By now, we know there's a lot of information, some of it very damaging, about candidates on social networks like Facebook and MySpace. If you want to see a decent legal rundown, check out this recent article from The Alabama Lawyer. The article does a pretty good job of establishing some talking points about all the legal issues (candidate selection - and how you can use it - to reject candidates being the biggie) and what's still to be resolved legally.
Didn't click through, did you? That's OK, it's tough to muster the energy to read the legal eagle's take.
Still, two legal friends referred me to the article (one being my wife), so I thought I would share.
If you didn't click through, then check out this story from another friend of the Capitalist, regarding research he did on a youngster who rear-ended him on a vacation trip:
"Here is an example. I got rear-ended on the way to my daughter's sports competition in Florida. I was hit in FL by a 21 year old girl who had insurance. She did not report it to her insurance company like she was supposed to, so I had to do it. She was very nice and apologetic last Friday, so I was a bit surprised that she failed to do what she was supposed to do.
As a result, I thought that I would check her out on the Internet by running a google search on her full name, <Name Redacted> all in quotes. What I got was her younger, 16 year old sister's myspace page that is titled "Smoke Weed All Day." According to the myspace page, all the family kids do is drink and smoke all day. My driver is listed as her sister's "hero" on the page..."
Quick - the 21 year old sister is a great candidate who you're getting ready to hire, and you googled her as part of your reference check. What do you do?
OK - maybe throwing the article in a folder is not such a bad idea....
