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Can Your Digital Footprint Keep You Unemployed? – Pt. 1

By Willette Coleman ©2016

What does your online life say about your character?  That’s what Hiring Managers (HMs) want to know.  Through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Tinder, tumblr, blogs, Youtube and other social media, even emails and credit reporting agencies, employers are snooping into your online activities and getting to know you without your knowledge; blurring the public/privacy line. More than half of employers now use social media to screen job candidates, poll says; even send friend requests a Cleveland.com/business headline read.  So, when managers say “We’ll do a background check,” they might not tell you to what extent.

If HMs see naked pictures/sexting (women judged more harshly than men?); photos of alcohol/drug consumption; of you, friends or family members making gang signs, wearing gang paraphernalia; read profane and/or hateful blame/shame comments; threats/bullying, being down right rude/crude; criticism of jobs or colleagues; memberships in questionable circles and organizations; false information, poor communication skills including grammar that looks like alphabet soup, will it matter?  “What you say online matters…and what your friends say matters too,” Leigh Goessl said in Does Your Internet Reputation Matter to Employers?

A Career Builder study found that “provocative photos on the candidate’s social media profile” was “the biggest factor influencing their decision not to hire an applicant.”  ReputationManagement.com reported that statistics suggest 56 percent of U.S. employers “are influenced by ‘inappropriate comments and text’ posted by the applicant; 55 percent are influenced by ‘unsuitable photos, video and information’ and 43 percent by ‘inappropriate’ postings by friends and relatives.”

Clearly, if there’s any shadow of a doubt, an applicant will be rejected.  And, since life is mostly about what and how people perceive, perception plays a major role in a HMs assessment of a job applicant’s online behavior.
(HeadsUp ~ A dirty (or perceived dirty) online presence could also impact budding entrepreneurs’ applications for grants or loans.)

Is it Legal?
Robert McHale warned employers that Using Facebook To Screen Potential Hires Can Get You Sued, regarding:
–Discrimination (race, age, gender, disability, and so on.).  Despite violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964, implicit racism moves some HMs to discriminate against people of color.  Can Black people or older people be targeted based on their photo?
–Invasion of privacy. Controversy as to whether the Constitution expressly protects privacy in the Bill of Rights continues, so you’d need compelling proof.
–“Of Duty” laws. In some states, your non-working hours activities are nobody’s business but your own.  New York’s job candidates and employees’ “lawful recreational activities, including political activities, during nonworking hours” are protected under Labor Code § 201-d.
(HeadsUp ~  To check your state’s or territory’s “Off-duty” laws, type the name of your state/territory and “off-duty laws” in a search engine.)
–Free Speech. This could become entangled in “a dog chasing its tail” dispute, despite the merits based on the Bill of Rights’ First Amendment.

In addition to being sued, Roni Jacobson cautioned that, Facebook Snooping on Job Candidates May Backfire for Employers by damaging their rep.  The Journal of Business and Psychology found that “when job applicants realize an organization has viewed their social media profile, they are less likely to perceive the hiring process as fair, regardless of whether they were offered the position.”  HeadsUp ~ Industrial psychology is a lucrative career.

Honest, diligent and a formal process, similar to the guidelines in the Chartered Institute of Professional Development, could go a long way to circumvent violating federal and state laws, including Fair Credit Reporting (FCRA), and maintaining an employers’ integrity.  In the spirit of transparency, HMs could – a) provide a short paragraph on the application informing applicants up front, b) ask applicants’ permission to view their social media, c) offer the option to sign a written consent.  It would certainly look good to offer an applicant the opportunity to respond to questionable activity.

*This is a three-part series. Check out part 2 of this series here! Interested in writing for our Guest Blogger series? Email info@perkconsulting.net.
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Willette Coleman is a career planning and scholarship coach.  Her blog is www.careernscholarshipscoach.blogspot.com.