Talking to a VP of HR I know and respect last week. Topic of googling candidates to find out more about them came up. Guess what? My friend told me that he has instructed his recruiters not to google candidates as he feels it's an intrusion of privacy and a potential legal risk.
Guess what my response was?
Right – "You are C.R.A.Z.Y.! Have you lost your mind?"
After diving a layer deeper in the conversation, it turns out my friend had attended a conference where
someone talked about legal risks of making rejection decisions based on what you find online. Additionally, you wouldn't define my friend as a member of the digital revolution. He waxes poetic about the dangers of the blackberry. His VCR, bought in the 80's at "SoundsGreat", undoubtedly is blinking 12:00 AM as I write this.
But enough about him. Do you google candidates? Do you feel bad about doing it? If you aren't doing it (time investment – 60 seconds), why not? If you feel bad, why?
Here are my cliff notes on why you should be googling candidates:
1. You are an agent of your company – it's your job to get the inside scoop on candidates. The world's not always a happy place. Put your helmet on and get in the game.
2. The legal risk of not doing it will ultimately outweigh the risk of doing it. Let's say you hire a stalker, who ultimately starts stalking one of your employees. Turns out you could have seen an article with the employee's name in it by googling. Didn't show up in your background check because it was too fresh. Think the liability is stronger by googling or not googling? If you said not googling, go back to the start of the article and read it again.
3. You've got cover, my friend. There are hundreds of reasons you might reject a candidate, and you don't tell the candidate any of them. Does "We love your background, but we have elected to make an offer to a candidate who is a more direct match to our needs.." ring a bell?
If you aren't googling, get in the game, skippy. If you're reading a Talent blog, you're probably already digital enough to be in the game in a big way. Sadly, lots of your peers aren't.
You owe it to your company to generate as much information about your candidates as possible; that includes googling their names. Consider it a checkpoint reference early in the process. It would be irresponsible to ignore this due diligence step.
What needs care is that there are usually several people with the same name in this world, and you need to make sure any negative info discovered is correctly attributed to your candidate. Also, as Kris stated, HOW you communicate information you have found to a candidate is critical, and could have legal ramifications. But, we would all agree its better to find out something negative up front rather than after the hire!
Every year I talk to 8th graders about the importance of making a good first impression. I used to hammer them on tattoos. Now I hammer them on their web image.
I also work with Job Seekers now on their web image.
I look at it this way, if you show up to an interview dressed sloppily, I form an impression. If you choose to put yourself out their publicly on the web, I form an impression. Those impressions play into everything I know about you.
Do I do sneaky things to get access to someone’s Facebook page, or private twitter account? Nope.
If it’s public it’s all part of who you are.
Speaking as a former manager, recent adult grad in HRM and current potential candidate, I agree with using Google and that it’s part of due diligence.
A major discussion in Employment Law was the fact that it is the job of companies, hiring managers, and HR to MANAGE risk, not avoid it.
Living and networking in Silicon Valley, I hear quite frequently from professionals about their privacy issues, to which I also respond, it’s a matter of managing the issue, not avoiding it.
Candidates, you don’t want someone to know about your private life? Don’t put it out there. Put out what you DO want known. Make your presence one that will work as your advocate.
Karen E. Brennan
What happens when you Google someone’s name, find an article indicating that this person is a stalker, and then don’t hire them based on that information. And then find out that there’s actually another person out there with the same name (maybe even in the same greater metropolitan area).
The internet is a great source of information, but not all info is created equal.
There are so many people with the same name, especially in big cities, that it seems to me googling a candidates name is practically pointless and would take a lot more than 60 seconds to find correct matches to the actual person the employer is trying to find information on.
The best way to protect yourself from a recruiter or HR manager from finding someone with the same name as yours but with a shaddy past on the net is to BE ON THE NET… fill out a linkedIn detailed profile, a facebook page, etc. The more detailed you make yourself online, the harder it will be for them to mistake you for someone else.
I actually think it would be considered a lapse in your professional responsibilities if you didn’t google the candidate you’re about to interview… at least I would bet most CEO would see it that way.