Last night I wrote a short item on using Google for background checks, this morning I find Regina Miller has also put together a post (completely separately) with a more recent example of how a Google search might of been the difference between life and death right here in Australia. I had previously seen the news story but not seen a reference to how the process got started, a simple search on Google.
I have written several times about my view on how recruitment solutions, call them ATS or TMS, are going to be fundamentally impacted by the changes in technology. The transition is already underway with the introduction of vertical search and the massive growth in online background checking services in the past year.
As we move into a connected world with more and more information readily available (and a lot free) at our finger tips there are some questions. Such as will recruiters have a “duty of care” to undertake such searches? On a similar thought will we end up in a situation that recruiters can be held negligent if they did not use search engines to conduct a background check? Or will we just have a continued growth in 3rd party background checking services? How will this potentially impact third party recruiters and their legal relationship with employers? While some of these questions are currently covered in existing contracts but will these contracts need to be revised?
Also remember the flip side is also true. For candidates, gone are the days of having to do library search to find out about a potential employers. Search engines can provide candidates with a large amount of background information on a company before they even step into the interview.
Of interest here are some links on the Patel case in case you are interested:-
Deaths and a Doctor’s Past Transfix Australians
Patel didn’t wash hands between patients
No indemnity for Patel
Political ‘grand-standing’ on Patel a failure
Inquiry to resume this week
Patients give evidence
Police committing resource to case
Patel timeline
Michael Specht 