They are snooping on your Facebook account

“A lot of people blog regularly, expressing their views on an array of subjects. But if they have very strong views on a particular topic, it’s advisable for them to restrict its viewing,” cautions Sangeeta Lala, vice president of recruitment firm TeamLease Services Private Limited.

Speaking about how the Internet has become a great enabler, Lala says the Web is a great resource for companies to do their last minute background checks to make sure they are hiring the right person.

“While freedom of speech is everybody’s right, one must know where to draw the line,” she says, urging job seekers to check their tone and image on the Net. In an age where every blog entry, photo upload and post on Twitter or Facebook are stored forever and can be viewed by all, it only makes sense to do so.  

While TeamLease usually limits its searches to professional networking sites such as Linkedin and Ryze (and of course the Great God Google),  the company wouldn’t hesitate to probe further if something controversial or of bad taste popped up (such as racist comments or even whistle blowing, for that matter).

Tarun Hukku, who has worked in the HR domain for long and won an industry recruitment award for creating and using social and professional media networks for recruitment, elaborates on this growing practice.

According to Hukku, there are two aspects to social media activity. There is static content, which essentially refers to one’s online profile (more like a CV) and dynamic content, ie status updates on sites like Twitter, Facebook and discussion boards.

Companies do an online search, he says, “to understand the person better in order to determine if he fits the role.” And discussion boards and the like do provide an insight into an individual’s personality, says Hukku “as that’s a forum where one reacts impulsively”.
A recruiter doesn’t always run a thorough online search, says Hukku — it depends on the position one is hiring for. “For a fresher it’s usually more of a cursory glance, unless something raises a red flag. Whereas for senior/top management posts, recruiters  tend to look beyond the obvious.”

Explaining why, he says, “If it’s a decision-making position, a person’s views and persona are of importance to the company.” 

To get a sense of why companies are relying on online searches, Hukku explains: “In the US and to a limited extent in India, for senior positions, potential candidates are invited to play a round of golf. In those few hours, the recruiter spends time in proximity with the person and his reactions on the golf course provide a window into the potential employee’s ethics, beliefs etc. Qualitative online search of an individual does pretty much the same.”

Priya Chetty Rajagopal, vice president at Stanton Chase, which specialises in senior management hiring, says, “While hiring for senior management levels, there is a natural expectation to know as much as possible. Online and other references are therefore used as part of our candidate dossier.” However, Stanton Chase tends to rely more on formal references rather than informal online ones. Rajagopal believes that online checks are impactful on candidate selection at the mid to junior level.

“It’s easiest to access Google, blogs, Linkedin , Facebook and Twitter, while running an online background search, and whenever unusual posts or a lack of maturity in online behaviour raises a question mark, it necessitates the need for a search consultant to do a more detailed evaluation of the candidate,” says Rajagopal.
As a word of advice, “I think people should be cautious about what they put out on the Net. Flaming, sharing strong opinions online, tweeting angry messages etc should be avoided.”

Hukku suggests that it’s best to keep one’s online image honest. The company ultimately wants to get a sense of you, and if it’s contrived there’s every chance of it impacting your chances.