April 29, 2026 • 46 mins
Your CV gets you noticed. Your social media gets you hired - or rejected.
In this episode, we dive into the growing reality that your social media presence is part of the job application process.
I’m joined by Susie Thomson, founder of Security Watchdog, and Martin Hardy, founder of Right2Socials, to discuss how and why employers screen candidates online, and what they’re really looking for when they check your feeds.
We cover:
- Why social media checks are now routine in recruitment
- How to clean up your existing posts (and what actually needs removing)
- Common mistakes and hidden traps that can hurt your reputation
- The real consequences of an unprofessional digital footprint
Make sure your online presence works for you, not against you.
---
How employers really see you online (and what to do about it): https://bit.ly/4ncVihG
---
📝 Take the job match quiz: https://bit.ly/4tAiVCE
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futureyou_pod/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@futureyou_pod
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ProspectsJisc
📜 Episode transcripts: https://www.prospects.ac.uk/podcasts/future-you-podcast-transcripts
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Whether you like it or not, it's now here.
(00:01):
Employers are actually,checking, graduates and job seekers,
in terms of their professionals,for their professional reputations.
I'm Susie Thompson.
I was, the founder of Security Watchdog.
Security Watchdog
is one of the largest, backgroundchecking businesses in Europe.
I'm now a consultant to thescreening industry, so I'm the generalist,
(00:22):
but I've got about 35 yearsexperience of background checking,
and I've had the real pleasure of workingwith the lovely Martin Hardy here.
Over the last ten years,I would you. Yeah.
So I'm Martin Hardy I'mthe founder and, executive director
for Social Media Consulting Limited,which is Right2Socials brand.
Welcome to Future You
the Student and Careers Advice podcastbrought to you by Prospects.
(00:46):
So for students and graduates,
especially, social media is oftenthe first impression that employers get.
And, and that's whywe have a lot of passion around this
to support youngsters, to support,jobseekers into, getting the right roles.
And we absolutely love backgroundchecking.
And I this is a really dry subjectfor some people, but we we adore it.
(01:07):
And it was over a cup of coffeewhere we thought, you know what,
we want to give something back.
We want to smooth pathwaysfor young people to get into employment
and we feel that people don't know enoughabout this particular subject.
So, he's the expert.
I can talk the talk.
So we thought this was a really good comboto to kind of, pass on the word.
Yeah.
So what is it that Right2Socialsdoes? So Right2Socails is
(01:31):
an employability brand.
So so it's designed specifically to help
like, say graduates or jobseekers,to understand
what their social media profilelooks like in the context of an employer.
And then, to change that profileif they wish.
But first of all, to understand it,then then have the ability to learn
(01:52):
how to improve that profilein the eyes of an employer.
So it's so right to socials, provideseducation material.
Also benchmarks against other candidatesin other locations demographics
so that you can see basicallywhat what you look like
in terms of an employer screening,and then adapt accordingly. Amazing.
(02:14):
And is this a new problemthat we found a solution for,
or is this something that has been theresince the dawn of Instagram in 2007?
It's a great question.
I mean, if you if you lookat the sort of ten year of social media
checking in the industry,how long is that?
How long is that industry been goingon, for we we were established in 2010.
(02:34):
So it's now 16 yearsI so, so yeah, you do that thing.
So but but we met in 2016ish time specifically for this purpose.
So that social media checks were on the upthat, they were becoming
the check of choice for employers,but that the audience, i.e.
(02:55):
the individuals, the recruits,the candidates probably
were not aware of what their profilesshould look like or what
to avoid or, you know, offensive language, etc.
that we may all have committed to in ouryouth.
Not thinking throughthat audience was really unaware.
So I think with the,
(03:17):
you know, the advent of, Martin's product
and also the social media industry,
we are now wanting to say, hey, be aware,
just like you're aware,when you have a credit check, be aware
that there's a social media check comingand it is the check of growth.
And we've
seen it rise over the last five years.
(03:39):
And I wouldn't be surprised.
Emily,you know, with my background screening hat
on, is if that became the maincheck of the future.
Yeah. Yeah.
Which is really interestingwhen you think about it, as social media
is social media.
