Google, Social Media Background Checks

[Paddington]

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I've been reading about employment background checks. There is of course the criminal and - surprisingly - credit report background checks that have been around for ages. Some employers/recruiters are also checking social media websites, as well as putting people's names into Google to see what comes up. So if you have lawsuit proceedings, embarrassing personal websites, newspaper articles about you, political donations over a certain amount, all of those things could potentially come up. What keeps the employers in check is that there's certain protected information that they're not supposed to ask about during an interview, and likewise if they discover it on the internet it could result in a lawsuit against them. From what I've read, that's what is keeping this practice from having become universal.

I was wondering if Google and Social Media background checks are being used in medicine, to check the backgrounds of incoming resident physicians as well as attending physicians at major hospital systems?

 

[gutonc]

I was wondering if Google and Social Media background checks are being used in medicine, to check the backgrounds of incoming resident physicians as well as attending physicians at major hospital systems?

Yes. It's foolish to assume otherwise.

 

[Smurfette]

Assume it every time...whether "big hospital system" or small, residency or attending.

 

[Firewood]

My program said specifically that they do no such thing...but also warned us that any lapses, such as HIPAA violations, that may come to light while in the program will be dealt with severely.

 

[Paddington]

Interesting read:

http://www.hireright.com/blog/2013/...entative-about-social-media-background-check/

That said, a majority of employers do actively use social media as part of their recruiting function. In HireRight's 2013 Employment Screening Benchmarking Report, 54% of respondents indicated that they use social media for recruiting, with another 7% planning to do so.

When it comes to social media background screening, however, employers tend to be much more cautious. Only 14% of respondents to the survey reported that they use social media for background screening purposes, with 7% planning to do so. The numbers indicate a marginally declining year-over-year trend, since in 2012, 15% of employers were using social media for background screening and 9% were planning to do so.

From what I've heard, a lot of the big hospitals outsource background checks to Lexisnexis. It would be interesting to know if an internet search is part of their usual process.

 

[foley12]

Just because they dont admit to it does'nt mean they dont do it.

 

[peppy]

They totally do google you. I know for a fact that it happens at my program and the program I was at before I came here, because we've discussed it in residency meetings.

As I understand it, a residency program isn't supposed to ask you certain questions such as about marital status - but if an applicant volunteers information about being married then it becomes fair game. I would expect that having this info on the internet would be considered to be like you volunteered the info.