February 19, 2020, Comment off

3 Tips for Implementing a Solid Social Media Recruitment Strategy

Although social media recruitment lets you find out a lot about job candidates, the information can cause your company legal issues. In addition to learning about someone’s work ethic, character, and reputation, you also might uncover information on a candidate’s religion, race, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, political affiliation, family status, medical or family issues, or other statuses protected by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). If a candidate isn’t hired and claims discrimination, you cannot say you didn’t know about their protected status when you made your decision. As a result, you need a solid social media recruitment strategy to protect your company. Here are three tips for implementing one.

Define What to Look for on Profiles

Clarify which types of information to focus on candidates’ social media profiles. For instance, hard and soft skills, experience, knowledge, affiliations with professional organizations and other relevant qualifications are important. Look for red flags such as negative posts about past employers, material involving drug or alcohol abuse, crime, dishonesty, and anything else that may indicate misalignment with your company mission, vision or values. Determine whether the information you uncover is congruent with what candidates list on their resumes. If not, the resumes may be inaccurate, potentially taking candidates out of the running. Print the pages with information you use to make hiring decisions. Write down reasons for deciding not to hire a candidate, such as bad judgment, to protect your company in case the content is deleted and your decision is challenged.

Clarify Which Platforms to Check

Determine the specific social media platforms to check for candidates. Focus on platforms that provide the greatest value for the job opening. Whereas some sites, such as LinkedIn, are focused on work history or project portfolios, other sites, such as Instagram, are more geared toward sharing pictures of family and friends. Ask other HR staff to review the platforms with you to ensure an extra layer of independent review. You may uncover something you missed that causes you to hire or exclude a candidate.  

Maintain Context for Information

Keep in mind that not everything you learn from candidates’ social media profiles is relevant to the job opening.  You need to focus on the entire person, not just what you see online. For instance, check whether candidates invested time in creating their profiles. See whether they’re well-connected and participate in professional groups. Uncover whether candidates’ interests match the role they want. Focus on what they share about themselves rather than what others share. Avoid unfairly increasing favoritism and alienating qualified candidates for non-work-related reasons.   

Hire Qualified HR Professionals

Hire qualified HR professionals through Arlington Resources. Our staffing firm handles everything from sourcing, interviewing and skills testing to job offer negotiations, background checks and ongoing follow-up. Reach out to us today.

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