And it was sort of invented, you know,you think back to The Facebook to
(04:02):
enhance communitiesand express yourself online.
And it sort of felt like a safe spacewhere especially when it first dawned of
like how fun we can all just experimentand have fun on here.
This is sounding, not scary.
I don't want to put that tone on it, but
it's evolved so much that it it almostdoesn't feel like it's what it was.
(04:25):
It's not social anymore. Like,
can you still express yourself onlineor do you have to have that filter now?
I mean it's, it's it's a reflectionof somebody in the digital world.
Right.
So it's, it's a real reflectionof somebody in a digital world.
And yeah, back in the early daysbecause I remember
when we set up the companyand we established that yeah,
there's a concern here.
Employee is going to start being concernedabout what's posted online.
(04:48):
And, you know, a little bit of history.
We started the company with the intentionof supporting parents.
And,you know, very much an educational brand.
And it was soon,
you know, came to lightthat if employers really adopted this,
the the parents would be very concerned.
(05:11):
Okay.
Now, what's happened in the last ten yearsis social media vetting is has matured.
It's now a very mature product.
Almost all backgroundscreening companies,
are coming out.
Social media checking, vetting.
Susie, no wonder you're the, you know,
about to be the PBS global chair
(05:33):
because Susie was one of the earlyadopters with security watchdog.
That's that's when we firstkind of collaborated together.
And saw saw what was coming. Yeah.
And then and I think we shared thatvision, and so but it's now matured.
So, what we,what we're trying to do particularly
with like two socials,is create that balance and fairness
(05:56):
so that candidates and employersboth get what they need.
But in a very fair and compliant way.
Okay.
And so and we're going to gointo a bit of depth today I'm sure.
And and if you think about it, Emily,we all have a digital life
and we all have a physical life.
And, and those two should run to harmonise together.
(06:20):
But sometimes our digital presence goeshaywire and needs to be corrected.
And it's when thoseyou have those haywire moments
and you don't realise what you're actuallyputting down on the socials
could be detrimental to your futureemployability.
That's not fair.
You know, and we want to make surethat it is absolutely
(06:41):
fair hence and, collaboration on this.
Yeah. Fantastic.
Let's dive in.
So we've sort of touched on it.
But from your experience, how oftendo employers check candidates social media
before making hiring decisionsand what is it that they're looking for?
So if I could start off on that one,I think you're seeing as I mentioned,
(07:04):
this is the growth check.
And I think, 2026 is going to be a monumental year
for social media checksas, as the one that employers
actually choose to safeguard their,reputation statistics.
Do you have statistics around howmany organisations are currently using it?
Yeah, we got some stats.
So about 70% of employersscreen candidates social media
(07:27):
So that's that's in a it's in a wide sensethat statistic in the sense
it's not just about alike a behavioral check.
But he could also be using social mediato check that candidate in general.
So just be likewhat do they look like online.
Yeah.
So it's less formal, but it's also sothat 70%, there's 1 in 3 employers
(07:48):
who rejected the candidate,because of their online content.
And about 45% say they've hired someonebecause of their positive online profile.
So we're not just talking hereabout negative behaviors.
Right. Well employers are looking foris this balance.
What what does this individuallook like online.
You knowoverall it's not just about the negative.
(08:09):
Yeah that's really interestingto point out there.
Yeah it absolutely is.
So they're looking for that individual'sprofessionalism.
They're looking for their tone.
Other positivesthat they could possibly want
to see the individual's judgmentin certain scenarios.
That's important as well.
And no, we're not going to get italways right, have the right judgment.
(08:29):
But that iswhat employers are looking for.
and they're not trying to kickcatch candidates out.
This is not the purpose, you know.
Do I talk about, red flag hunting,and that's not what it's about, right?
We definitely don't look at itfrom that perspective.
Employers are looking for that, reassurance so that they're looking for
those behaviors to be likenegative behaviors, like aggression, etc.,
(08:53):
and being eliminated from a profileso that it doesn't.
Yeah, they want that reassurance.
I think you'll findwith your customers, Martin.
And forgive meif I've got this right, but,
so many of them are focusedon the importance of culture.
