MySpace, FaceBook and Other Methods Of Conducting Background Checks
Prompted by an article written by “The Lisa” over at Bruce Clay’s blog entitled “Your Boss Is Not Your Friend”. I wanted to address the issue of conducting social media background checks. In my opinion they do not comply with the FCRA, the governing document of employment screening within the United States. So what do we do if we happen to come across some potentially damaging information about a potential employee, ignore it? What if you were to find out that your employee was secretly planting false information about you, your company or its executives online? If that employee is already working for you then I think you may have grounds for dismissal, but if you are thinking of hiring them can you use this information per the FCRA in a hiring decision? More and more companies are doing so. People have to realize that everything you publish to the interent is being crawled by search engine spiders. That information is in the public domain and usually rather easily accesible. Posting your political views, rants about your job or pictures of you cutting loose on the weekend may not be using your best judgement.
