Tread carefully when using social media in the hiring process.

• Author: Rodgers, Nancy Cornish
• Position: GUEST column

WITH THE GROWTH OF SOCIAL MEDIA, some overly clever employers decided to treat Facebook and other websites as a gold mine of valuable information in their hiring process. Some employers have even strong-armed job applicants into providing access to personal Facebook sites as a routine step within the interview process.

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Is it legal? Probably, although various legal interpretations keep the debate alive.

And here's a better question: Is it smart? Not always.

Think about the pictures and information posted on social media sites. You may learn a person is from a different country or is older than you previously thought. You may discover an applicant has a. disability or is pregnant. You may discover a person is in a same-sex relationship.

This is information that should not be sought during an interview process. And rightly so. By avoiding t hose questions, an employer can show that the hiring process was not discriminatory and that an applicant was rejected on legally permissible grounds, rather than because of race, disability, age, sexual orientation. Or other traits protected under law. Applied in t he social media context, when an employer discovers impermissible information about an individual from a social media site, the employer may have trouble arguing that the legally protected information did not influence the hiring decision.

Despite We risk, some employers still want to know the content of applicants' social media sites. For those employers, here are three steps to take when utilizing social media sites in the hiring process.

First, evaluate the need: Do you really need information from a social media site?

More often than not, the employer can gain the information it needs from interviews, reference checks, and current background tools. A social media site usually only serves to give the employer what it wants a peek into an applicant's personal life. Imagine comparable interview questions: Who are your friends? When was your last vacation? Can I see pictures of your family? How is your relationship with your wife?

Sure, an employer is always looking fix the right "fit," and personal traits are 21 pan of that lit. And, it's possible that a review of an applicant's social media site may reveal discriminatory comments, gossip about co-workers, or evidence of drug use. However, these possible advantages need to be balanced against the legal risk that the employer may be accused of discriminatory hiring...