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Opinion on checking social media presences for job applicants

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    #92
    Invidious
    Closed Accounts Posts: 528 ✭✭✭Invidious


    AndrewJRenko wrote: »
    I know well what he means and I pointed out above the difficulties that arise from this kind of blinkered thinking.

    There's no "blinkered thinking." We're talking about corporate HR departments here, not the FBI.

    If someone has shared her social media posts with friends/followers only, an HR department is hardly going to ask one of her friends to send them screenshots or subpoena Facebook to get copies.

    HR is going to see what you have made publicly accessible, and nothing else.


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    #93
    JustAThought
    Registered Users Posts: 5,324 ✭✭✭JustAThought


    Invidious wrote: »
    There's no "blinkered thinking." We're talking about corporate HR departments here, not the FBI.

    If someone has shared her social media posts with friends/followers only, an HR department is hardly going to ask one of her friends to send them screenshots or subpoena Facebook to get copies.

    HR is going to see what you have made publicly accessible, and nothing else.

    No - there are algorithims that will bring up anything you ever posted if you are that way inclined. Or used be. Also the nasty practice of linking on LinkedIn and then randomly contacting randomly chosen LinkedIn ‘contacts’ for job referrals or confidential conversations about what they thought my job entailed and how they thought I did it. A most disgusting and unethical practice. I had this happen to me once - and it got back to me from the source - I had a solicitor down on them so quickly they didn’t know what hit them.


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    #94
    MrStuffins
    Registered Users Posts: 19,198 ✭✭✭✭MrStuffins


    AndrewJRenko wrote: »
    I know well what he means.....

    then we're on the same page. Happy days!


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    #95
    MrStuffins
    Registered Users Posts: 19,198 ✭✭✭✭MrStuffins


    JustAThought wrote: »
    Refer to point on groupthink.

    Not sure why you quoted me here. It was not me who mentioned it.


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    #96
    AndrewJRenko
    Registered Users Posts: 29,116 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    Invidious wrote: »
    There's no "blinkered thinking." We're talking about corporate HR departments here, not the FBI.

    If someone has shared her social media posts with friends/followers only, an HR department is hardly going to ask one of her friends to send them screenshots or subpoena Facebook to get copies.

    HR is going to see what you have made publicly accessible, and nothing else.

    You're absolutely correct. HR won't get to see it at recruitment stage.

    But as pointed out above, that doesn't mean that the problem has gone away. The posts may well be still there and may well emerge at a later stage.

    Which is why employers need to have clear requirements set out in their person specification.


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    #97
    MrStuffins
    Registered Users Posts: 19,198 ✭✭✭✭MrStuffins


    AndrewJRenko wrote: »
    You're absolutely correct. HE won't get to see it at recruitment stage.

    But as pointed out above, that doesn't mean that the problem has gone away. The posts may well be still there and may well emerge at a later stage.

    Which is why employers need to have clear requirements set out in their person specification.

    Or............?

    Come on....... you're almost there........


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    #98
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    HermioneJean wrote: »
    Sorry I don't see any relevance of this at all to an employer. An employer couldn't sack me for making a poor judgement in my own time like getting drunk and breaking a heel in college, so why should they bother looking for it when hiring me.

    They can't sack you for whats on your social media.

    But they can decide not to hire you because of whats on your social media.


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    #99
    Mrs OBumble
    Registered Users Posts: 25,983 ✭✭✭✭Mrs OBumble


    AndrewJRenko wrote: »
    Did you miss my earlier posts? The really easy solution is for employers to be clear on their requirements, just as they are for other aspects of the person specification.

    Almost every employer has a version of "does not bring the company into disrepute" in their staff handbook, code of conduct etc.

    That basically covers all past behaviour, and whatever the company considers to be disrepute.

    For example, a company that actively recruits and retrains veterans may consider an antiwar social media post offensive.


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    #100
    Jim2007
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 10,320 Mod ✭✭✭✭Jim2007


    Brian? wrote: »
    Mind you, if someone offered to do a social media background check I would say no. It's not my business.

    Oh I think you’ll find the legal will tell you that it is your business. Failing to use widely used modern techniques to safeguard the provision of a safe working environment and all that jass


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    #101
    Jim2007
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 10,320 Mod ✭✭✭✭Jim2007


    AndrewJRenko wrote: »
    I'm sure that the best solution is for employers to be clear about their requirements up front, as with other aspects of the person specification.

