AIBU to check out social media profiles of potential nannies?

[namechangedjustforthisonce]

We are moving house soon and looking to recruit a new nanny for our little son. We are using an agency for this - so all good and well.

Whenever I receive a CV I like, I quickly google the candidate's name just to see if something comes up. I have a senior position at my work and we do the same when we are recruiting and if the candidate looks odd in any way then we tell the recruiter/agency that and say why.

Now, I had a look at a nice CV for a potential nanny and googled her and found that she seems a lovely girl but has posted photos of her current employer's kids online and photos of their house, garden and car with license plate. She may have consent from them, so ok.

However, she has also posted things like "my boyfriend dumped me, I am depressed" on her profile and it just reads like she is not in a happy place and has not been for a while. I get that you are sad when you have abreakup but if sad messages continue for a long period, then that is a reason for concern. I just feel nervous about her emotional well being. I said to my DH that I would like to get back to agency, refer to the candidate's twitter account. DH says, not to do that. DH thinks I am creepy snooping round the internet like that and he also thinks it could affect the girl's career.

However, our nanny requirements are a bit difficult (moving further afield, etc) and I don't want to be a picky client for the agency but want to give honest feedback. The nanny candidate really sounds very unhappy in her life.

AIBU... ??? I get that alerting the agency to the twitter account could affect the girl's career but the twitter account is out there under her real name and includes her year of birth, profession and location and tons of photos. So, I would hope the agency would have seen it too (first result on google).

AIBU for "snooping"?
AIBU for telling the agency that based on this, I'd rather say no to the candidate?

I would assume that someone who overshared on Facebook had very bad judgement, and would not hire them.

How could looking at a prospective nanny's public information be considered snooping? I'd say you're being really lax if you don't.

How do you know it's them? Lots of people with the same name.

@glasgowstevenagain That is the going rate. 12.50 to 13.50 GBP per hour, 12 hour day.... so it does add up, plus food etc. Why should I not? I want the nanny to be happy, also gets food etc. I have to make sacrifices myself but worth it for a good nanny and the flexibility.

Won't give bad feedback to the agency, will just politely decline, but definitely the same person, unusal name, location, job, etc. all fits.

THANKS everyone.

How do you know it's them? Lots of people with the same name
From all the photos?
Presumably her CV also contained a photo and they match up.

I always do web and Facebook searches on people. If they're daft enough to have open Facebook or Twitter accounts in their actual names on which they post bollocks, I'd rather not employ them.

Disclaimer: thisis in the context of my line of work. In others, it's not an issue (unless their posts are inflammatory or idiotic)

I agree she should have set her profile to private, I used to be a nursery nurse and now work with adults with learning disabilities. The only social media account I have is facebook and it isn't open to the public. I think she was wrong to post photos of her previous employer's children. and can see why you don't want to employ her. However I still think it's wrong to look up her profile and what if you have got the wrong person.

All employers look at your social media profile. You aren't being unreasonable at all. Those who say your are BU for looking is being naive. I got career counselling last year following redundancy. One of the things the counsellor said is to beef up my social media profile via twitter and LinkedIn etc.

It's a known fact that employers check out social media sites. I have had my facebook taken off the search engine in privacy settings for quite some time now. But still, I don't put anything under my real name that I wouldn't want the world to see. For the same reason I behave and don't say offensive things in public either. :)

I just assume potential employers are going to search my name. I have 2 social media accounts, one private for friend posts, and 1 public which is more of a nanny account, to show crafts, activities etc that I do (without images of children or identifiable things). Partly so I can look back to remember what I've done, partly for other nannies to use for inspiration if they want, and partly for potential employers to see what I do before they meet me!

YANBU, we always check online for new recruits at work (and drugs test them).

When I taught ICT I made it very clear to students that what was posted online stays online and to give that some thought with regard to future employment. Of course people will search. Why wouldn't you?

I hope most schools would do that now.

YANBU. I google all of my babysitting clients. I would google any babysitters (or nannies if i could afford it!) i hire for my children. I think it's pretty standard for employers to do now.

I don't think you were being unreasonable to Google her, but I'm not sure whether what you found is grounds to not hire her. I also think she should have the initiative to make her Facebook profile private. If you did employ her, you would be reasonable to ask that she doesn't post any photos of your children to her profile, even if she later ups her privacy settings.

As someone who prior to marriage had an extremely Googleable name, I also feel that it can be a little unfair. Someone with an extremely common name, or a name shared with a famous person, could be up to all kinds of unsavoury things or have a dodgy past that no searcher would be likely to find out. But I suppose that doesn't mean that you can use Google if you can.

With regard to her depression, is it likely she's clinically depressed, or just feeling temporarily low because her boyfriend has dumped her? It could be that having a steady job and the confidence boost of being taken on by a new employer would help be beneficial for her mental health. In any case I think it could be meeting her in real life as she may be very different to how she comes across on her profile.