They've invested massive amountsin their brands, in their culture,
all sorts of internal engagement.
And they want to make surethat the individuals
(09:14):
joining their organisation sharethe same values, can be absorbed
into the culture of the organisationwithout any red flags.
And that's where that social media checkis so important.
Yeah. 100%.
Like you said, it's a mirror of somebody'sreal life.
Yeah. completely.
And so we're not talking about like,you know, if you've gone for
(09:35):
a bottomless brunch
and you're pictured with a prosecco,that's not going to not get you employed.
well, it depends on how much proseccowhat all this happens.
Now the the key thing here is it'snot it's about behaviors.
It's not about lifestyle.
It's not about there's absolutely fine toto demonstrate your lifestyle online.
Employers understand that people are real.
(09:58):
Well I didn't and especially today
they see that it's a reflectionof your real life on online.
So going on holidays, having fun,you know that's that's all healthy.
And the employee looks at itfrom a healthy perspective.
And Susie already touched on culture.
You know, that might be somethingthey really want within the organisation.
So, you know, it's it'sthe other elements of things
(10:20):
like aggression or argumentsonline and expose hate speech.
Yeah.
This is itranges from very simple things like just,
you know, behaviors that don't fit theculture of the organisation.
You know, having an open argumentonline is never a good thing,
but it can go right through to,you know, links to proscribed
(10:43):
organisations, terrorist groups, violent gangs.
So we see a whole range ofwhat is out there.
Yeah.
But but employers are really looking,
like I said,focused on the cultural aspects.
This is personset my organisation a holistically,
So I suppose to follow on to whatI was asking just now.
(11:03):
Are there common misconceptionsas to what risky behavior is?
I think everyone watching
this is is probably clicking on to checkthat they are allowed
to have a cocktail with the girlsand not not get employed for it.
We are talking about that more severebehavior that is showcased online.
And again, out of curiosity, is there,if you are anonymous,
(11:25):
if you are working throughan anonymous username profile picture,
will that still catch you over to you?
That's uptwo two very separate things there.
So so the first thingis on misconceptions.
So one obvious misconception isthat you have to be squeaky clean online.
Right?
(11:45):
And you know, everything has to be boringand perfect or professional.
Okay.
That isn't you know, quite oftenemployers are actually looking
for candidates who demonstrate behaviors
which are outgoing and social and,you know,
so it doesn't have to be professionaland doesn't have to be boring.
That's that's a misconception.
(12:06):
So going out, traveling, joking withfriends or completely normal and accepted.
Yeah. Right.
Nothing wrong with those kind of things.
And the employers won't be lookingto scrutinise that.
That actually, I'mprobably quite pleased about that.
What catches people out, isn't
necessarily their personality,but it's their behavior, right?
(12:28):
So you can be outgoing.
You can be showing thatyou're going to social events, etc.,
but the behavior that you demonstratewithin those social events,
but like real life,because all we're doing
is putting real lifeinto a digital world. Right?
So if you were to go to a party,
and, you know, got exceedingly drunk and,
(12:48):
you know, caused damage or difficulties,you know, that is a behavior
you wouldn't be accepted in real lifestarted bullying somebody.
bullying somebody. Yeah, exactly.
Even just having a fightor an argument with
just isn't socially, and the right valuesthat the company's probably looking for.
So if you're expressing that online.
So it's the hands and that's the key thingbehaviors more than personalities.
(13:11):
Employees are expecting personalityto be shown in social media checks.
And just a point on the risk.
It's not lifestylecontent that causes the risk.
It's the patterns of poor judgmentjust one other thing as well.
On the myth side, one would postso, you know, oh, hang on that I did that
when I was 18and now I'm 28 and I made that post.
(13:34):
And so old posts matterbecause, Most grads
have it good eight,ten years of online history now.
So it's quite substantial.
The behavioral pattern online.
So it's importantto make sure that if you're refreshing
or looking at your profiles,you don't believe that you don't,
(13:57):
make the assumption that old postsdon't matter because they do.
And it helps build up a pictureof somebody over a period of time.
the other thing is,I like to say that social media vetting
is as matureda lot over the last 4 to 5 years.
