Property Manager, Business Development Manager recruitment

I recently posted on my Facebook page about what lengths do we go to in researching any potential new employees. My question was “What research do we do when recruiting staff. Do you Google them? Do you check Facebook & Twitter profiles? Does anyone complete Police checks? Do you ring past employers? Is research of potential new employees necessary?”

It quickly generated a considerable response with Nikki Taylor from Real Estate Jobs Search responding with “Good questions Kevin” before Clare Verrall – a Senior Real Estate Recruitment Consultant saying she always does all of those things plus Twitter check before ending with “Hiring the wrong staff can cost your business a lot in wages, lots of revenue & time training that person so it is well worth taking the time to get it right.”

Nikki immediately agreed with Clare adding she also keeps tabs on court actions as well.

This led to much debate on the use of personal profiles on places such as Facebook and Twitter and whether they were “fair game” for Principals to use or whether it was going too far into people private domain. Rachel shared – “I have no issues with checking with past employers & asking for a national police clearance (all I think these days should be standard proceedure), but checking social media, surely employees & potential employees are entitiled to a certain amount of privacy??”

Natalie responded that she uses Social Media and in response to Rachel said “if it’s there in a PUBLIC domain to be seen, then it might well be seen and used against you. You may not be aware of it being used against you ie. your agency didn’t get that management because they looked up the property managers and saw that one of them plays farmville all day, every day…. i want to be paying someone to manage my house, not play games on fb all day.”

The point Natalie said is “you just do not know who is looking at profiles, and you don’t know how it could be affecting your business reputation.A bit like kids hanging around the shops after school; it’s their free time, but it may reflect badly on the school. Or the classic example, sports people… they’re not on the field, but they are still constantly judged by what they say and do in their free time.”

Is Social Media and the role it plays in life and business crossing paths? Do we need to ensure that our employee agreements now include a Social Media policy?