Another person in my same line of work recently told a group of
hiring managers never to Google candidates during the resume review
process. The consultant apparently thought companies would be
vulnerable to discrimination charges because Google provides access to
ethnicity, race, or other protected class identifying facts that don’t appear
on the face of resumes.
I would caution managers to weigh that possibility against the results of failing to check Google at all. One of my client’s employees recently exhibited very odd, threatening behavior towards his colleagues. This employee was entrusted with critical financial data. Co-workers were afraid, and a termination ensued. While I was terminating the employee the employer ran a Google check on the soon to be ex-employee — and a felony embezzlement charge against the employee showed up.
My thoughts on using Google at the resume screening stage are
this: Use it and consider the results! It's the ultimate in public information.
You can save everyone’s time and energy. Besides if you make a rule that hiring managers can’t use Google, aren’t you patronizing them to some extent? It’s as if you’re saying, "Only HR has the smarts to handle sensitive information." Also such a rule is ungovernable. There will almost certainly be rogue managers who will inevitably check on Google—just to find out what information you think they can’t handle.
Hence my advice: you probably won’t go to jail—or be
successfully charged with discrimination—by checking out candidates on Google.
