Thanks to the internet and the explosion of social media websites, employers can gather a lot of information about a candidate from a simple Google search. Here is what you can glean from Googling a candidate:
Skills and Accomplishments You can discover a lot about a candidate’s career and accomplishments if they keep an online portfolio. Depending upon your industry, you’ll be able to see real samples of their work, and it gives you a way to match up the skills and qualifications listed on their resumes with actual, real-world examples.
Knowledge Base If a candidate participates in industry forums online, you’ll be able to locate their profiles and their forum questions and answers. This can give you a good understanding of their true knowledge base, and will also give you a handle on how well they are able to communicate with others.
Character and Behavior Someone may seem like a lovely person in an interview setting, but their online footprint could tell a different story. Scan their public social profiles to see whether or not they present themselves in a professional manner, and look for any mentions of previous employers. It’s important to locate a candidate that you can trust not to bad mouth the organization when they’re having a bad day at work. If you notice a lot of posts during the work day, this shows that they may not be as focused on their work as they should be.
What Not To Do While Googling candidates is a standard practice, there are some internet research techniques that can land employers in hot water. Be careful to avoid the following scenarios:
- Don’t purchase information from third parties, as many of these organizations do not follow federal privacy laws.
- Don’t look for anything you wouldn’t ask for in an application. While it’s easy to determine age, race, ethnicity, and family status from an internet search, if you’re using that information to make potentially discriminatory decisions, you could find yourself in a heap of trouble.
- Judging legal, after-hours activities is never advisable, unless you can prove that those activities would prevent the person from doing their job well.
If you’re looking for assistance or advice when it comes to your hiring process, contact Cutting Edge Recruiting Solutions today. We are a top-tier recruiting consultant firm in Boca that can help your business create strong hiring practices to locate and hire the right talent to drive your business forward. We are connected to a large, diverse candidate pool of professionals at all levels, and we offer consulting services to help with both your short and long-term recurring needs. Contact us to learn more.
