Most small business owners are becoming more and more aware of how social media outlets such as Facebook, blogs, and LinkedIn can help to grow their exposure to their target market. We have come to accept this as the new way of doing business and spend a good deal of time communicating through the social media web.
So, now you need an employee. And you decide to begin your search using social media. Hey, it's a lot cheaper than throwing down several hundred dollars on an online ad, right? Well...
The problem with using social media to recruit employees is that you, as the hiring manager, probably will learn too much about your candidates before even interviewing them. Why is this a bad thing? Because some of what you may find out - you don't need to know. Things like race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or religion are not things that can be considered when screening candidates because they bear no information about the qualifications or competencies of an individual. As employers, we must make hiring decisions based on functions of the job - not physical characteristics or other protected classes to which individuals may belong.
If you are going to use social media for recruitment or selection, follow some simple guidelines:
1. Have a purpose in mind for looking at media content. Legal purposes include finding out more about their educational background, their on-the-job experience, or their past positions or companies. If you just go out there just to "snoop", you are probably venturing out onto thin ice.
2. Be forthcoming about your use of social media. Tell candidates that you screen their online presence. Tell them what you are looking for. Ask if there are other places you can search. For instance, some people blog and would LOVE for a potential employer to have a look at it.
3. Have the ultimate decision maker stay away from investigating the social media. Someone from HR would be a better choice. This way, they can act as a filter, communicating only competency based information.
4. Be consistent. Look up all of the candidates, not just just one.
5. Don't assume that the information you have found is accurate. The Internet is an uncensored world, and anyone can post anything they want to. Not everything is credible, so try and verify what you see.
As with any recruitment or selection process, it is important to stay focused on the functions of the job, and how the candidate is either qualified or not qualified for your position.
Happy hiring!
Ericka Heid
HR Now
http://www.h-r-now.com/
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