Whilst we have blogged a little about this topic in the past when looking at the issue of privacy and social networking sites: ‘Social Networking Sites – How Much Does Your Privacy Matter’, I have since discovered some more information on the topic. However, I do not think the topic is being explored and discussed enough at a deeper level, including the legal implications, in the recruitment community or at large.
This post was prompted by attending the recent ‘The Digital Tipping Point’ event in Melbourne, which by the way was great. They did not explore social media in relation to recruitment, yet given all the content it dishes up (most of it fairly personal) one has to really consider the implications from an ethical and legal standpoint.
I guess the main concern is at what point does the ethical turn unethical. In regards to discrimination – when it comes to recruitment it is rife – yes there is anti-discrimination legislation but it does not stop people (as we all well know)! Drink driving is illegal yet does not seem to stop people and that’s when human lives are at stake.
People are entitled to use social networks and to share personal information in a social context without having this information used out of context. I guess that the issues arise when this information is used out of context, which invariably it does and I suspect will just grow. The legal implications of this are yet to be thought through.
My concern is that it may bring the judging and discrimination earlier on in the recruitment process without much basis for it, and so will invariably become a major issue for employers and recruiters.
There are a couple of blog posts around that start to explore the issue, being ‘Is it ethical for a recruiter to google a candidate’ and ‘Conducting free background check on search engines and social networking sites’. One blog post commented that “Recruiters continue to be bound by law to ensure they do not discriminate against a person seeking a job based on race, religion, age and so on.” Borrowing from the movie The Castle “Tell him he’s dreaming!” I suspect we are going to face some hairy times ahead.
I am continuing to explore the issue of ‘social media’ in regards to recruitment and the issues surrounding discrimination and the legal implications. I welcome your thoughts, research and recommendations.
4 Comments
Hi Kelly, its great you are looking into this issue. Have you considered approaching a legal expert for comment?
Deacons have been doing a lot of work in the area of privacy and workplace use of social networking.
http://www.deacons.com.au/legal-services/technology-media-telecommunications/media-releases/media-release.cfm?objid=6383
Thomas.
Hi Thomas
Good suggestion and is something that we will explore. I am also keen to look to the US and see if there have been any legal cases around this as yet.
Regards,
Kelly
Hi Kelly,
Culturally speaking, we certainly are only at the beginning of our understanding of the consequences of our frivolity with our personal information online. As for myself, I’ve always tried to be careful with the information I’ve put out there. However I’m sure I’ve let things slip out that shouldn’t have, that others may have put out things about me I wish they hadn’t, and the web has a long memory…
I think anyone recruiting should understand that online information about a person should be taken with more than just a grain of salt. We’ve had some preparation to do this (do you believe everything you read in the paper?) though we probably still aren’t quite as adept as realising this due to the change in medium.
I would suggest that if a recruiter were to look into a person online that they would have the wherewithal to provide their own context to protect their own opinions about what they may find.
There will always be dilemmas (should an ex-stripper be hired to look after a toddler, say?) but these should always be addressed with the potential employee should they occur.
I hope that common sense will prevail. And if it doesn’t, then maybe it’s not the right place to work for anyway.
Carl.
Kelly it’s a pity you were not at the HR Futures event last week as you could have discussed the topic with Michael Park from Deacons who presented on the legal issues of web 2.0
.
The ethic’s issue is harder, take Kimberley Swann the 16yo sacked for posting on FB that her job was boring, http://specht.com.au/michael/2009/03/03/is-facebook-good-or-bad/. Was it ethical for them to sack her immediately or should they have educated her. The organisation claims to be one of family values so is that how they treat a new member who steps out of line? Not the way parents look after their young.
In some respects we need an education process for recruiters & hiring managers to understand what information adds to the hiring decision around quality of hire vs noise. Add to that how do you really reading information about the real person.
Lots of interesting work to be done here.
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