RiskAware's Social Media Searches combine our research and sophisticated technology to gather social media profile information on your candidate, reported to you in full compliance with law.
Research indicates as much as 77% of employers routinely “google” candidate’s names to learn risks or social behaviors that indicate suitability for a position and/or for fitting into the company culture.
Employers agree that performing Social Media Searches help organizations:
Social Media Searches can positively represent applicant’s personality, communication style, interests, creativity, image, references, as well as endorse qualifications, promote awards, and demonstrate an ability to fit in well with the company’s culture.
Social Media searches can reveal negative attributes when language, communication skills, or photographs are inappropriate, sexual posts, indications of drinking, drug, or gun use, criminal behavior, lies about qualifications, or undesirable attitudes that may jeopardize company harmony.
An applicant’s social profiles often reveal information such as a candidate’s interests, hobbies, or family histories that better indicate suitability for a particular job.
Social Media checks help employers avoid negligent hiring or retention lawsuits that might be brought when social media indicates a risk of workplace violence. By reviewing Social Media reports, employer can better meet a reasonable standard of care for avoiding hiring someone who “they should have known” presented a foreseeable risk.
But when employers perform their own social media screenings, these searches often violate applicant’s legal rights provided by FCRA, EEOC, and state laws, causing the following pitfalls:
Whether intended or not, when viewing Social Media employer can discover information on applicant age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, marital status, religious affiliation, disability, medical condition, and/or political or labor organization opinions. Once viewed, this information cannot be unlearned. Even if a candidate is excluded from employment for a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason, the fact that the employer has observed this information exposes risk to discrimination lawsuits claiming disparate treatment or impact.
When using Social Media there is no guarantee information is factual, correct, or related to the individual being searched. This invites the possibility of incorrectly prejudging a person’s ability using wrong, inaccurate, or irrelevant information.
Many employers lack a process for disclosing intent to perform a social media check or for gaining candidate consent. This make it more difficult to share results that affect decisions, and provide opportunity for candidate’s to challenge, verify, or establish the information as incorrect.
Employers must hurdle some ethical concerns that accessing Social Media Search information may violate employers and applicant’s right to privacy.
Searching internet social media is a resource intensive, manual effort engages hours of key word and name searches across scores of web sites and search engines. Sometimes this requires specialized systems knowledge to expertly find and access data. Many organizations find the job of manually purging the internet for candidate information takes too long, is impractical and even frustrating. It is also a challenge to produce a repeatable, consistent, and compliant search result.
RiskAware’s Social Media Screening leverages state of the art technology to deliver fully-compliant reports you can utilize in your hiring decisions. Here’s an overview of the process:
By combining the power of sophisticated internet search technology with the research skills of our FCRA certified Licensed Private Investigators, we are able to comb the deep web for comprehensive social profile data on your candidate, then examine it for accuracy and legal compliance.
RiskAware’s Social Media Screening Key Benefits:
RiskAware applies its core competencies in directing screening services and incorporating knowledge on federal and state laws, FCRA, and EEOC regulations on each Social Media Search.
By engaging RiskAware as a 3rd party for Social Media screens, you stay protected from the risk of learning details about candidate which should otherwise remain outside of your employment process, giving you peace of mind.
By using RiskAware you are assured that information obtained from the internet is matched to your candidate, and that any found negative information is further investigated and confirmed at the source.
RiskAware’s process and technology offers a more consistent, objective, and repeatable Social Media Screening process for uncovering candidates legal and relevant attributes, attitudes and interests, when making a decision.
RiskAware’s social media service is integrated with RiskAware’s Background Check Screening software for easy order entry and streamlined final reports.
RiskAware will not require or utilize passwords to obtain information from social media accounts, and will not contact or “friend” your applicant.
Our technology and licensed private investigators save you time by removing the need for you to know where, how, and what social media sites to search for candidate social profile information when making hiring decisions.
Our Social Media Checks Are Comprehensive and Compliant
RiskAware works with top national and regional Human Resource / Employment legal counsel to gain opinion and remain informed on laws and regulations relating to Social Media Reporting policies and practices. RiskAware’s FCRA Certified Private Licensed Investigators train continually and remain up-to-date on anti-discrimination law. As well, we are guided by the latest in Social Media Research especially that of our founder.
RiskAware’s Checklist of Social Media FCRA and Legal compliance: