Potential Employees' use of Google and Facebook to Assess Applicants - Assignment Example

 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 3 Methodology 4 Findings – discussion – 4 Conclusion 5 Recommendation 6 References 8 Appendices 9 Abstract Potential employees across the globe apply all means possible to assess the applicant’s moral conduct besides relevant academic and professional background. With the advent of technology employees can Google applicants post on their face book walls or even follow their tweets on twitter accounts. Through this research, some of the questions which come up when discussing the use of Google and Face book to assess applicants by potential employees are tackled and they include; Job seekers knowledge of privacy settings, importance that employers give, /don’t give to potential employees private lives outside work, principals for employment professionals, Face book policies, legal implications of the use of Google and face book to scrutinize applicants just to mention a few. These areas of scrutiny lead to a number of findings which are discussed in the discussion area in relation to literature. The paper also presents a number of recommendations in relation to the findings of the research. Introduction Technology which has remained indispensable to most organizations today is undoubtedly changing and advancing their internal operations. The work of human resource departments specifically has been made easier with the advent of technology especially social networks, because they can easily evaluate the integrity and moral life of the applicant outside the professional field. Most firms would wish their employees to uphold high level of integrity within and without job settings because everywhere they are they represent the organizations image. (Zeidner,2007) This paper will try to evaluate the legal and professional implications of applying the utilitarian approach of ethics which is purely meant to ensure employers full satisfaction with a least harm to the affected i.e. customers, employees, shareholders, community and the environment. The investigation will offer more information on the legal implications of invading applicant’s privacy and also the need for the applicants to enhance their privacy settings besides minding what they post to the public. The key question that this paper will address is on whether employers should invade the applicant’s privacy during recruiting process. Methodology In order to complete this research work successfully, there are different aspects of methodology which were used. One of them was the sampling of participants who included employers, employees and job seekers in the proportion of 5, 7, and 8 respectively. They were emailed structured questionnaire which was later received and the information collected was presented. The questionnaires were mainly used to collect primary data but there are also other ways through which data was collected such as interviews. Information was also collected from secondary sources of which mainly included books, academic articles and journals. The information collected in the secondary sources as presented earlier on makes it possible to compare what has been written and the information which was collected first hand through the questionnaires. Findings Throughout the data collected and analyzed and presented, there were a number of findings which were established. The most outstanding view was that applicants especially students be very careful with the posts they make because it could give poor judgment and career limiting effects. They believed that currently there is no proper legal framework regarding posts on face book. One employer stated that they found a provocative picture and content related to drugs abuse on face book page of the potential applicants’ wall which made him to lose the job. Applicants had the view that it is unethical for most employers to view their face book profiles. The findings sated that most students tended to drew a line between the professional lives and personal lives. One of them stated that face book is a personal matter and can misrepresent the professional life of the applicant. A number of them also had the view that using Google to consider applicants for jobs is a violation of their privacy. In their quest to have good relationships with their employers it was established that most employees tend to use different names and different pictures which is only known by social friends in their face book accounts. They tend to maintain two accounts which give a different personal lifestyle and other giving different professional sides. They too according to the findings were not happy with the employers invading their privacy. Discussions Most companies have increasingly keen on Google and face book to pre screen new hires. This practice has got both negative and positive effects. According to our findings all employers agree that social networks contain very important information when it comes to hiring process. Daniel (2012) most employers view the applicants profile because they contain a number of relevant information which might assist the employer in knowing the social life of the applicant. They add that applicants with descent posts on face book are likely to perform better than those with questionable posts. Although there are no laws currently governing face book employers who are using it in recruiting process risks violating other laws such as Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act which requires employers to notify applicants when they want further information especially those on private life (Zeidner 2007). Zeidner (2007) it is unethical for employers to use face book to screen applicants, which is consistent to our findings from the applicants and the employees. It violates professional fairness and boundaries get blurred in scenarios when other competing applicants do not have face book accounts. They support the views of applicants interviewed that one can easily hack your account and post compromising posts and photos. According to Hill (2012) there should be a boundary between the applicant’s social life and work. CONCLUSIONS From the research findings above, it is clear that there are varied opinions with regard to the different questions which crop up when discussing the use of Google and face book to screen applicants. It has come clear that social network is very important to employers during recruitment process. Even though there are legal pitfalls it has become an indispensable avenue for most employers. Applicants are advised to mind all their posts in face book because the current face book polices cannot be legally enforced. Recommendations In view of the findings presented above, I would recommend the following: 1. Employers should always consult the applicants before invading on their private lives .Face book posts should not be used to judge the moral lives of applicants because of unfairness in scenarios where some applicants do not have face book accounts 2. Applicants should always be very careful with what they post in their face book accounts. They might lose important opportunities. 3. Employees in firms should discuss with the employers so that they can draw a line between life at work and their social lives. References Daniel W. Draz Fraud Flash points Corporate Compliance Insights 2012,Retrieved on 11th June 2012 Hill Kashmir 2012 Face book Can Tell You If a Person Is worth Hiring; retrieved on 11th June 2012 http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/03/05/facebook-can-tell-you-if-a-person-is-worth-hiring/ Zeidner, R. How Deep Can you Probe? HR Magazine, 52 (10), 2007. P.57. Appendices QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE APPLICATION OF GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK TO SCREEN APPLICANTS. Introduction Let the researcher introduce him/her self and what research he wants to undertake to the said respondents. She can also mention how the findings will be helpful to the respondents Date ……………………….. ……..Respondent No………………………. A. Background Information 1. Name………………………………………………………………. 2. institution…………………………………………………………… 3. Sex Male Female 4. Category Employer Applicant Employee B. Answer by selecting one choice or giving your opinion where possible 1. Should employers use Google and face book to screen applicants during interviews? 2. What are some of the personal benefits employers get when they check applicants accounts? 3. What are the legal implications of invading applicant’s profile? 4. There is a lot of effectiveness and reliability of screening applicants accounts? Good Average Bad 5. Screening applicants accounts sometimes favor other applicants who do not have face book accounts.? Strongly agree. Undecided. Strongly disagree. Agree. Disagree. 6. Employers are always uncomfortable when employers screen their accounts or send them friend requests? Strongly agree. Undecided. Strongly disagree. Agree. Disagree Agree. 7. There is no correlation between performance at work and face book accounts. Strongly agree. Strongly disagree. Disagree. Undecided. Agree Read More