EmployeeScreenIQ Blog

In the past week Facebook finally posted its updated privacy controls and policy.  Many media outlets are reporting that these new controls do anything but protect ones privacy.  In our effort to further educate employers about using social networking sites for background screening our case is sustained further to job seekers who are worried about what someone can find.  As a screening company we are all for open information to  employers, however, in many cases the information is misleading and even fraudulent.

Privacy advocates slam Facebook change

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Privacy advocates slammed revamped Facebook privacy controls on Thursday, saying the change masks a move to get members to expose more information online.

“These new privacy changes aren’t so great for privacy,” said Nicole Ozer, northern California technology and civil liberties policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) rights group.

“It’s great that 350 million people are being asked to think about privacy, but if what Facebook says is true about giving people more control over their information, they have a lot more work to do.”

Online rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) labeled aspects of Facebook’s privacy change “downright ugly.”

The world’s leading online social network fired back, saying its critics are wrong and that time will prove that Facebook is taking “a giant step forward.”

The controversy came a day after Facebook began requiring users to refine settings with a new software tool that lets them specify who gets to be privy to each piece of content uploaded to the website.

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Facebook is working really hard to combat online sexual predators and other deviant behavior on its popular internet portal.  Facebook is the leading online social networking tool with over 300 million subscribers.  This online safety board is a great step towards thwarting this type of activity.  I think a great next step is for them to educate employers on the perils of using its site for background checks.  As our readers know well this is a topic we have written passionately about for a few years now.  We look forward to one day collaborating with the folks over at Facebook on how to better protect employers and applicants alike!

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Social networking site Facebook said it has formed an advisory board comprising five Internet safety organizations to consult on issues related to online safety.

Facebook plans to regularly meet board members to review existing safety resources it provides its users, develop new materials and seek advice on general safety best practices.

The first task of the board will be to oversee an overhaul of safety content in Facebook’s help center.

The organizations on the board are Common Sense Media, ConnectSafely, WiredSafety, Childnet International and The Family Online Safety Institute.

Facebook and rival MySpace, owned by News Corp, have deals with state attorneys general to increase efforts to protect their youngest members from abuse.

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During Tuesday’s much publicized and controversial speech President Barack Obama touched on a subject we are very passionate about.  Echoing the plethora of articles we have written about over the last several years Obama warned of the perils of sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

“Well, let me give you some very practical tips. First of all, I want everybody here to be careful about what you post on Facebook, because in the YouTube age, whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life,” Obama said.

“And when you’re young, you make mistakes and you do some stupid stuff. And I’ve been hearing a lot about young people who — you know, they’re posting stuff on Facebook, and then suddenly they go apply for a job and somebody has done a search.”

Where EmployeeScreenIQ has warned employers from using such information, he tells kids to be careful about what the put out there in the first place.  A smart strategy knowing that not all employers take our advice!  Aside from the many EEOC issues an employer could encounter there are several other Federal mandates one could violate. Most notibly is the Fair Credit Reporting Act.  (FCRA). To see one of our many presentations on the subject, feel free to visit here!

Obama Warns Teens of Perils of Facebook

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -

President Barack Obama warned American teenagers on Tuesday of the dangers of putting too much personal information on Internet social networking sites, saying it could come back to haunt them in later life.

The presidential words of advice follow recent studies that suggest U.S. employers are increasingly turning to sites such as Facebook and News Corp’s MySpace to conduct background checks on job applicants.

Taking part in a question-and-answer session with a group of 14- and 15-year-old school students, Obama was asked by one pupil for some advice on becoming U.S. president.

“Well, let me give you some very practical tips. First of all, I want everybody here to be careful about what you post on Facebook, because in the YouTube age, whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life,” Obama said.

“And when you’re young, you make mistakes and you do some stupid stuff. And I’ve been hearing a lot about young people who — you know, they’re posting stuff on Facebook, and then suddenly they go apply for a job and somebody has done a search.”

Obama referred several times to “mistakes” he had made when he was at school but offered no specifics. He has previously admitted to drug use when he was younger.

A survey in June by careerbuilder.com found that 45 percent of employers used social network sites to research job candidates and that Facebook, which says it has 250 million users worldwide, was their site of choice.

Some 35 percent of the employers surveyed said they had found content on the sites that had influenced them to reject a candidate. Examples included inappropriate photographs, information about the applicants’ drinking or drug use, or bad mouthing of previous employers, co-workers or clients.

The Obama White House frequently uses Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites to bypass the media and communicate directly to Americans.

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 The following story isn’t anything new to our readers.  We’ve stated time and time again that employers should not use social networking sites as a way to investigate job candidates because the information you find may not be truthful in nature.  How do you know that the Facebook profile filled with bad language and borderline inappropriate photos you are looking at is your candidate’s creation and not the invention of a former friend, spouse or co-worker with an ax to grind?  Denying someone a job based on information found on a social networking site could be asking for trouble. 

But what about offering someone a position with your company based on the favorable information found in their profile?  This section of the article peaked my interest:

“On the other hand, some candidates are doing a good job of presenting their professional side when posting online. Half of those who screened candidates via their social networking profiles said that they got a good feel for the person’s personality and fit within the organization. Other employers said that they found the profiles supported the candidates’ professional qualifications or that they discovered how creative the candidate was. Solid communication skills, evidence of well-roundedness, and other people’s good references (we assume this one came from LinkedIn) helped boost people’s credentials, too.”

With all of the press surrounding employers using sites like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter to screen job applicants, it’s only a matter of time before applicants catch on and create fake profiles to make themselves look more qualified and professional than they really are (and maintain their real profiles under a pseudonym known only to the people they want to know).  And those references you see on LinkedIn – I could have a handful of glowing references on my profile by the end of the day just by sending a mass text to my old high school and college buddies.

