Preemployment Screening and Social Media While it’s not a standard practice to consider potential employee’s social media presence during the application process, it might become so in the future as technology continues to improve and people spend more and more time interacting online. That was the focus of an ASIS International Information Asset Protection and Pre-Employment Screening Council (IAPPES) conference call. Thirty six states have introduced laws, or have legislation pending, that prevent employers from requiring employees to provide them with their social media account passwords after they’re hired, but there is still a lack of legislation about using social media in the hiring process, says Rosen. And while there have been a few court cases involving employee use of social media after they have been hired and what employers can do, there have not been cases addressing the use of social media activity or content as a disqualifier in the hiring process, he explains. Even as far back as 2011, according to a survey by the Society of Human Resource Management, 30 percent indicated that they used “social networking information to disqualify job candidates,” according to, a white paper written by Employment Screening Resources in 2012. The paper also noted that at that time, there had been no court decisions on the issue of using an applicant’s Internet presence as a factor in the hiring process.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Sep 2013 23:53:00 +0000