CIPD publishes "Social Technology, Social Business?" Report

A recent report published by CIPD, suggests that more and more employers are using social media as part of their recruitment processes.

CIPD has published Survey results, as well as a Guide on pre-employment checks that makes a number of useful recommendations on the impact of social media on recruitment.

Most interesting are the findings of CIPD’s Survey:-

• 54% of employers surveyed use social media for recruitment;
• Only 4% of employers surveyed ‘always’ use social media to inform recruitment decisions;
• Of those that do use social media to inform recruitment decisions, only 14% of employers surveyed inform candidates of their use of social media to screen applicants;
• Interestingly, 34% of employers surveyed use social media to check for inappropriate behaviour or attitudes from an applicant, whilst 57% use it to assess experience, education and skills;
• 8% of employers surveyed confirmed they had rejected an applicant after using social media as part of the recruitment process; and
• Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and (perhaps more surprisingly) YouTube were the most commonly used social media platforms.

So what do the survey results tell us?

Whilst employers are not legally prohibited from using social media as part of their recruitment process, the results show that many are already doing so, and should be aware of the risks as a result.

CIPD urge caution in this respect. We support their suggestions of employers limiting the scope of social media searches, giving applicants notice that such searches have been conducted, and giving applicants chance to respond to the findings of such searches.

We also advise that employers differentiate between an applicant’s personal and professional use of social media, do not always take information from social media as read without further investigation, and maintain an objective view on the extent to which social media findings impact on an applicant’s potential to undertake the advertised role successfully.

As ever in this area, it’s worth remembering that job applicants are covered by discrimination legislation under the Equality Act. Whilst social media can be used as part of recruitment, specific legal advice should be taken if there is any chance that a refusal to offer a role could trigger a discrimination risk.