Hiring firefighters: Is their online history fair game?
Fire departments should find the balance between vigilance and intrusion when considering a candidate's social media history
Jul 14, 2015
A college student gets very drunk at a party and posts a video to Vine. A young woman tweets a racial joke. A young man makes explicit claims of sexual conquests on Facebook.
Should a fire department take these things into account when conducting a hiring process?
Employers in all professions increasingly look at applicants' social media and web presence as part of the hiring process. Colleges and universities may also consider social media as they evaluate candidates for admission.
In some cases, organizations hire consultants or use software that analyze social media postings and strip them of any material that may later lead to charges that a negative decision was made based on protected class status: race, sex, religion, color, ethnicity, age and disability. A large number of states and local jurisdictions also include sexual orientation as a protected class.
But there is no law that protects individuals from employment action based on their own bad decisions or stupidity. These decisions might include drug and alcohol use, workplace misconduct, sexual activity and other questionable behaviors.
Murky waters
But wait. Wouldn't such adverse hiring decisions be a violation of the First Amendment and freedom of expression? The Internet has proven to be a goldmine for lawyers, and this is one of the questions they wrestle with daily.
But wait. Wouldn't such adverse hiring decisions be a violation of the First Amendment and freedom of expression? The Internet has proven to be a goldmine for lawyers, and this is one of the questions they wrestle with daily.
- When does someone have an expectation of privacy?
- What constitutes political speech?
- In the age of social media, what defines a "public place?"
Beyond these legal concerns lies a more basic question. Is it really fair to hold people responsible for every single thing they have ever done in their lives when it comes to hiring or selection in any arena?
Most of the people who are doing the hiring for fire departments did not grow up the way young people grow up today. Older fire officers and chiefs may have only come to the wonders of the Internet as adults. They were not grade schoolers with cell phones; they did not experience their teenage years under the microscope of social media.
Social media is a fact of life and young people grow up living out loud, with most of their actions and opinions recorded in some format.
How can a fire chief find balance between understanding this new way of life through social media, but also ensure that the best candidates are selected through any hiring process?
5 recommendations
First, it is important to have a social media policy for the fire department. This policy should be developed thoughtfully, with input from department members as well as legal counsel.
First, it is important to have a social media policy for the fire department. This policy should be developed thoughtfully, with input from department members as well as legal counsel.
Second, this policy must be made known to prospective fire department members. Many young people do not truly understand how their Internet postings can come back to haunt them. They need clear information as early as possible in the process as a way to guide their decisions.
Third, departments should be reasonable in their use and demands regarding someone's personal social media.
Some organizations have required that any applicant "friend" the hiring agency on Facebook, or provide links to a personal YouTube account. Other agencies feel this level of inquiry is too intrusive.
Departments must be careful not to overreach when doing social media searches for the purposes of hiring. This is one reason why legal counsel in developing policies is so important.
Fourth, if social media is used in selection decisions, look at the big picture rather than single events. Is there a pattern of worrisome behavior indicated, or just a single stupid act? Who actually made the posting — the candidate or someone else? What was the context of the action in question?
Finally, if you have an otherwise great candidate who also has a less than perfect social media history, allow that person to explain. Present the facts as you know them and give the candidate the opportunity to tell his or her side of what you have discovered. When having this conversation, be sure that you are working within your department's policy on social media and hiring as well as any current legal decisions regarding the matter.
Social media is a way of life for most people under a certain age, but its persistence and ease of retrieval have created challenges for both employers and new hire candidates.
Social media can raise some legitimate red flags for employers, but if your policy only allows candidates who never use social media to be hired, you are not likely to get the best candidates from the widest hiring pool.
Chiefs and human resources departments must find that balance point between vigilance and intrusion while understanding that times have changed when it comes to what kinds of information might be available about any individual candidate for the job.
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