    I very much doubt it, based on my experience here is Switzerland. Under Swiss law a bank employee must have a clean record, it’s on the advertisements, it one of the first filtering questions from HR at the initial interview: Do you have a criminal record?

    Any if lost count of the number of times the HR have come back late in the process to tell us they discovered an attempt to hide a record.


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    #102
    Jim2007
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 10,320 Mod ✭✭✭✭Jim2007


    Invidious wrote: »
    HR is going to see what you have made publicly accessible, and nothing else.

    Actually they are going to get a summary of what has been made publicly available about you, prepared by a company motivated to justify their fees and staffed by ex-security types. Not the FBI, but definitely not amateurs either.


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    #103
    Invidious
    Closed Accounts Posts: 528 ✭✭✭Invidious


    Jim2007 wrote: »
    Actually they are going to get a summary of what has been made publicly available about you, prepared by a company motivated to justify their fees and staffed by ex-security types. Not the FBI, but definitely not amateurs either.

    I've seen those kinds of reports before.

    My comments above were about social media, not other kinds of public information such as court records, etc.

    These reports don't include information about non-public social media, such as Facebook posts shared with friends only, WhatsApp group postings, and the like.


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    #104
    AndrewJRenko
    Registered Users Posts: 29,116 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    [Deleted User] wrote: »
    They can't sack you for whats on your social media.

    But they can decide not to hire you because of whats on your social media.

    You can be sacked for social media postings

    https://fora.ie/unfair-dismissal-social-media-4293076-Oct2018/


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    #105
    MrStuffins
    Registered Users Posts: 19,198 ✭✭✭✭MrStuffins


    AndrewJRenko wrote: »
    You can be sacked for social media postings

    https://fora.ie/unfair-dismissal-social-media-4293076-Oct2018/

    Right, so what is the best thing to do if you want to be able to go into a job interview without worrying about what's on your social media? Or to make sure your social media doesn't influence your hiring?


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    #106
    Eric Cartman
    Registered Users Posts: 26,280 ✭✭✭✭Eric Cartman


    MrStuffins wrote: »
    Right, so what is the best thing to do if you want to be able to go into a job interview without worrying about what's on your social media? Or to make sure your social media doesn't influence your hiring?

    just don't post anything on social media you wouldn't want a potential employer to see.


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    #107
    AllForIt
    Registered Users Posts: 8,453 ✭✭✭AllForIt


    Colonel Claptrap wrote: »
    Any time I hire somebody I will do a quick google of their name before pulling the trigger.

    This is standard surely?

    I've always been meaning to ask someone this: What would you think if you couldn't find them on social media? And I mean because they are not on it.

    Would you take that more as a negative rather than neutral?


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    #108
    Mrs OBumble
    Registered Users Posts: 25,983 ✭✭✭✭Mrs OBumble


    AndrewJRenko wrote: »
    You can be sacked for social media postings

    https://fora.ie/unfair-dismissal-social-media-4293076-Oct2018/

    They can also sack you for drinking beside the canal: if a customer recognises you and doesn't want to do business with the company anymore because they employ street-drinkers, then wham, you've brought the company into disrepute.

    The fact similar behaviour might actually win customers for another company is irrelevant. What matters is whether your behaviour fits the image they want.


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    #109
    beauf
    Closed Accounts Posts: 22,648 ✭✭✭✭beauf


    AllForIt wrote: »
    I've always been meaning to ask someone this: What would you think if you couldn't find them on social media? And I mean because they are not on it.

    Would you take that more as a negative rather than neutral?

    HR do dumb stuff all the same time. Unless its a Job where a media presence is expected, then its dumb to mark someone down because you can't find them on social media. The HR policies is driving people off social media.


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    #110
    MrStuffins
    Registered Users Posts: 19,198 ✭✭✭✭MrStuffins


    Eric Cartman wrote: »
    just don't post anything on social media you wouldn't want a potential employer to see.

    BINGO!!!!!!!!


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    #111
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    AndrewJRenko wrote: »
    You can be sacked for social media postings

    https://fora.ie/unfair-dismissal-social-media-4293076-Oct2018/

    My response was made in the context of checks made by a potential employer during the recruitment process, not checks on someone who is already employed.

    I thought that was clear. Obviously not.


