Social media background checks: B.S.?
Image by darth87 via Flickr
In the past few days, there’s been a lot of talk around how the openness of Gen Y on social media can affect their chances to get a job, in the event of a background check.
I’m a bit confused. First of all, Facebook seems to be the main concern, and frankly I don’t even understand how someone who is not your “friend” can even access status updates, photos, videos or whatever else you posted on it.
I seriously do not think that I would hand over my password in order to get a job. Password is private as is your profile. And I think it’s almost discriminating. There’s an underlying assumption that you have to have done something wrong. I honestly would feel discriminated against and also, the employer/employee relationship is off to a bad start as there’s definitely a trust issue there. That’s why you should also take some precaution and check and adjust your privacy settings according to common sense. I have a Facebook account and while I don’t post stuff bad mouthing the companies I admire (or other companies for that matter) and perhaps would love to work for (yet, if you were posting crap about those companies, why would you even want to work for them??) I also have my settings to restricted access for people I don’t know or I’m friends with.
However, remember that Twitter for instance, is much more open and literally anybody can see what you’re posting just by searching for your profile. Try the Twitter search tool. It is very powerful and if you did post something about the company you’re interviewing for, well, they will find it.
I find all this talk going on about social media background check hilarious. I think the behaviour rules you follow in your real life are to be applied to your “social media life”. Always express yourself and your views, but don’t post something online you wouldn’t say to someone face to face. Or you might be in for surprises later on…
What do you think about social media background checks? What is your company doing about it? Is your company using social recruiting yet? Leave a feedback!
Related articles
- Social Intelligence offers official social media background checks (thenextweb.com)
- What Job Seekers Need To Know About Social Background Checks (businessinsider.com)
