Hiring/ Human Resources ethics question

[Clementine orange]

Hi, I've a bit of a dilemma here. I sit on a committee in charge of hiring some new people and we are presently going through stacks and stacks of resumes.

 

A couple of ethical questions

 

1.) How ethical is it to google search applicants to see find out more about them? What about checking out their Facebook/Myspace etc?

 

2.) What if applicant "Joe" says (on his resume) that he used to work at company ABC and my friend works at company ABC. Is it ethical of me to call my friend for their opinion on "Joe". My friend was not used as a reference but I would trust my ABC friend's judgement/opinion of "Joe"

[Cognitive_Canine]

1) yes. It is a social network site and anything put on their is a fair representation of them. I know that a lot of job employers do this now. Also, if they have a poor image on the page, it can poorly reflect the company.

 

2) No, because it gives you a biased opinion.

[Clabs]

Hi Clemantine

 

I would say it is fine to look on those social sites - they are afterall, public.

 

So far as calling another company who have not necessarily been put down as a reference, then sure - that is fine too. Certainly, here in the UK, companies are reluctant to write anything too negative for fear of a lawsuit. I find it so much more telling to have an off the record chat with a previous employer to see if there were any issues with the applicant ie - they may not have done anything that deserved warnings etc but they may have just been a pain!

 

Hope this helps.

 

Mark

[avman]

1) Yes, totally ethical. Myspace/facebook and all that is public information. If they put it out there it is fair game.

 

2) That depends. Is it this person's current employer? If so then I wouldn't contact them because you could get them fired by letting their company know they are job searching. That wouldn't be very nice. But if it's a previous employer and they don't work there now, then I think you should call your friend up and ask their opinion. You will get a far more accurate answer than any references that are listed. Most job applicants will only list references that they know will be glowing.

[fragmint]

i think both are ethical and totally free territory. youre only looking out for the best interests of your business. the person above is right, people only put down references they know will say only good things. i think asking your friend a little bit isnt too bad and you can probably get a more honest answer.

[riley123]

1. If it's out there then its public information.

2. I'm on the fence about this one. I suppose you could ask for your friend's opinion, but I believe you should place more weight and emphasis on the references answers.

[JadedStar]

Both are common practice in the HR/Recruiting Industry.

[bulletproof]

I agree with the others that if we are willing to put our info out on myspace, etc., we have to accept the consequences. Particularly if we're using our real name and images to do so. People have the option of keeping things private on those sites, and if they don't, so be it.

 

Regarding calling your friend, I think you should do it if you feel you can maintain an open mind about it. That is, take it with a grain of salt and take into consideration all the details if there is in fact anything negative said.

[Alezia]

1. I would totally not do. Anyone can pretend to be anyone on these websites. I'm not sure how accurate it can really be.

 

2. As long as it's not at his current job where it could put his current position at risk.

[JadedStar]

1. I would totally not do. Anyone can pretend to be anyone on these websites. I'm not sure how accurate it can really be.

 

2. As long as it's not at his current job where it could put his current position at risk.

 

Managers who do number one typically won't make a selection/hiring decision based on their findings. They would instead perhaps use the info as an area to probe and research further if they find something that might be a negative reflection of the candidate as it pertains to their employment history.

 

Using myspace or google to find out what the candidate does in his or her extracurricular time is not done to my knowledge or if it is it isn't common HR practice.

 

Just a word to the wise to anyone who uses myspace - social networking tools like myspace and facebook are being used more and more by recruiters and HR folks so if you don't want your business out in the street as it were be careful of what you post or keep your page private.

[hers]

I have mixed feelings about it all. On one hand, if they don't want their personal life aired out there to be searched for in cases like this, they have the option of making their profile private. If they still don't want to be found, they can use afake name/email (which is what I do on top of private profiles). On the other hand, a myspace/facebook does not accurately reflect, I think, on a person's work ethic. However, if they are shown doing things that are questionable (such as half nude pictures or something), then that coudl be a different story.

 

I read a story about a guy who worked for a Budweiser shipping company, and his company looked him up on myspace, which was public, and he had pictures of him drinking Miller Lite or something. He ended up being fired.

 

As for the second question, I think asking a friend of yours who wasn't listed as a reference is a little unfair, especially if that person says "Oh yeah, he kissed my girlfriend in high school! Don't hire him!" It can get a little biased.

