Tread Carefully With Cyber Investigations™

Commercial Investigations offers a product called Cyber Investigations™.  We offer two levels of the investigations which utilize key words to locate information about the individual.  Level one, which can be customized to your needs, generally includes the applicants name and the word ‘arrest’.  We have refined this search so that we now have approximately a 10% hit rate using only verifiable articles on arrests.  Cyber Investigation level two is much more advanced and gathers any information found on the subject through social media, articles, open source information, business records, among other sources.  This provides a broader overview of the applicant.  We save everything that we find, including links, and the client is able to review the information found via the links provided.  From there the client makes a decision on whether or not the information is pertinent to a hiring decision.  While these investigations are helpful in criminal researching and hiring decisions, it is important to stress the cautions that must be taken if you plan on using social media to rule out individuals for a position. 

1. Have CI run the search. After information has been provided, it is important to have an HR person review the information rather than a manager. Don’t make decisions on protected class information.

2. Review the information further along in the hiring process. If you run the background investigation after the interview, that is a good time to review the information as protected class information is already known.

3. Consistency is key. If you’re going to run Cyber Investigations, don’t just do it for one candidate; do it for every candidate. You can run into major issues if you are only running Cyber Investigations sporadically or may have ‘a feeling’ about a certain candidate.

4. Document everything. Commercial Investigations LLC documents every result discovered in Cyber Investigations. You can request that this information be attached to the background report or sent via email. This protects you in case the damaging content originally found is later deleted.

5. Take sources into consideration. Don’t use what others have said about the candidate; focus mainly on what the candidate has said or articles the candidate has posted. Some articles can be good information about the candidate, for instance whether they were on the honor roll or part of a sports team.

6. Make sure you are aware of FCRA laws regarding these types of searches. Be sure to treat the information as though it had been obtained through the interview or in a resume. Let the candidate know that you may be checking their social media activity. If you do use social media as part of the background investigation and hiring decision, it is a component that can be disputed according to the FCRA.

Using Cyber Investigations™ is useful, but tread carefully when making hiring decisions based on what is discovered. Let Commercial Investigations LLC assist you in setting up a Cyber Investigations package to fit your hiring needs.