Employers - Don’t believe the hype about how great social networking sites are to screen candidates.  Can you imagine having to explain to your boss: “Well, their facebook profile looked okay…” 

Click to read “Uncouth Facebook postings closing doors for job candidates”

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Two great blog postings from two great online legal sources.  The first by Jon Hyman of Korman, Jackson and Krantz talks about a restaurants liability of firing employees after reading their Myspace posts.  This does not fit with our argument about not using it for background screening prior to hiring but it is closely related.  If you read our story about Bozeman Montana you will see how this jury finding is important and timely.  The practice of requiring employees to divulge their passwords violated the Stored Communications Act.

The second story comes from the Legal Blog Watch.  In it, 69 year old human rights activist Khedija Arfaoui is facing an eight month jail sentence in Tunisia for posting a message on Facebook about rumors of children being kidnapped in the country for their organs.  Enjoy!

Jon Hyman Blog

Carolyn Elefant Blog

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An interesting twist on the social networking argument.  We have written and spoken extensively about the pitfalls of using social networking sites for background checks.  Well, this is how it is now affecting the legal world.  According to LegalBlogWatch, a Judge in a civil case accepted a “friend” request from one of the lawyers in the case.  This begs a lot of legal questions!

Facebook Friend Earns Judge a Reprimand

Opposing counsel are sitting with the judge in his chambers during a child-custody trial when the lawyer for the husband brings up Facebook. The other lawyer says she is a non-user, but the judge quickly agrees to “friend” the lawyer who is on Facebook. As the trial proceeds, the judge and the lawyer comment about it to each other through their Facebook pages, with the lawyer writing in one post, “I have a wise Judge.”

Hmmm. Wise in the ways of social networking, perhaps, but lacking something in the judicial-ethics department. When the hearing ended and the judge entered his order, the wife’s lawyer found out about their “friendship” and quickly moved for a new trial and for the judge’s disqualification. The judge promptly removed himself from the case and the wife got a new trial.

The socially networked North Carolina judge, B. Carlton Terry Jr., also earned himself a public reprimand from the state’s Judicial Standards Commission. The judge now agrees “that he will not repeat such conduct in the future” and “will promptly read and familiarize himself with the Code of Judicial Conduct.”

Part of the Facebook exchange between the judge and the lawyer involved the weight to be given testimony that one spouse had been unfaithful. During a meeting in chambers the day after the Judge Terry had friended lawyer Charles A. Schieck, Terry told the lawyers he believed the testimony but did not see that it made any difference in deciding custody. Schieck responded, “I will have to see if I can prove a negative.”

That evening, Schieck posted on his Facebook account, “How do I prove a negative?” Judge Terry saw it and responded that he had “two good parents to choose from,” to which Schieck posted his “wise judge” remark. The next day, the two shared additional messages on Facebook. In one, Schieck wrote, “I hope I’m in my last day of trial.” Judge Terry responded, “You are in your last day of trial.”
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Have you ever played hooky from school and then inadvertently ran into one of your teachers later that same day?  Talk about an uncomfortable situation.  Same goes for your job – if you call off sick with a migraine stating that staring at a computer screen all day at work will make it worse, don’t get caught using Facebook at home.  One woman did and found herself out of the job.

I have to say, I sympathize with this woman.  If she truly was using her phone to access Facebook, that is markedly different that a 17 inch flatscreen monitor.  But it’s still a difficult argument to make.

Woman Fired For Using Facebook While Off Sick

City News Toronto – April 27, 2009

Social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter have changed the way many people communicate and have had an unexpected impact on the workplace. Some companies have instituted policies blocking the popular web destinations, because workers spend too much time chatting with friends and not enough on their jobs.

And many prospective employers now troll the sites to find out what possible hires are leaving out of their resumes and what their attitudes are really like, leading some to lose a shot at increasingly limited openings.

Which brings us to another cautionary tale about Facebook, and an employee who lost her job because of it – even though she wasn’t using it at work.

Last November, a woman in Zurich, Switzerland called her employer, an insurance company, and told them she was too ill to come into work that day. Part of her duties involved using a computer, but she claimed her cure involved lying in the dark and that she was unable to face the lighted screen.

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If all reporters read the employeescreen University Blog ,stories like this would be more interesting and full of facts! We have written countless times about using social networking sites to conduct background checks. This story focuses more on the recruiter using it as a tool, still a bad practice but not a violation of the FCRA.

By Samantha Anderson

COLORADO SPRINGS – There’s a growing tend in the number of employers going above and beyond the resume to check on potential candidates.

More and more employers are using social networking sites, such as Myspace and Facebook, during the hiring process.

Management recruiter, Ken Cantin, uses these sites as tools to get know his recruits. “It’s a lot easier for an employer when they can see what someone looks like.”

Job Analyst, Steve Fehl, said employers “want to see if you are the kind of person who’s going to fit into our culture, our environment, and are you going to be able to interact?”

But what happens when there’s just a little too much information on your web site?

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I love Facebook.  I started using it earlier this year when I began to rail against the use of Social Networking sites in the employment screening process.  I felt that if I was going condemn this practice, I better understand what exactly I find objectionable.

What I didn’t expect to happen is that I would actually enjoy using it.  It was a great way to get in touch with people and to catch up.  However, it didn’t change my opinion about why it should not be used by employers to make a hiring decision.  My list of objections hasn’t changed (please refer back to prior blogs if you are interested), but I continue to find great articles on the topic that validate my opinion.

Read “Facebook a risky tool for background checks, lawyers warn” published  on  FinancialWeek.com

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