I has come along and technology
is nowdriving the power of social media vetting.
(14:19):
Right.
So you might think that, have keeping, you know,
a pseudonym or a profile private,might not be picked up, or particularly
if you're using a different username or,you know, trying to keep a pseudonym
running or on your social media,you might think it's not picked up.
But, you know, there's so many waysof picking up a link between profiles,
(14:42):
you know, tags and locationsettings and followings
and followersand and technology is sweeping.
You know, the outputs there.
So, I wouldn't take the risk.
You should bear that in mind
when you have, alter alter egos online.
As well.
Yeah.
Because the technology
(15:03):
and the maturity of the checksthese days is, is quite advanced.
And then of that, if you deletedyour social media, can it still be found?
Companieswith good practice in the vetting industry
and should not be using recordedversions of the web or history,
the historic postswhich are not currently online.
(15:25):
They should be live checks because again,
legislationalso dictates this in a little way.
You know, individualshave the right to be forgotten.
So deleting an account is a rightunder the legislation to,
the any candidate should think about,you know, maybe that's an easy option.
Just delete it.
But most don't want to do that.
(15:46):
They it'sthey've got their history on there okay.
Especially ten years of history.
So they might not want to do that.
The better approach is to look at security
settings, refresh the tags
in your content, you know, are you taggedhere, here, there and everywhere.
Get rid of some of the tags,clean up a little bit of the,
historic content as you see it publicly.
(16:10):
Very important publicly.
So no, no screeningcompany should be using private
messaging or private content.
Because again, that wouldbreach privacy, would regulation,
to say soit's only publicly available information.
So make sure you look at thatin a public way, not in a private way.
(16:31):
Consider it from that perspective.
What is public?
What is my behavior look like?
Do I have some of those thingsI've mentioned already?
Aggression,all these kind of red flags and,
and curated accordingly?
Yeah, but it doesn't have to beprofessional. Boring.
Just to be clear.
Leave the personalityto get out the bad behavior.
(16:53):
Yeah.
Talking about those risks oftenwhen when we were together
and I saywe brought on a new contract and,
the requirement for that,employer was social media checks.
We would work alongside youto identify the risks
that were specifically importantto that particular employer.
But there was some concern.
(17:13):
There were some consistent risks.
The a couple of themthat you could just call out that actually
make folks understandwhat to look out for.
Yeah, I think some of the common ones,explicit content excuse illicit language,
nudity, endorsement of drugs, illegal substances.
(17:34):
Those are three key ones.
And then we get into the, further,
some of the more extreme ones, you know,connections to proscribed organisations,
to illegal organisations,involvement in gangs, etc..
So it kind of ranges from that, I think.
I think another little myth is it'sokay to post memes and GIFs
(17:55):
and all these lovely thingswith a bit of humor in there, but
be careful about whatthe you know, there's a difference between
what humor looks likewhen with you, with your friends,
and what humor looks like in a third partycontext posted online.
So when an employer's looking at it,they may not find it so funny.
Yeah, because it's also out of contextthat could be able to contact.
(18:18):
So so just be a little bit careful.
Memes, gifs, they're funny.
You know employers laugh as well right?
You know it's a normal behavior.
However did they want that kind of,
if you like humor in their organisation,it might be distasteful.
when we talk
about cleaning up our digital footprint,that's,
(18:40):
that's not going tothat you are entitled to do that.
You almost recommended to do that.
And it's just about sifting through yourold posts, as you said, refreshing tags,
updating things, keeping the personality.
And then just, just really thinkingabout how it looks and keeping perhaps
inappropriate humor to the private groupchats, that sort of thing.
(19:00):
Yeah. Just touch on what you said.
The role is also key right?
So so so one of the things we encourage
candidates to look at is whatwhat are the roles you're applying for.
Right.So what roles will you be vetted for?
There's a difference
between a role in financial servicesversus education, for example.
And the employers will look for different
(19:22):
behaviors in those scenarios.
So, you know, the confidential informationmight be
a very important thingfrom many organisations.
But you might be leaning down the fraudroute or,
you know, asking for money routeopen to bribery route.
