As part of the lengthy document clarifying data protection laws that apply to employers across 28 EU countries, Europe has sent a message to employers to desist from the act if peeking through social media profile of potential hires. With a legal backing from the European Union Protection Rules, CNN reports:
“The rules require employees to issue a disclaimer before they check applicants’ online accounts, including Facebook , Instagram, Snapchat Twitter and LinkedIn.”
Any action other than this would attract legal judgement as the company would be in breach of European Union data protection rules. This data prohibits employers from using social media data as a yardstick for recruitment except it is “relevant and necessary for a particular job”.
CNN reports further that “surveys suggest that employers are increasingly using social media to vet jobs candidate. In the US, 70% of the employers use social media as part of the screening process according to a recent surveyor more than 2300 hiring managers and HR professionals by CareerBuilders”.
Sometime in 2012, Forbes opined that snooping through job seekers’ Facebook pages before inviting them for interview was a good idea as it gave a reflection on the potential hires’ image. No employer wants to have a subordinate with terrible red flags as drinking, bad mouthing former employers, and lying about their qualifications. With relevant details from their Facebook page, an employer can tel which job seeker is employable.
LinkedIn got an exception from Peter Church, a technology specialist at Law firm Linklaters. He told the BBC that the social network was a “fair game” because it was set up for individuals to manage their professional identity and build their professional network. Many job seekers have this site to their advantage.
The issue of privacy concern will continue to thrive so long as we continuously provide details to every social networking site and applications.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
