Yuk. My younger co worker insists on social media stalking all of our candidates even though I advise her not to

[Anonymous]

Otoh what if you found inflammatory racist or political posts?

[Anonymous]

We had a situation where we were about to hire. a live in nanny. We noticed a gap in work and she seemed a little too eager. We went in her Facebook and noticed some odd rants , then they got weirder, then a mention of checking themselves in again to get better. It was in patient. Wtf glad we looked. They change wave to tell us about the gap

[Anonymous]

You call it stealing. Others call it research. It's all public information. Maybe look at why candidates choose to put that information out there.

What your coeorker is doing is smart. You want to have a fully informed view of a candidate. You want to make sure they don't have any nut job manifestos ot unhinged rants about past employers out there.

[Anonymous]

I don't see what the bug deal is? It's wise to be informed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We routinely Google our candidates. Do I care about their personal lives? Not at all. But I need to know they have the common sense and judgment to control their online presence. For example, we work with government customers; I would be very wary of a candidates with a ton of visible and inflammatory political opinions (regardless what side they are on). Especially since a customer could easily find it and attribute it to my company and our brand.

If the role is public facing and your employee's persona can hurt the business then it's likely going to be a part of hiring process. But for a LOT of jobs it's completely irrelevant what an employee is doing after work, and employers or hiring managers being so invasive should be seen as a flaw in our workplace labor practices.

I am certain that there will be some major law changes going forward and it may become illegal for the employers of non-public facing employees to discriminate. You cannot demand every accountant, IT person, lunch cafeteria worker or a janitor to create online presence and spill out their personal lives for you to browse, and you cannot discriminate against them based on their political or religious beliefs or family status or sexual lives, etc. If we allow this to happen this means that employer OWNS you and you are nothing but a slave because they get to control your ENTIRE LIFE outside of working hours.

The pendulum will swing back and it won't be pretty.

I totally agree with all of this. I’m curious if the laws are different in Europe and other places where privacy laws are more robust. The US lags behind in this area

In Europe, you can’t screen a candidates social media unless it’s directly relevant to the role. Employees are entitled to a private life, including their public posts on social media

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a situation where we were about to hire. a live in nanny. We noticed a gap in work and she seemed a little too eager. We went in her Facebook and noticed some odd rants , then they got weirder, then a mention of checking themselves in again to get better. It was in patient. Wtf glad we looked. They change wave to tell us about the gap

Perhaps you might understand that this is different than a large multi national company and their hiring practices. Or not. I really can’t tell these days

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You call it stealing. Others call it research. It's all public information. Maybe look at why candidates choose to put that information out there.

What your coeorker is doing is smart. You want to have a fully informed view of a candidate. You want to make sure they don't have any nut job manifestos ot unhinged rants about past employers out there.

It seems like most of you have little to no experience working in a larger corporate environment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Adults need to understand that their publicly available data WILL be found by nosy people. And employers WILL be nosy, so they can find the best fit candidate.

I'm not on social media, and I was told by my friend's husband that he would never hire someone without a social media presence. What a little jerk. I suppose I'm lucky to be able to live my life as I want, and not be forced to present a fake online persona just for someone's gratification and hiring needs!

Yes, yes, yes, we are all aware of that at this stage. People can find your social media. Got it.

The point is there was really no reason to stalk this woman’s social media - she isn’t a candidate for any role that it really matters, and again anything substantive would have been found in a background check.

But now since my co worker found her dammed baby registry, we know.

I hear what you’re saying, OP, but are you really incapable of judging a candidate fairly now that you know she’s pregnant? Wow. Good thing we have anti discrimination laws, I guess. I personally would have no problem giving the job to someone who I know is pregnant.

[Anonymous]

You are right to be uncomfortable with this but people like that are everywhere. Take note and be cautious. Even before social media there were the types to snoop through homes, open medicine cabinets and ask invasive questions. They live to write someone off quickly once they find something they deem a smoking gun even if they have the wrong information. The registry could belong to someone else.

I have minimal social media presence but people with my uncommon name have more information online. Someone casually asked me about previous experience with some jobs I never had. This was an acquaintance and she did it twice before I realized she had googled my name and was going off another same named person's history. It was nothing at all bad but because I was initially confused and denied it she thought she had something on me I was trying to hide.

Its very distasteful to you and me but some people view being nosy as a duty, even if they have no formal relationship beyond acquaintance.