Yesterday’s Advisor covered reasons why HR managers should avoid Internet background checks using Google, Facebook, MySpace, and other websites. But that’s not the end of the story.
In our last issue, an HR expert cautioned managers to avoid Internet background checks of potential hires. Legally, she’s right. Realistically, HR people are doing them anyway.
The scenario often goes something like this:
In most cases, you’re going to call or write a candidate and say, “Sorry, we have selected another candidate whose qualifications better matched our specific criteria. Thanks so much for your interest and best of luck in your job search.” And 99 times out of 100, that will be the end of it. Applicants are not going to know that what you found on your Internet search is what blasted them out of the running.
New ways of background checking bring new legal risks. Learn about the legal issues of Internet background checking in a special April 30 BLR audio conference, Hiring: The Hidden Risks of Using Google, Facebook, MySpace, and Other Websites to Scope Out New and Prospective Hires. Can’t attend? Preorder the CD. Click for more information.
But then will come that one time in 100 that your search comes to light and you get sued (with the risk that the one suit might start attorneys for the other 99 rejects wondering). With that in mind, HR managers have to decide whether they are avoiding enough bad hires to make all that risk worthwhile—and if there are ways to use the Internet in hiring that don’t cross the legal line.
How to decide? We recommend BLR’s upcoming April 30 audio conference Hiring: The Hidden Risks of Using Google, Facebook, MySpace, and Other Websites to Scope Out New and Prospective Hires.
In this 90-minute session, our expert will offer a full briefing on the issues raised in Internet candidate checks. What information you can legally search for. What sites you can legally use. How to evaluate information for accuracy. Where to fear to tread and how to avoid pitfalls that can come back to “byte” you. It’s a chance to find out the facts and the factors involved and then decide, for yourself, whether and how to proceed.
How far can you go in conducting Internet background checks? Find out in our 90-minute audio conference April 30. (Can’t attend? Preorder the CD!) Read more.
The date is Wednesday, April 30, 2008. The time: 1:30 p.m. to 3 pm (Eastern time—adjust for your time zone). As with all BLR audio conferences, one fee trains all the staff you can fit around a conference phone, and your satisfaction is assured or you get a full refund. Can’t attend on that date? Preorder the conference CD.
For more information on the conference and the experts presenting it, to register, or to preorder the CD, click here