Social Media Screening: Doing it the AI way

Ding! Isn’t that how your phone gives you a heads-up when there is a social media notification? Social media has become an integral part of our lives, and our social media profiles are becoming our new individual identity for us. How far is this going?

Seven in ten employers say that their hiring teams use social media to screen candidates. Social media screening for employment is gaining traction and is no longer a ‘taboo’ that employers once shied away from. Instead, employers are found turning their focus toward social media screening to assess candidates’ credibility, professionalism, and trustworthiness. And what’s more? Solution providers are emerging with social media screening tools powered by AI to help meet org-level requirements.

Read more: Social Media Screening: A Friend or Foe?

Rise Above 2020, a confluence of HR & Payroll professionals witnessed Darrin Lipscomb, Founder, and CEO at Ferretly, helm an interesting session that explored the risks that organizations could unearth by screening through an applicant’s social media footprint. The session focused on educating organizations to understand how AI can be used to screen candidates and monitor employee posts to mitigate these risks.

A few excerpts from his session, edited for clarity, are as follows.

–“We are seeing an explosion of defamation cases, workplace harassment, discrimination, and more. And what your employees say online can make you liable. And this damage to your reputation can often lead to loss of customers, revenues, and even employees. Just to give you a quick real-world example, you might remember the Virgin Atlantic incident. This happened back in 2018 when thirteen cabin crew members were fired after they made candid comments on Facebook about the airline, passengers, and even the planes. Social media screening can play a critical role to mitigate these risks. Existing screening approaches fail to answer critical questions such as: is this employee a good fit for our team, how have they spoken about past employers publicly and how do they treat others.”

–“Hiring managers can easily see information from social media that can prejudice their decisions. There should be a 3-step process. Number one – the best practice is to document your social media screening policy. The second step – use a provider who is both CRA and EEOC-compliant. Thirdly, get consent from the applicant. This will allow you to stay objective and also provide a more thorough and unbiased analysis of your candidates’ social media.”

–“Employers have realized that screening an employee when they join the organization is like a snapshot, frozen in time. It does not provide an appropriate picture of who your employee is today, and that’s where continuous background screening comes into play. Through continuous screening, especially as it relates to social media, we can often decide on the well-being and current risk to your employees, your branding, and yes, even your customers.”

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Tune-in to a fireside chat where Ferrretly’s Darrin Lipscomb and Neeyamo’s Vivek Khanna discuss the dos and don’ts, and the how’s and why’s of social media screening. See you there!