{"id":2269,"date":"2010-02-08T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-08T21:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2010\/02\/the-illegality-of-facebook-due-diligence\/"},"modified":"2010-02-08T15:13:50","modified_gmt":"2010-02-08T21:13:50","slug":"the-illegality-of-facebook-due-diligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2010\/02\/the-illegality-of-facebook-due-diligence\/","title":{"rendered":"The Illegality Of Facebook Due Diligence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Well, there isn\u2019t any precedence yet, according to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/business\/83725197.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7aiU\" target=\"_blank\">this StarTribune article<\/a>.\u00a0 Clearly the proper use of social networking sites during background checks for candidates is going to be a tremendously important legal topic soon.\u00a0 This topic has been percolating for some time.\u00a0 The article references an obvious starting point:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;We can suggest to employers that they include in their application process some statement that says &#8216;we do reference checking including use of information in the public domain&#8217; and to make it broad enough that if they discover something online it&#8217;s fair game,&#8221; Ridley said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I have always been one to note that the Internet IS a public domain so anything a candidate chooses to post online should be usable.\u00a0 That only seems logical to me, but I know there are others who see it differently.\u00a0 From the article:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Professional recruiter Gillian Gabriel said she doesn&#8217;t use Facebook in her screening process. Instead, Gabriel said, she uses sites like the professionally oriented LinkedIn where people often are looking for job and career connections. Gabriel also looks at blog connections posted on a candidate&#8217;s LinkedIn page.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Whatever they put out there is fair game,&#8221; Gabriel said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cFair game\u201d seems to be the preferred phrase for this topic.\u00a0 Anyway, LinkedIn and blogs seem like a good starting point.\u00a0 I would still choose to look at Facebook also.\u00a0 I like to know as much as possible about a candidate and if it is online, I\u2019m going to read it.\u00a0 Just being real.<\/p>\n<p>One last note that caught my eye from the article:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Schmedemann said employers are turning to social media because they &#8220;are under pressure to hire carefully&#8221; in an economy where there are plenty of job seekers and few jobs. &#8220;People fake their r\u00e9sum\u00e9s much more than they used to,&#8221; she said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Great point.\u00a0 The difficult job market does lead to desperate acts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well, there isn\u2019t any precedence yet, according to this StarTribune article.\u00a0 Clearly the proper use of social networking sites during background checks for candidates is going to be a tremendously important legal topic soon.\u00a0 This topic has been percolating for some time.\u00a0 The article references an obvious starting point: &#8220;We can suggest to employers that they include in their application process some statement that says &#8216;we do reference checking including use of information in the public domain&#8217; and to make it broad enough that if they discover something online it&#8217;s fair game,&#8221; Ridley said. I have always been one to note that the Internet IS a public domain so anything&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2010\/02\/the-illegality-of-facebook-due-diligence\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,16,33,15],"tags":[199,443,1519,52,1520,38,1761],"class_list":["post-2269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hiring","category-hiring-salespeople","category-networking","category-sourcing","tag-background-check","tag-candidate-sourcing","tag-due-diligence","tag-facebook","tag-reference-check","tag-sales-hiring","tag-sourcing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-AB","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2412,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2010\/08\/pandoras-box-known-as-facebook\/","url_meta":{"origin":2269,"position":0},"title":"Pandora&#8217;s Box Known As Facebook","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"August 25, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"There has been much discussion about the use of social networking for candidate background checks.\u00a0 I have always been in favor of allowing companies to search through anything posted online \u2013 it is in the public domain. However, this German law does provide a bit more detail: For example, employers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":185,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/07\/questions-for-the-interviewer\/","url_meta":{"origin":2269,"position":1},"title":"Questions for the Interviewer","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"July 24, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Tory Johnson from abcnews.com has a helpful article titled Turn the Tables in a Job Interview. She discusses what candidates should ask in an interview when the interviewer asks, \"What questions do you have?\" I'm always perplexed by candidates who simply state \"None.\" That response is always a red flag.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1122,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/08\/wipe-your-facebook\/","url_meta":{"origin":2269,"position":2},"title":"Wipe Your Facebook","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"August 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The thought of using social networking sites as part of a candidate background check has been debated greatly in recent months. I have to confess, I am of two minds on the topic. Foxnews.com offers up an interesting story titled Job Hunters Hire Pros to Clean Up Online Profiles. Some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":769,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/03\/reference-checks\/","url_meta":{"origin":2269,"position":3},"title":"Reference Checks","author":"Lee Fratzke","date":"March 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I came across an article on Monster this morning that identifies fives mistakes you want to avoid for reference checks. The article is a quick read, but here are the five mistakes to avoid: Not Checking at All Lack of Consistency Making the Job Offer Contingent on a Reference Check\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":482,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/12\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\/","url_meta":{"origin":2269,"position":4},"title":"Do or Do Not.  There Is No Try.","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"December 6, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"We're sourcing for an outside sales position in a sunny climate (not here in Minnesota) and had a candidate respond to an ad. He has tremendous industry experience and was good on the phone screen. He was quite inquisitive and asked strong questions about our customer and their market position.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring Salespeople&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring Salespeople","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/hiring-salespeople\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1743,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/09\/social-network-sleuthing\/","url_meta":{"origin":2269,"position":5},"title":"Social Network Sleuthing","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"September 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Let me state my position - I believe employers should research all sites when considering a candidate for hire.\u00a0 That includes social-networking sites.\u00a0 I know there are arguments for both sides of this new debate and I am not completely sold on my position.\u00a0 However, it appears that the trend\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2269"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2270,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2269\/revisions\/2270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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