Had the pleasure of listening to our very own Molly DiBianca speak at AEIS in Nashville last week. Her session addressed using social media and Internet searches to find information on applicants, and two of her points really jumped out at me.

1. You don’t have to fear using the Internet as a way to research applicants. In fact, a lot of the information out there striking fear into the hearts of HR professionals who want to use the Internet as a tool in their hiring process is produced by companies that  do your background checks. When you use the Internet instead of their services, they lose money.

2. There is a very simple way to protect yourself from hiring discrimination claims when you use the Internet to research applicants.  Wait to look online for information about applicants until you’ve narrowed down the pool to your final few (this will save you time, too). Put together a list of  the good (e.g., relevant, well-written blog posts) and bad (e.g., pictures of or references to drug use or bashing of current or former employer/boss/manager) and where you want to look for the information (Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.). Give that list to a trustworthy employee who isn’t connected to the hiring decision, and have her perform the search, making note only of the specific items you are looking for. If your searcher finds something on the list, have her take a screen shot, print it out, and staple the printout to a copy of the list. Give those information bundles to the person making the hiring decision. That way, since you and your hiring manager will never  actually see the applicant’s Facebook page, etc., you can’t be accused of not hiring him because of his membership in a protected category.

Does this sound like practical advice? Anyone else have any secrets to researching applicants on the Internet?

– Celeste Blackburn