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    #112
    MrStuffins
    Registered Users Posts: 19,198 ✭✭✭✭MrStuffins


    AllForIt wrote: »
    I've always been meaning to ask someone this: What would you think if you couldn't find them on social media? And I mean because they are not on it.

    Would you take that more as a negative rather than neutral?

    Far more people are disappearing off social media these days. They've seen what a cesspool of far-right bile and left-wing nonsense it has become.

    I miss Bebo!


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    #113
    chrisd2019
    Registered Users Posts: 484 ✭✭chrisd2019


    mariaalice wrote: »
    The fact that as part of a background check for some jobs someone's social media presence can be looked at as part of the recruitment processes.

    Agree or disagree with that?

    Leaving aside the chancer who is going to come on here and say their online support for the Irish nazi party( if such a party exists ) is well hidden no one would find it.

    Should someone with a mental illness going through a bad time who lashed out with some hate-filled rant be given a second or third chance? should teenage trolling get a pass?

    Or could it be a tool for curbing online abuse as the online world is going to come crashing into the real world and might lose them a job?

    Learn what pseudonym is and use one online if you are worried about such matters.


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    #114
    MrStuffins
    Registered Users Posts: 19,198 ✭✭✭✭MrStuffins


    Deleted User wrote: »
    My response was made in the context of checks made by a potential employer during the recruitment process, not checks on someone who is already employed.

    I thought that was clear. Obviously not.

    I think there is quite the bit of selective understanding going on with particular posters


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    #115
    beauf
    Closed Accounts Posts: 22,648 ✭✭✭✭beauf


    There the flip side of this also. People inflate their skillset and experience on things like Linkedin. So if you are HR dept or agency trusting what you see on social media, you are even more dumb than normal. The bar is already quite low.


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    #116
    AndrewJRenko
    Registered Users Posts: 29,116 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    MrStuffins wrote: »
    Right, so what is the best thing to do if you want to be able to go into a job interview without worrying about what's on your social media? Or to make sure your social media doesn't influence your hiring?

    Think beyond the hiring decision.


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    #117
    MrStuffins
    Registered Users Posts: 19,198 ✭✭✭✭MrStuffins


    beauf wrote: »
    There the flip side of this also. People inflate their skillset and experience on things like Linkedin. So if you are HR dept or agency trusting what you see on social media, you are even more dumb than normal. The bar is already quite low.


    To be fair, I don't think they're looking at your Instagram to make sure your Excel level is how you described it on your CV.


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    #118
    AndrewJRenko
    Registered Users Posts: 29,116 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    chrisd2019 wrote: »
    Learn what pseudonym is and use one online if you are worried about such matters.

    Pseudonyms aren't an absolute solution either. People can be doxxed.


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    #119
    MrStuffins
    Registered Users Posts: 19,198 ✭✭✭✭MrStuffins


    AndrewJRenko wrote: »
    Pseudonyms aren't an absolute solution either. People can be doxxed.

    Which is why.......
    Eric Cartman wrote: »
    just don't post anything on social media you wouldn't want a potential employer to see.

    Honestly, quite baffling how you haven't considered this.


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    #120
    joseywhales
    Registered Users Posts: 4,072 ✭✭✭joseywhales


    Mrs OBumble wrote: »
    Almost every employer has a version of "does not bring the company into disrepute" in their staff handbook, code of conduct etc.

    That basically covers all past behaviour, and whatever the company considers to be disrepute.

    For example, a company that actively recruits and retrains veterans may consider an antiwar social media post offensive.

    Aside: I think most veterans are actually anti war.

    Anti-war of all things isn't going to get you in trouble, maybe just at lockheed martin or a military contractor.


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    #121
    AndrewJRenko
    Registered Users Posts: 29,116 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    MrStuffins wrote: »
    Which is why.......



    Honestly, quite baffling how you haven't considered this.

    What is baffling is why you would think a catchy soundbite is likely to be effective in the real world. It has all the depth of "don't do drugs, kids" or "don't have sex, kids". Then there is also the practical issues around finding the crystal ball that will tell you what jobs in what employers in what sectors you're going to be looking for in five years time.

    And then there is the philosophical question of how much we want to let potential future employers impinge on our lives - do we want to work to live or live to work?

    So all in all, the better solution is for employers to simply be clear about their requirements in this area, as they are in other areas.


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