Has your social media usage increased during COVID-19?

With the UK spending 90% more time on social media during the lockdown, conducting thorough screening is more essential that ever. Is social media screening the referencing of lockdown?

Read on for more information from Neotas on the importance of social media screening or you can contact us at screening.enquiries@reedglobal.com for more information.

Jonathan, Head of Sales at Neotas says:
At some point in 2020 we will pass a global landmark for social media use – over 50% of the planet will have a social media account. What’s more the average person spends almost 2 and a half hours a day on social media activity. Youtube, Tik Tok, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Xing, Instagram, Weibo, OK.RU and other platforms form part of the day for most of us daily.

Our “digital identity” is now our passport to much of the real world. Whether it’s your credentials to access government services online, your favourite shopping site online or even your favourite food delivery service, they all require you to have an online persona.  
The exceptional situation we are all currently managing has driven the drive to digital even further. Card please, not cash. No need to send documents in the post – we can ID you online. Work from home, we trust you to get things done.

So how does this impact the screening process? Traditional references that require a human being to acknowledge a request for a reference and then respond are always going to be slow in comparison to database checks, yet the drive to “all things digital” has a bias for speed. With social media checks offering comprehensive insight into a candidate’s character they are becoming more important than ever in the screening process. By being compliant with established best practice, staying business relevant and being the right blend of machine and human intelligence, these checks can add huge insight. Social media is a key part of our lives and add huge insight to the hiring process.

If you need a fast screening process that enables new starters to be screened and in work more quickly than ever it’s time to go digital with the Reed Screening team.
Many of the checks that form a robust screening package can now be completed in hours, rather than days. Criminal checks, social media checks, credit checks are now fast and heavily automated. Add in the Reed Screening team operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and with deep industry experience and we can help you save time, hire the best candidates and significantly reduce the risk of a bad hire.