Do you Research Potential Hires on the Web?

[Evan]

If you did have to hire someone, would you research them on the web? If you did research them, how much bearing would what you found have on your final decision? Would it count as much as a personal interview?

Would you do research and how much would what you found matter?

Absolutely, I would research them. Social networking sites would be one of my first stops, and I'd try to probe a bit into their profile to see what I can learn. Certainly I'd expect people to have a life and post a few personal pictures, but I'd want to see how "risque" people get with what they put online.

I'd compare that to the personal interview and see if it seemed like a match, and whether that ultimately seemed like a fit for me. If they seem are a party animal, and in the interview tell me they're very laid back and would rather learn than go out with friends -- that'd raise a flag. The image they portrayed online seems different, and I'd feel one of them is a lie, and I don't care which, I wouldn't hire them. If they were consistent, and I felt it was a good match, I'd consider the hire.

I also take what people say about themselves as a grain of salt. I'm more interested in what others have to say about them, or what things they can demonstrate competence in.

[billbenson]

That being said, Evan, what does a person with an arrest record do. I have a friend who's brother stole a car, used my friends name, and my friends name is still in databases out there. But take situations where people have had a record. If you put that on your application, it goes straight into the circular file. If you lie, it may come up later. Sure there may be some people that will look beyond it on a job application, but I bet not many.

[Evan]

That being said, Evan, what does a person with an arrest record do?

I have to consider what the charge was, and how it would affect me. If they were arrested for some type of white-collared crime (e.g. misappropriation of funds), I'd consider that more serious than a DUI or drug charge. If I were a furniture delivery company, it'd probably be the opposite, for the same reason.

The best thing to do is be honest. If you explain on the application what it was, the nature of the crime will be most telling. But if you lie on that one question, the issue becomes -- what else have you lied about? And in that case, I'd terminate a person who lied.

[orion_joel]

I think there is possibly another aspect to the criminal record area when hiring as well. Which is frequency. I think how often the person has committed a crime is telling as well.

Whether the crime is something that is likely to happen to your business or not, if there is a record of the person committing a crime multiple times. Then this is likely to flag potential for someone that is opportunistic. The more encounters with Police the more chance that they are going to have more in the future, which can mean potentially time off work and possibly a poor reflection on your business.

On the main topic though, i think that it is entirely a good idea to go and have a look at potential hire's on social networking sites. If they make their profile public, then they are making it open information. It is really not difficult to make your profile private or at least aspects that you may prefer your employer did not see. However if you do silly things like put up compromising pictures, or post off hand bad remarks about previous employers, then you should not be surprised about if you don't get a job because of it.

[sequoiapayroll]

we absolutely research on the web. Background checks, and social networking sites. There have been times we have not hired people based off their facebook page. If an employee is bragging about their party and they have a picture of them doing a keg stand on the web, chances are they will not be hired by us...

[vangogh]

I find that interesting. I completely understand why you wouldn't hire that person, however, having been to college, I can also assure you that most of the other people you're thinking about hiring have done the same thing. The only differencing being the presence of the camera and posting the images in one case. Now if the picture was posted by the person in the picture and they're bragging about partying then sure, don't hire that person based on the bad judgement of posting the picture. If it was someone else who captured and posted the image, then I wonder if it's such a big deal. Depends on the picture to a degree, but like I said the other people you're considering would likely have been doing the same thing and were simply fortunate not to have their indiscretion captured and made public.

[Patrysha]

Yeah, but you have to wonder about the discretion of a person who has that sort of thing open to the world. They aren't likely to be "friend"ed by a prospective employer and so control what information they would have access to by keeping their default profile very sparse.

[vangogh]

I agree if the person posted their own picture, but what about the case where you were doing the same thing everyone else was doing, except you happened to be the one in the picture. I'm thinking of the case where you were openly drunk and I took a picture and posted it on my Facebook page tagged with your name.

[sequoiapayroll]

I find that interesting. I completely understand why you wouldn't hire that person, however, having been to college, I can also assure you that most of the other people you're thinking about hiring have done the same thing. The only differencing being the presence of the camera and posting the images in one case. Now if the picture was posted by the person in the picture and they're bragging about partying then sure, don't hire that person based on the bad judgement of posting the picture. If it was someone else who captured and posted the image, then I wonder if it's such a big deal. Depends on the picture to a degree, but like I said the other people you're considering would likely have been doing the same thing and were simply fortunate not to have their indiscretion captured and made public.

You're right. There are probably people who work for us who have done, and might still do these things. The difference is, I don't know about it. If an individual chooses to place that picture on their page and then they brag about it to all their buddies, for all the world to see, I view this person as unreliable and irresponsible, to a degree. In our profession, as well as most others, we want people we can count on. It's not so much the act, as it is the attitude behind the act...

[billbenson]

If you are doing this for new hires from college or in that age group, you are doing yourself a disservice. College is a maturing process as well as education.