that they would not find on traditional
background checks. But the
drawback is that much of that information may be information that the
employer/recruiter cannot use when vetting the candidate for employment.
2.
Another
benefit of social media background check is that employers and recruiters can
find out if a candidate is associated with any of their current employees and
also see how well connected they are to the wider community. But the flipside of this view of the
job candidate’s social connections is that those less internet savvy candidates
may not have their social connections displayed online possibly leaving them at
a disadvantage to the online savvy candidate who may not be as well connected
as their online persona suggests.
3.
And finally, social media background
checks can give the employer/recruiter a better look at the job candidate’s
personality giving them a better indication of whether or not the candidate is
a good fit for the company.
However, once again, online personas often fail to reflect the true
personality of the job candidate and could give a false sense of who the job
candidate is in real life.