Mistaken identity: Google search hurts woman’s job hunt
July 18, 2008 by Sam NarisiPosted in: Applicant background screening, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Online recruiting
If you find information online about a job candidate, how do you know it’s not just someone with the same name as your recruit?
That’s the problem one job seeker is dealing with right now.
Lauren Bernat is currently applying for jobs, and she’s worried about what HR managers will find if they decide to Google her name.
Why? Because there’s a popular video floating around featuring a scantily-clad woman — also named Lauren Bernat — playing a video game.
Search for candidates online?
Mistaken identity cases like this are one of the pitfalls of conducting impromptu background checks on Google, Facebook and other sites. Other problems include the fear of learning too much about an applicant’s protected status before a decision’s made.
Still, online searches can reveal some helpful information. Many companies might try to use online tools, but take what they find with a grain of salt.
What about your company? Do you search for candidates online? How do you use that information? Let us know in the comments section.
Tags: Google, Lauren Bernat, Nintendo, Wii, YouTube
July 18th, 2008 at 6:35 am
I find it hard to believe that an employer would be so silly as to mistake a candidate for somebody with the same name. It might be worth their wile doing a search to understand background information about candidates, but surely they must be aware of the significant risk of mistaken identify.
July 18th, 2008 at 9:38 am
We use a formal background/reference check and that’s it - for just such reasons. As long as the person can do the job, is who they say they are and hasn’t been convicted of a serious crime (we will usually hire people with DUIs and that type of thing - but that’s another topic), I don’t care what they do in their personal life. That’s why a personal life is also often known as a PRIVATE life. Even if they’re willing to put it all out there, I’m not willing to read it.
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I think the situation posed in the article asks a good question, but only scratches the surface regarding all of the items at play. Eventually, I think we will see the formulation of a “best practice” model as it applies to on-line candidate background research.
There ar pros and cons to the Google/myspace/facebook that should be applied to each specific siutation. (Is this an executive position, it it a hig public profile position??). Personally, I would rather have the information and leave it to my own personal senses to determine if the information found on-line was relevant to my hiring decision.
From personal experience, I have indeed used on-line information to nix an interview. In my situation I was able to save time and money by not bringing an out of state candidate in for an interview. On paper she looked great, but an online search revealed that she was involved in a Fraud Scheme. Yes, I took the steps to verify that it was the same person, just not a shared name.
We would have eventually found this item during a background check but that would have been weeks and $1000 in travel expenses later.