Question

Read the question and the response below. Do you agree with the response? Explain why or why not. Also give a brief opinion.

Question: What discrimination risks are involved when using social media in hiring?

Response: Digital social media platforms have transformed the way that we do business on a day-to-day basis. Social media was originally used to communicate among family and friends, but that business use case has transformed into a scenario where data is being leveraged by companies to make strategic decisions. In human resource management it is dangerous to leverage social media profiles for hiring practices since most of those practices can be deemed unethical and illegal.

Social media profiles can present an unreliable inconsistent representation of the candidate and some of the biggest disadvantages to it is that there is a highly sanitized version of a person which tends to leave out the more negative aspects. Human resource professionals also will have a hard task to remain unbiased when using social media for recruitment purposes. A human being in general has difficulty remaining objective especially when reviewing commentary that they can either relate with or be offended by. There is guidance on how to use social media for recruitment purposes, but they must align with EEOC guidelines. It is likely a best practice to not use social media for initial screening purposes and if you do leverage it there has to be a level of documentation to ensure that this is a fair process of all potential candidates and a level of consistency regarding fact checking to avoid any potential liability or discrimination lawsuits on behalf of the firm.

Answer 1

The social media can be used to judge a candidate for an open job profile for his /her social skills, interpersonal skills, political views and interests so that they can be mapped with the company's culture to assess a fit between the two. The social media activity of a person is also an indication of the kind of people he / she keeps as friends and deals with, so as to assess his /her future performance and off work behaviour. However, since the social media pesents a clarified view of a person, and presents only positive side, it can not be used to judge the nature of person in entireity. It can be used as one of the inputs, along with others, but a decision can never be based on this criteria alone.

As regards discrimination, it is very likely to have biases and difference of perception on th part of a person judging the performance. A lady hiring manager is likely to see a lady very differently as compared to a man, and might make a different decision, than what a man would make. SImilarly a young hiring manager might look the social media activtiy differently than a middle aged person. An example is where a person at pub might be seen as a social guy by one person, while as an alcoholic and a spoilt brat by the other. In this way, since there is no fixed criteria for judgement through social media, a hiring manager might end up violating EEOC or other clauses and might find himself / herself on the wrong side of law.