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Social media search as part of job interview process

10 replies

Tinytimmy123 · 02/08/2024 16:27

I have been looking for a job recently and one of the jobs i was looking at mentioned looking at the applicants social media as part of this process. I am on Facebook, Instagram, x, and a few others but for the most part I am a lurker rather than fully engaging in these sites in the way they're meant to be. eg i dont communicate with others as such just the odd joke video to a very close friend or one of my siblings. In most of the individual social media sites I have aliases and not all the same. But occasionally I have written comments on objections to certain things which could be seen as divisive depending on the topic eg I really do not like Donald Trump, and even though I know he will never read or take any heed of anything I say, I have told him he is an idiot for whatever reason. He just brings out the worst in me. What I have said has never been racist or using foul language but depending on someone's viewpoint could be seen as 'controversial' I suppose. How do I clean up my social media having learned my lesson to just shut up and say nothing. Do I just close them down or are they out there for ever?

OP posts:
LateDecemberLove · 02/08/2024 16:31

I had a social media check recently and from what I understood its an open source check so you hand over your user names and they have a look but can only see what isn't locked down.

Before I gave my names over I scrolled down and deleted anything that made me cringe. Just double down on all of your privacy settings so nothing really is actually visible.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 02/08/2024 17:05

What they need is to be able to search on a couple of platforms and maybe find a private account and one with a few innocuous follows. No accounts creates suspicion, as does something set up in the last month. It never hurts to follow Gardeners' World, Springwatch and The Archers, either - I reckon the majority of their follows under the age of 55 are for the purposes of pre-employment searches - bung in some non-controversial music, maybe a couple of things linked to something you've mentioned in the applications and that's made things pretty non descript.

Make sure none of them are linked to the same email address as you've made applications from - I whistleblew once and it was only because I'd used the same throwaway email address for a throwaway account for competitions that I found an involved party started following that account within five days of the disclosure being made, which meant they'd used the 'find people to follow' option.

Make sure there is nothing contentious still visible on the ones you can't actually delete/are linked to you IRL and you can't change the name on (FB will have your original name visible, for example).

Check your friends' tagging and posts to you - it's easy to go from looking at one account, click on the friends' link and then there's something really stupid on there that makes you look bad by association.

Never have friends of friends as an acceptable security level. There is always somebody able to get through that way.

Obviously, if it's government related, none of that matters and they'll see everything, but for a bog standard check, it should be enough to cleanse things for an overworked person in HR to just type in a username, think 'nothing to see here...nope, nothing there, either' and then move on to the next job on their to-do list.

user1471538275 · 02/08/2024 17:27

What is their justification for asking for this?

What impact does it have on your suitability and eligibility for the job?

And what do they class as social media - would mumsnet count?

No33 · 02/08/2024 17:31

NeverDropYourMooncup · 02/08/2024 17:05

What they need is to be able to search on a couple of platforms and maybe find a private account and one with a few innocuous follows. No accounts creates suspicion, as does something set up in the last month. It never hurts to follow Gardeners' World, Springwatch and The Archers, either - I reckon the majority of their follows under the age of 55 are for the purposes of pre-employment searches - bung in some non-controversial music, maybe a couple of things linked to something you've mentioned in the applications and that's made things pretty non descript.

Make sure none of them are linked to the same email address as you've made applications from - I whistleblew once and it was only because I'd used the same throwaway email address for a throwaway account for competitions that I found an involved party started following that account within five days of the disclosure being made, which meant they'd used the 'find people to follow' option.

Make sure there is nothing contentious still visible on the ones you can't actually delete/are linked to you IRL and you can't change the name on (FB will have your original name visible, for example).

Check your friends' tagging and posts to you - it's easy to go from looking at one account, click on the friends' link and then there's something really stupid on there that makes you look bad by association.

Never have friends of friends as an acceptable security level. There is always somebody able to get through that way.

Obviously, if it's government related, none of that matters and they'll see everything, but for a bog standard check, it should be enough to cleanse things for an overworked person in HR to just type in a username, think 'nothing to see here...nope, nothing there, either' and then move on to the next job on their to-do list.

I deleted all my social media in January (apart from Mumsnet) are you saying I would be deemed suspicious?

How bonkers.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 02/08/2024 18:49

No33 · 02/08/2024 17:31

I deleted all my social media in January (apart from Mumsnet) are you saying I would be deemed suspicious?

How bonkers.

For Safer Recruitment purposes, yes. Because 'Oh, I don't have anything/I deleted it all six months ago' has been used by previous persons who then turned out to be deeply problematic (as in criminally so).

NeverDropYourMooncup · 02/08/2024 18:55

user1471538275 · 02/08/2024 17:27

What is their justification for asking for this?

What impact does it have on your suitability and eligibility for the job?

And what do they class as social media - would mumsnet count?

How about currently sharing stuff from the EDL? Would that make somebody a suitable person to work in a diverse area with kids of many ethnicities?

Or sharing misogynistic/highly sexualised content? Want the man sharing incel posts and stuff with young women in school uniform responsible for the pastoral care of 11-16 year old girls?

Aria20 · 02/08/2024 18:58

I genuinely don't have any social media and haven't in about 8 years, unless WhatsApp and mumsnet count?! So if that makes me suspicious then so be it!

StripedPiggy · 02/08/2024 19:07

NeverDropYourMooncup · 02/08/2024 18:49

For Safer Recruitment purposes, yes. Because 'Oh, I don't have anything/I deleted it all six months ago' has been used by previous persons who then turned out to be deeply problematic (as in criminally so).

In that case, I’m completely screwed if a potential employer does a social media search, because I don’t exist on it & never have. No Facebook, no Instagram, no twitter, no TikTok. This MN account isn’t linked to my real identity. It seems extraordinary that this could be considered suspicious, but there we are.

llamajohn · 02/08/2024 19:08

user1471538275 · 02/08/2024 17:27

What is their justification for asking for this?

What impact does it have on your suitability and eligibility for the job?

And what do they class as social media - would mumsnet count?

They do this at schools. See if you're a risk.ir u professional etc

llamajohn · 02/08/2024 19:09

Even if you had my handles, you'd see fuck all.

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