 

I dunno if any of that helps.

[JadedStar]

Either/or, just know that companies do use social networking tools a lot and recruiting seminars tout it as the next best thing to sliced bread.....whether it is ethical for a manager to USE that info they find is one thing, but if they can or will find it is another. It is absolutely legit for them to look if they want as it is all public record.

[hers]

Either/or, just know that companies do use social networking tools a lot and recruiting seminars tout it as the next best thing to sliced bread.....whether it is ethical for a manager to USE that info they find is one thing, but if they can find it is another. It is absolutely legit for them to look if they want as it is all public record.

 

Oh for sure--I've heard of MANY companies doing it!

 

I have a lot of clients myself, and they hire me; I don't hire them. But even so, sometimes, I get nosy and bored and look up their names on myspace/facebook/google (really bored). I actually just saw that one of my clients has a recurring guest spot on Army Wives (tv show on Lifetime) by googling her.

 

Everyone does it. I think it's normal.

[JadedStar]

Oh for sure--I've heard of MANY companies doing it!

 

I have a lot of clients myself, and they hire me; I don't hire them. But even so, sometimes, I get nosy and bored and look up their names on myspace/facebook/google (really bored). I actually just saw that one of my clients has a recurring guest spot on Army Wives (tv show on Lifetime) by googling her.

 

Everyone does it. I think it's normal.

 

Yea, i don't think you can get around it. It is so easy to google. That is why i keep my real name off the net as much as possible. LOL

[CaptainPlanet]

I don't think ethics matter as HR and recruitment consultants are usually not very nice people in my experience.

 

I think the point of an interview and assessment is to determine how suitable the applicant is you're never going to get the whole truth from a single persons opinion about another worker. So you get them to put forward 3 referee's so you at least know 3 people think they are decent.

 

The probationary period exists so if the personal is really bad they can be gotten rid of quickly. There is no reason, aside from pettiness to go snooping around. Personally if I had employees I wouldn't care what they did in their private lives and would hope it remained that way, private.

 

A background check on all of their past employers and calling people without authorization is immoral in my opinion wouldn't lead to a better picture of what the person was like. Life has taught me people are biased and will seldom tell the truth about another persons performance for purely work related reasons. It'll always be how much they liked that person. Engaging a person in workplace politics from day one is not the best way to find a hard worker.

 

Thats just my opinion coming from jobs where you actually need to work. IF you're just looking for a pretty person to do nothing and be a dynamic team member in an office somewhere - gossiping about them with past employers is probably a great way to start.

[Clementine orange]

Thanks everyone for the advice. During our hiring committee meeting, I rather sheepishly admitted that I checked out facebook on some of the more promising applicants. This was greeted with gales of laugher from the "pros" on the committee who said they had done it too (and not sheepishly at all) and it proved to be a decideding factor in granting interviews.

 

For the life of me, I don't know why some people have open Facebook profiles! I will just leave it at that...

 

As far as my other question (references who aren't given) apparently where I work, this is common practice as well. I work in a very close knit, narrow feild where everyone sort of knows each other and the networking is very strong. One really can't afford to make enemies in this career choice thats for sure.

[DakotaSkye]

1. Yes, I'd say it's ethical to look at Myspace and/or Facebook to find out more about a person. I used to think that was wrong, like, "this is MY page, it's for fun and I should be able to say whatever I want." But now my opinion is, if it's public, it's fair game. I personally make my Facebook private because I don't want anyone but my friends seeing it, even though there really isn't anything to hide. It just makes me uncomfortable thinking that reputable companies are seeing everything from my relationship status to what my friends are writing to me on my wall, which may or may not include profanity and inappropriate language. As far as Myspace, I just make myself unsearchable by omitting a lot of information about myself, like my last name and my exact location. It doesn't matter who you are; if you want to view someone's public data, you should be able to do that.

 

2. I also think the second scenario is appropriate. Besides, isn't that what references are? Someone you used to work with who can attest to your working ability, etc. As far as a bias, I definitely wouldn't put a whole lot of weight on what someone says about a possible employee, whether it's a reference they put down or a reference you came up with, but if you trust that person's judgement, I see no harm in asking a buddy about "Joe." As long as it's not your only means of judgement.