A new study in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology – ‘Social Networking Websites, Personality Ratings, and the Organizational Context: More Than Meets the Eye?’ – claims that a quick review of social networking website (SNW) profile pages of job applicants on sites such as Facebook can be a better predictor of job success than standardized tests currently used by many human resources departments.

The authors of the study – Donald H. Kluemper (Department of Management, Northern Illinois University), Peter A. Rosen (Schroeder Family School of Business Administration, University of Evansville), and Kevin W. Mossholder (Department of Management, Auburn University) – examined the psycho-metric properties of the ‘Big Five’ personality traits assessed through social networking profiles in two studies of SNW users. The ‘Big Five’ traits examined were:

Advertisement

• Extraversion
• Agreeableness
• Conscientiousness
• Emotional stability
• Openness

One of the lead researchers on the study said in an interview that the purpose of the research was to establish how much reliable information on job applicants can be gathered from scanning the Internet and “try to assess the personality traits in a similar way that they might be assessed by a standardized test.” The study found that “a 10-minute review of a Facebook page” could yield not only ‘red flags’ – past indicators of possible future problems – but also “an unvarnished look at a job candidate” and clues to “character and personality.”

The study involved trained “raters” who spent five to ten minutes evaluating 274 Facebook pages of job candidates and answering questions related to personality. The researchers followed up six months later for performance reviews from the supervisors of 69 of the job candidates – approximately 25 percent of the original group – and found that the quick Facebook evaluations more accurately predicted success than standard tests. An excerpt from the study explains more:

“Those high in agreeableness are trusting and get along well with others, which may be represented in the extensiveness of personal information posted. Openness to experience is related to intellectual curiosity and creativity, which could be revealed by the variety of books, favorite quotations or other posts showing the user engaged in new activities and creative endeavors. Extroverts more frequently interact with others, which could be represented by the number of SNW (social networking websites) friends a user has.”

However, employers should still approach the area of social network background checks with great caution, according to Attorney Les Rosen, founder and CEO of San Francisco, CA-area background check firm Employment Screening Resources (ESR).

“No discussion on background checks these days is complete without an analysis of how the Internet is used for finding information about job candidates,” says Rosen, author of ‘The Safe Hiring Manual,’ the first comprehensive guide to employment screening. “But social media background checks can land employers in legal trouble since information found online is not always risk free or true.”

When using the Internet to screen job applicants, Rosen – a frequent speaker on safe hiring issues – warns that employers could encounter legal landmines that include:

• Too Much Information (TMI) that may lead to discrimination allegations if a social media profile reveals that the job candidate is a member of a protected group based on age, race, sex, religion, nationality, and medical condition and the candidate does not get the job.
• Too Little Information (TLI) if employer did not find information easily accessible online that could have prevented the hiring of a dishonest, unfit, dangerous, and unqualified worker.
• Credibility, accuracy, and authenticity issues since information found on the Internet about job applicants may not be entirely true.
• “Computer twins” online with the same names as job applicants and false online smearing of applicants with derogatory comments known as “Cyber-slamming.”
• Privacy issues since everything online is not necessarily “fair game” for employers and a job applicant may have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

To help employers better understand social media background checks, Rosen wrote a white paper in 2011 titled ‘Managing the Risks of Using the Internet for Employment Screening Background Checks’ to provide an informative introduction to the risks and roadblocks employers face using social network sites such as Facebook for recruitment and employment screening, as well as potential solutions to avoid legal issues. The complimentary white paper is available at this link.

An early view of the study ‘Social Networking Websites, Personality Ratings, and the Organizational Context: More Than Meets the Eye?’ is available at this link.