Use Social Media for Recruitment

Are you using social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to source, screen, and background check potential employees? If you are avoiding social media sites, you are missing a rich opportunity to mine the Web for talent.

But, the jury's still out on using social media for screening and background checks. My suspicion is that more employers use social media for the checks than are willing to go on record saying so. It's only human for interview team members to search for their candidate's name in Google and other search engines.

Job search experts tell working adults to be careful about what they post publicly on social media sites. They recognize that, on the record - or not, a hiring decision can be influenced by social media posts. You wouldn't want to miss out on your dream job because you commented on a colleague's blog post that you had to be carried out of the party Saturday night. (Of course, people do amazing things at company events - just don't talk about them online in a public forum.)

I interviewed Rob Pickell (pictured), senior vice president of customer solutions at HireRight, Inc. in Irvine, California, a provider of employment background and drug screening solutions.

He says that most employers, out of concern for potential discrimination or negligent hiring charges, are not officially using social media sites for significant screening and background checks, on the record.

Sourcing potential employees is a different story. Most employers use social media to locate qualified candidates if only by tapping into their employees' social networks. But, the number of companies recruiting online grows every day as evidenced by the rapid rise of corporate pages on Facebook and Google+ stated intention to introduce them.

Interested? Take a look at our interview to learn more about sourcing, screening and background checks in social media.

_{Image Copyright Rob Pickell}

More About Social Media Recruitment

• Manage Social Media Job References
• How to Develop a Social Media Policy
• Top Reasons to Participate in Social Media?