Best Practice for Internet Background Checks? Survey Says…

Of the survey respondents who conducted either Google searches or social media searches:

Concerned about learning too much online?

Twenty-six percent were concerned about learning too much (For example, a candidate’s gender, religion, or race.)

Have your hiring decisions been influenced by what you found online?

Forty-one percent have been positively influenced to hire based on information they found online, while twenty-six percent have turned down a candidate based on what they found online.

Do you visit candidates’ social media pages (e.g., FaceBook pages) as part of your background checking procedures?

Nineteen percent of respondents indicated that they did visit candidates’ social media pages.

For those that do visit candidates’ social media pages, overwhelmingly the HR department does the search.

Of employers who search social media, most perform the search for finalists only.

“Other responses” included the following:

• Applicants that have proceeded through the screening process up to F2F [face-to-face] interview.
• Occasionally for office hires
• Applicants that appear to be a potential candidate, but based on application/resume information, we feel there is reason to check them out a little further before going the next step in the consideration/interview process.

Very few (fewer than 1%) of those who conduct social media searches ask for the applicant’s social media password.

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Do you conduct a Google or similar search?

Of those who do a social media search, the vast majority (80.5 percent) also conduct a Google or similar search on candidates.

Of those who do not conduct social media searches, only about 23.6 percent conduct a Google or similar search.

Comments tended to indicate a “sometimes” approach to doing Google or similar searches, for example:

1. Not often but have done it
2. Some, not all
3. It depends on level of employee
4. I have done this occasionally once a candidate is on board, but not as a practice or rule
5. Not unless we have a suspicion that we need to
6. Not company policy to do so but will quickly look for any red flags

For which candidates is the Google or similar search performed?

Who performs the Google or similar search?

As with the social media searches, most Google or similar searches are performed by the HR Department.

Internet background checks—yet another policy challenge for HR managers. Actually, our editors estimate that for most companies, there are 50 or so policies that need regular updating (or maybe need to be written). It’s easy to let policies slide, but you can’t afford to—your policies are your only hope for consistent and compliant management that avoids lawsuits.

Fortunately, BLR’s editors have done most of the work for you in their extraordinary program called SmartPolicies.

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