One of the most significant investments that businesses and organizations make are in the hiring and training of employees. A hiring manager’s choice to fill a position with the wrong individual is often costly and, in some cases, devastating for an employer. Some characteristics associated with the incorrect employee choice may be discovered through social media behavior assessments.
A resume, interview, and application process offer an incomplete picture during the selection process of employee candidates, showing you only that moment’s presentation of the potential employee. Social Media is often an addition to the process that completes the presentation of a potential employee’s character and may help mitigate the risk of hiring the wrong employee.
Number of Employers Using Social Media to Screen Candidates at All-Time High, Finds Latest CareerBuilder Study– 57 percent are less likely to interview a candidate they can’t find online– 54 percent have decided not to hire a candidate based on their social media profiles– Half of employers check current employees’ social media profiles, over a third have reprimanded or fired an employee for inappropriate content– 70 percent of employers use social media to screen candidates, up from 11 percent in 2006Press Release, CareerBuilder, 6-15-2017; http://press.careerbuilder.com/2017-06-15-Number-of-Employers-Using-Social-Media-to-Screen-Candidates-at-All-Time-High-Finds-Latest-CareerBuilder-Study
Relying only on the information narrowly supplied in many hiring processes from the candidate is insufficient to protect a company from making the wrong choice in selecting an employee. Similarly, investors in the stock market do not simply rely on only a prospectus that was published by the company seeking additional investment, but rather using as many data points as possible to mitigate the risk in where to invest money.
Social Media behavior and conduct has the potential to give you deep insights in how a prospective employee may handle stress, interpersonal relationships, and the impact they could have on other employees should there be disagreements. Assessing Social Media behavior may also be indicative of what to expect with your company’s reputation should the employee not work out for the long-term.
When an employee/employer relationship or a personal relationship breaks down, neither side should publicly lash out on social media. Uncontrolled and public rants, accusations, and “laundry” not only shows the lack of professionalism the potential employee may have but also the level of emotional restraint one has in an “unsupervised” environment. Social Media Behavior assessments during selection and hiring processes, when done correctly, give employers a view of the candidate’s character and problem-solving skills prior to hiring and training expenses are incurred.
If an employee candidate uses their social media to bring private problems to their social circles and professional lives, it may be unwise to invest in hiring them. A few basic examples of negative indicators:
• Candidate uses social media posts that are negative and blaming of others for a candidate’s own situation, always framing themselves as a victim to attract sympathetic responses from their social networks to support their negative posts.
• Candidate’s social media posts are frequently about personal situations between private individuals, which demonstrates the candidate’s willingness to share private information that they may have learned while employed or in private relationships with others for one’s own benefit.
• Candidate posts publicly about their past jobs and relationships negatively that occurred years prior as if relevant with each new relationship, demonstrating the inability for the candidate to not let go and to move on from complex issues.
It is very common place for employees to often research out prospective employers online before making a career leap, so naturally employers should do the same for prospective employees. Your existing employees and public social media networks may provide an employer with the very insights that will lead to a winning hire, rather than a costly mistake.
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Let’s make it a great 2018!
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