Facebook is no longer just a social networking medium meant to reconnect with old friends and find new ones. With constant updates, expansion and inclusions of new features, the site has become a one-stop solution that caters to users’ shopping needs, reading habits and even employment-related requirements. It is not unusual for people to seek and offer jobs through the social networking site. In fact, there are pages and communities dedicated to job vacancies in different professions – media, architecture, web designing, photography, accounting, and law, to name a few. While it makes for a great way to reach out to a wider spectrum of potential candidates, on the flip side, there is an element of total anonymity. You have no idea about the credentials of the person you may end up hiring. Here are a few steps to you must follow in order to screen candidate when hiring on Facebook.
● Run a Search
What is first place you turn to for seeking answers? Google, right? So why not follow the same practice in this situation too. Don’t shoot down the idea because you think Google would not have any substantial information about some ordinary, non-famous person. You’ll be surprised at how much information you may find. If nothing else, it will at least give you links to their profiles on various social media sites such as Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter. If a Google search doesn’t prove to be much help, try pipl.com.
● Check Profiles
When a potential candidate expresses interest in your job posting, take some time out to go through their Facebook profile in detail before you express your interest in having them on board. This cuts down the probability of a candidate cleaning up content on their profile to make a good impression on a prospective employer. While you are at it, look for a pattern that indicates behavioral problems such as sharing violence-stimulating posts instead of focusing on one odd weird post or comment.
● Seek References
Almost everyone fills out their Facebook profile in great detail these days. Once you have narrowed down your choice to a handful of people you’d like to consider for a particular position, look for their past job details and see if you can find a way to get in touch with their previous employers to seek references. If they are from the same industry as you, finding a common link should not be a problem in these times of social networking.
● Follow Up
Don’t limit your screening process to Facebook alone. If you think a candidate has the potential to perform well in your organization or deliver on your expectations, don’t hesitate to follow up with them on a more personal level if even a little something about that candidate’s profile seems a bit off the mark. Schedule an interview and use the opportunity to clear any apprehensions that you may have. If you are still not convinced, there is no harm in writing off a person who may have seemed like an ideal employee on paper. You have to trust your gut, too.
A job-related post on Facebook is likely to attract hundreds of responses. If you follow the whole screening process with each one of them, you may find yourself stuck in employment mode forever. Set different stages of screening while hiring via Facebook to filter out inappropriate candidates and save the process of thorough screening for a final few handpicked ones.
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