As a client, anything that turns up in Certn’s social media screening<\/a> is documented under one of the risk categories in the report for your consideration. Combined with a human analysis, the social media background check report can give you more insight into who you\u2019re hiring and help identify potential risks for high-profile or public-facing roles.<\/p>\n\n\n You’re probably well aware that background checks confirm that candidates have the employment history, education, and professional references they claim to have. If you lead hiring, this is all standard pre-employment screening. Criminal records checks confirm whether someone has a criminal history that poses job-relevant risks. Social media\u00a0<\/em>background checks are a separate<\/em> type of screening that you have to add on top of your standard checks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Social media screening requires consent like your criminal record checks and education and employment verifications, but they look at online behaviour rather than checking institutional databases. In a nutshell: similar due diligence and investigative intent, same consent process, different databases consulted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After a candidate consents to our compliant social media screening and provides the required details, Certn uses technology to scan and analyze the person’s digital footprint \u2013 public social media content, news posts, and websites. Any flagged content is synthesized in an easy-to-read report for that our clients, employers, only review content that matches predetermined risk categories. Reports don’t contain pages and pages of every public post ever made (that’s not necessary and it’s a waste of time). Instead, reports contain flagged content based on risk categories set by the client and our analysts’ discretion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only public content is analyzed in our social media screening; there\u2019s no super-secret hacking or scraping as part of Certn\u2019s social media screening or any of our background checks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A compliant social media screening process produces a report that shows public content from job-relevant risk categories. These categories might capture content such as racial slurs on Facebook or violent images on Instagram. Our social media screening doesn’t show every “like,” post, or comment \u2013 only what matters for the job you’re trying to fill. We work with you to come up with the risk categories based on what makes sense for you. Yes, we can customize keywords and phrases!<\/p>\n\n\n\n No, only public information is searched in compliant social media screening. A social media background check\u00a0doesn’t hack into, or scrape information from, private accounts. (We can’t speak to what happens in DIY social screening, but will say that a DIY approach can open up you and your company to risks such as bias in hiring.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n To identify potential risk factors in public content, Certn\u2019s technology analyzes things like the visual content of images, text content of written posts, and metadata. Anything that\u2019s flagged according to set criteria is documented in the easy-to-read report social media screening report. The report shows up in the same dashboard our clients find other background screening results.<\/p>\n\n\n Certn\u2019s social media screening is even more comprehensive to help you make informed hiring decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With Certn, up to seven years of publicly available content is searched as part of a comprehensive social media background check. Though, as we mentioned above, Certn\u2019s findings are mapped on a timeline to give you more context so you can use your own discretion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Book a demo today<\/a> to learn how to stay compliant when checking a candidate\u2019s online behaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We hear from our clients that they include social media screening in their background check program for three main reasons: peace of mind, more equitable hiring, and to save time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Employers have to be careful about what information they look for and how they use it. Done compliantly, only job-relevant risk criteria is searched \u2013 what someone eats on their honeymoon in Maui or their partner\u2019s race isn\u2019t going to be flagged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If public social media content is used in the decision not to hire a candidate, it should be directly related to the candidate\u2019s ability to effectively perform the job requirements; otherwise, you put your company at risk of legal action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, if done compliantly and with consent, it\u2019s legal for employers in the United States and parts of Canada (excluding Qu\u00e9bec) to check public profiles and other public content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, you open yourself up to legal action if you take a do-it-yourself approach and make hiring decisions based on findings that aren\u2019t relevant to the job you\u2019re trying to fill. Certn\u2019s background screening is compliant with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and searches for job-relevant risk categories, flagging only the content that matches the predefined criteria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Certn](\"https:\/\/certn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-30.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nDoes Social Media Come Up on Background Checks?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How do Employers Find Social Media Content?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What Shows Up on a Social Media Background Check?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Can an Employer See Private Social Media?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Certn’s Social Media Screening<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Certn](\"https:\/\/certn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-31.jpeg\")
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How Far Back Does a Social Media Check Go?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Benefits of Social Media Screening<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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What Are Employers Looking for When They Conduct Social Media Screening?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Is Social Media Screening Legal?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Social](\"https:\/\/certn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/social-media-screening-on-cellphone-1-1024x533.jpg\")
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