A study by North Carolina State University, Georgia State University and Longwood University (Virginia) researchers has found that cybervetting, looking at a candidate's social media profiles to determine if they are a good fit for a job, is doing more harm than good.

The team studied how human resources (HR) professionals review online information and social media profiles of job candidates. They found showed that cybervetting can introduce bias and moral judgment into the hiring process. Rather than assessing a person’s ability to do a job, cybervetting ultimately ends up being used to assess a person’s moral character.Source: Unsplash

During the study, the team conducted in-depth interviews with 61 HR professionals involved in recruitment and hiring in a variety of industries. They found that cybervetting judges people’s behavior and how that behavior is presented.

Researchers found that HR professionals view social media as the person’s authentic version of themselves, but they also demand that people carefully curate how they present themselves on social media. It is clear that HR professionals are rarely looking at social media profiles for information related to job tasks.

One participant had no problem with candidates drinking alcohol, but noted that they did not want to see any photos of alcohol on their employee’s social media feed. Participants referenced looking for things like posts about hiking or family Christmas photos. But most people who hike are white and most people who post Christmas photos are Christians. Participants also showed a preference for online profiles that showed active and energetic lifestyles, which ultimately ends up discriminating against older or disabled applicants. These kinds of preferences add a significant amount of bias to cybervetting.

The team says it is unclear what job candidates could do to address concerns surrounding cybervetting. Some participants acknowledged that putting a photo online creates bias, but others said that not having an online presence was a red flag. Many applicants do not even know that their online presence may be putting them at a disadvantage.

One of the key takeaways of the study was that there needs to be clear guidelines and best practices for cybervetting if companies still want to practice it. The team also notes that their findings indicate that biases and moral judgments are being incorporated into software programs, creating a long-term problem.

This study was published in Socio-Economic Review.