BoNuS bLoG!! - Social Media in the Workplace

So (HR Tech Class)...if you were able to catch the Sterling webinar this may be repetitive, but today's bonus blog are the key highlights from what ended up being a VERY enlightening webinar.

Tuesday's webinar (9/20) was facilitated by a number of people at Sterling (a background check company) including Kirsten Adams - Marketing Manager, and Geoff Andrews - COO of Social Intelligence. What follows are some of my personal take-aways from the webinar.

The webinar kicked off with the statement that 80% of recruiters are using Google or another search engine in the recruitment search process...AND...the fact that social media is here to stay.

Good? Necessary? SAFE??

CNN did a study showing that many organizations large and small are starting to do 'Social Media Background Checks'. Sound feasible, right? Sounds like a good thing? Well, as you probably expect, there is a Catch 22 to EVERYTHING. (except death and taxes...yada yada)

The Catch is as follows:

A) Not using PUBLICLY AVAILABLE information in the hiring process can put a company at risk of being charged with negligent hiring practices.

BUT...

B) Looking at protected class information, like race, age, etc, can heighten the risks of discrimination accusations.

The bottom line is that the states and federal government will iron these things out over time, but in the meantime companies need to operate responsibly and compliantly to mitigate risks.

Sterling offers companies 'Market-Ready Social Media background check' products that provide organizations the key information they need to know to mitigate risks of both the search process and the hiring process. Their products use unique technology to compile this information, stripping away risky information like pictures, ages, etc - providing companies data to make better and safer hiring practices. (For example, if you are interviewing a 40 year old single Hispanic mother who has a FaceBook picture where they are in a casino smoking cigarettes and you don't hire them...having access to this information in the hiring process can be considered discriminatory hiring practices.)

Essentially, Sterling's product offers solutions to provide the information needed while mitigating the risks involved in searching yourself. Right now the rules on whether it is lawful to look, use, or even connect with these potential applicants online is being ironed out...so better to be safe than sorry! Check out http://www.sterling.com/ if you want more information :-)