Legal News

05-Jan-2023

How Does Social Media Help in The Hiring Process?

There are times when employers gather information about potential employees from social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, to be able to make a decision about hiring them. The use of social media by recruiters and employers for recruitment is widespread. It includes advertisements of job openings, targeting specific candidates, and performing background checks on job applicants in order to confirm they are qualified for the position.

Even if you don't want to do all of these things, you should use social media at some point during your hiring process in some way. The advantage of this approach is not only that it is less expensive, but it also increases your chances of reaching out to a larger pool of job seekers who are actively seeking a job in the current market.

Identifying prospects

If you are looking for the right candidate for a profile, you have a number of options available to you at your fingertips. You can use your employees as a recruiting tool in order to find new talent - each and every one of them has a social media account. When you encourage your customers to suggest others and to search LinkedIn for connections that will be suitable to work with you, you can help convince them to help you. A job posting through their combined networks will, in many cases, generate some quality candidates, and if they are hired, you may be able to count on them to have connections who may be qualified to fill that position.

Candidate selection

The use of social media platforms for screening candidates is becoming increasingly popular, even though they have a huge database filled with valuable candidates that can be accessed. Social media sites are used to screen candidates by nearly half of those responding to SHRM's research. 60% of firms believe that the use of social media platforms is a valuable means of obtaining more information about a candidate than what can be obtained via an application or resume, as indicated by five out of eight firms.

Social media interviews

Hiring professionals should be aware of the value of an interview via video in their toolbox, as it is an excellent tool for interviewing candidates. Having individuals participate in an interview provides hiring professionals with access to a large talent pool. When candidates have the opportunity to record their answers to pre-set questions, even during a one-way interview, it can be an added benefit to recruitment professionals. Moreover, it allows candidates to complete the interview at their convenience so that it can be accommodated with their busy schedules. It is expected that many companies will get a platform that will allow them to conduct video interviews. Through the interview link that is present on the social media profile of the company on the website, it makes it easy for candidates to take part in the interview.

Making the job offer on social media

Make your offer more personal by making it more specific. A telephone call or a personal meeting would be ideal, though both would be acceptable. You should reach out to the employee on social media platforms as soon as they accept your offer to welcome them and congratulate them for accepting your offer. After the employee has completed his or her first week of work, you should communicate with the employee as soon as possible. It would be best to include a picture and a few details about the new employee, such as their favorite food, quotes, or hobbies, in your proposal. By doing so, the employer announces openly to the new employee that he or she is welcome to the organization, as well as building brand awareness of the organization for the new hire.

The Legal Perspective

Employees and prospective employees may not be required to provide their social media usernames and passwords to employers in all states. The law does not incorporate a number of the latest technological developments that have taken place in the past few years. There are more than half of the states that have passed legislation preventing employers from asking for prospective employees' passwords and usernames, as well as from accessing any social media accounts that they may own. According to New York law, employers are not permitted to ask current or prospective employees for their social media passwords, for example. Texas, Georgia, and California are also three states that do not require job applicants or employees to disclose their social media passwords or access to their accounts in order to be considered for employment. It is still possible for employers to examine publicly available information using social media search engines.

Employers should be aware that there are some risks involved in searching for information available online, and employees should also be aware that employers can access private or unconsidered information from employees at any time. When a company uses social media channels to conduct the hiring process, the company can be held liable if the company uses those channels in relation to the hiring process.

Possibilities for discrimination

Employers can use social media as a means of discriminating against job applicants based on their protected classes. The law may require a company to target their social media advertising in order to receive a certain audience, for example, based on race, national origin, age, or even sex of the audience. In addition to a violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, as well as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, an employer who posts a job ad that targets advertising may also be in violation of the Law. It is also possible that it might violate the laws at the local or state level as well. As a consequence of this, it is likely that there will be disparities in treatment or disparities in impacts.

Quite often, employers will look at the profiles of job applicants on social media in order to figure out if they are a good match for the job. The practice of recruiting for desirable candidates can result in discrimination claims, but it is also used for the purpose of finding desirable candidates. Various protected characteristics, such as race, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, and disability, may not be included in a resume, for example, national origin, religion, and a disability. The possibility of filing a claim against a prospective employer for anti-discrimination purposes might exist if you can demonstrate that the prospective employer's social media search result was the result of information about your off-duty activities or protected class membership and resulted in an adverse impact on your job candidacy.

There was one case, for instance, in which the plaintiff was denied employment for a position for which he was more than qualified. During the course of the search process for potential committee members, a committee member discovered statements on his personal website that expressed skepticism regarding evolution. Due to the findings of the court, in that case, the company was found to have had a religious motive for refusing to hire the plaintiff.

Consumer Reporting Agency Background Checks

Almost every employer conducts a social media background check through a third-party consumer reporting agency as part of their hiring process. It is done to avoid obtaining information about protected statuses in order to protect the employer from legal action. However, no matter what this situation is, consumer report providers are required to comply with the FCRA regulations when providing notice to employers of potential requests for consumer reports as a part of the FCRA procedures.

Conclusion

The ability to connect with candidates via social media can be one of the most powerful tools in the arsenal of any recruiter. In spite of the fact that social platforms are no longer as effective as they once were when it comes to recruiting, they have become ideal tools for doing so. Among all the companies, social media is the most commonly used tool for recruiting, according to a study that was conducted by Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM). There is evidence that, according to the company iDigic, 80% of companies are currently using this technology, and 10% plan to use it in the future. When it comes to recruiting through social media channels, how you use them is crucial to the success of your campaign. In order to stand out from the crowd when recruiting through social media platforms, you will need innovative and exciting recruiting strategies.