I tackled this question today on video because I think it’s easier to discuss it that way versus writing about my reply. All of us are doing background checks, but rarely do we find anything on those. We have the potential to catch way more misconduct issues on social media.
Check it out and let me know what you think:
Some resources from Fama:
- State of Misconduct at Work in 2023: https://fama.io/resource/the-state-of-misconduct-at-work-in-2023
- Workplace Misconduct Screening: Mitigate Risk and Make Better Hires by Sharlyn Lauby of HR Bartender (extraordinary lady and a friend of mine!): https://fama.io/resource/workplace-misconduct-screening-hr-bartender
Let me know what you think! Are you checking your candidates’ social media accounts? Do you think you should be?
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Okay, I *do* check their LinkedIn profile (or lack thereof), but I do *not* check any other “personal social” channels. Primarily to avoid any biases that might pop up for me. One time I couldn’t find a candidate on LinkedIn but Google showed me his public TikTok account. I couldn’t resist… And most of his TikToks were lunch break rants or whines from his car about the work day and customers. Maybe it’s all for show and likes? Maybe it’s just THAT job and not his overall work ethic? Or… maybe he’s a terrible employee.
Hi Katie, that makes a lot of sense. Those are very common reasons many companies turn to solutions like us. We remove protected class information and only show the behaviors that your company would consider misconduct in our screening results. We find all kinds of misconduct on people’s public social media profiles including CFO candidates talking about fraud they committed to doctors selling body parts on Twitter/X to even uncovering plans for a workplace violence incident, which we were thankfully able to prevent. If you want to learn more, feel free to reach out at https://fama.io/request-a-demo! We’re always happy to chat!
“We are a welcoming, accepting company that values DIVERSITY and all people’s unique perspectives. Unless they believe differently than we do, even if it’s in jest. Then we do what we can to ruin them best we can as the intolerant phobes that they are. We Welcome All!”
Veracity and provenance.
I’ve seen bitter folks submit false criminal histories to block someone they hold a grudge against getting hired, so what is to stop someone from creating a fake social media profile for someone else and populating it with horrible things?
If the answer is, well the candidate provides the SM handles to be checked, then they will sanitize before hand.
Hi Jim! Thanks for your comment! We can’t speak for what hiring teams find on their own. But, here at Fama, we have a comprehensive profile confirmation process that helps make sure that the profiles and content we report on are the actually from the candidate. Just like a traditional background check, candidate consent is required, they can see their own reports if they’d like, and dispute any findings — all in compliance with the FCRA. Even with consent, we find misconduct issues in just over 1 in 10 candidates. We’d be happy to answer any questions!
We are a small company and on our last hire, I did do a search on a couple of social media sites for our top two candidates so see if anything alarming popped up and it did not. My question is does Fama have agreements with social media sites to be able to access a candidates full profile? Does Fama give the employer access to view the profile or does Fama do it on behalf of the employer. This is an area that I personally haven’t heard a lot about so just curious.
Hi Jackie! Thanks for your note! We do partner with social media sites, like for example, we use Twitter/X’s Enterprise API, to screen publicly available content on the platform. Our solution is customizable to look for job and company-related behaviors and keywords that a customer considers to be misconduct, generally things like violence, threats, sexual harassment, and more. When we share the screening results with employers, we make sure to remove protected class information from reports so employers can see the signals of misconduct without going to a profile and seeing protected class information themselves. We’d be happy to answer any additional questions you have! Feel free to reach out if you want here: https://fama.io/request-a-demo.
Hi Tim,
There are a couple of reasons why I wouldn’t check the Social Media Profile of candidates:
– Lack of time
– Concern about potential biases
Hi Anne-Lise! Those are great points. That’s why many companies choose to adopt solutions like Fama.io for their screenings. We save hiring teams time and remove potential biases by screening only for the behaviors that your company considers as misconduct, including violence, threats, harassment. We also remove protected class information from screening results. Our online screening solutions have found all kinds of misconduct, including doctors selling body parts on Twitter/X to people who want to work with children who should definitely not be working around children. Not sure what industry you’re in, but if you want to learn more, feel free to reach out to us here https://fama.io/request-a-demo.