If you're looking at financial services
and in education,you might be looking at harm to children
(19:43):
through the Keeping Children Safeand education guidelines, you know,
so that the Department for educationguidelines for, social media vetting.
So they're very different.
Harmful children include thingslike intolerance, teacher standards,
meeting with the mock democracy,rule of law, these kind of things.
(20:03):
So they it does differ by industry.
And I think that's somethingwe established.
Yeah.
Early on iswhat are actually your clients.
Yeah.
What are the
employers looking forin each industry sector.
And make sure it's, tailoredtailored towards those things.
So that's important for the,for the candidates
(20:24):
to know because they're obviously goingto come out of uni,
they're going to be going into educationor financial services.
So understand the ethics of that industrythat you're applying for roles in.
And therefore you can help that will helpyou understand what,
what is important for social media vettingand what you want.
They might be looking for.Yeah, definitely.
(20:47):
Does certain platforms have more weightthan others, like LinkedIn?
You'resort of expected to be professional.
Whereas TikTok,you might be a bit more social.
Is is there any sort of differenceacross the platforms?
Yeah, there is a difference.
I mean, you're on LinkedIn, right?We're on LinkedIn. We are on LinkedIn.
Yeah, yeah.
I don't know how much you're on.
X or desktop.
(21:10):
funnyenough, you won't find me there either.
So yeah, there is a difference.
Obviously in maybe two ways.
So LinkedIn obviouslyis a recognised professional site.
Okay.
So, I think I've got to start hereon LinkedIn, which is that,
92% of recruiters use LinkedIn.
Okay.
So LinkedIn is obviously an important siteboth for sourcing
(21:31):
candidates as well as vetting candidates.
So, to make sure again, those behaviors.
So as long as the candidates have,
you know, to expresswhat they're passionate about, right?
This LinkedIn is great for that.
You can get involved in conversations,you can post, you know,
(21:52):
social values, itemsthat you're passionate about.
So that's an important thing to dowhen it comes to things
like TikTok x Instagram.
I think first thing to note isthey are definitely involved in the,
screening process.
Okay, so if anybody thinks it's LinkedInis only thing allowed, that's just a myth.
Let's just, you know, it's an importantpart of the checks for the employer.
(22:15):
But but socialsthen when you talk about the Insta,
Facebook, TikTok and X, for example,they're very definitely YouTube.
All right.
They're all involved.
And it can even gointo the degree of e-commerce.
So you know what?
What are you trading online?
And many flags come up, where, give you a couple of specific
(22:38):
examples, teachers trading in knivesor blades or things like that.
So these are real life examples.
So this, are you going to be likesomeone had a really good vinted page?
What's about, you know,
Now we have we have real, you know,
posting messages about schoolsburning down or you know,
(23:03):
anti-religious messages,you know, having seen this, it's
very evident why employersneed to carry out the vetting.
and we should remember,
this is all in the control of a candidate,The where the candidates.
This is the candidate's profile.
This is the candidate's choice.
So what we're encouraging is,
first of all, learnthrough the Right2Socials concept.
(23:25):
Learn about it firstand then fix it up Interesting.
You mentioned tick tock.
I had I spoken to about three parentsin the last week who said,
I'm really concerned about that videothat my teenage daughters put up on.
Tick tock, must have goodness sake.
Speak to them, get them to take it down.
They just don't realise the damage,that that's going to do going forward.
(23:48):
But I'm hearing more and more about ticktock.
it's kind of mixed with itdepends on the age groups as well.
So TikTok does tend to be a little bityounger in terms of its age group.
You know, we can touch actuallywith clothing that these, these
individuals were, 19 and 17 on TikTok.
that is younger. Oh, right.
(24:08):
the oh perfect AD.
Thank you.
That's good. Good thing to pinpoint right.
So when we're talking about 18 to 25 yeahTikTok seems to be quite a popular app.
I mean a couple of things to recognise.
The screening processdoes involve those socials, right?
That's first thing, the technology used in these,
the screening nowis, is, is, high powered, wide.
(24:32):
So you know, even somebody said,you know, we got
I think we get often flagged contentwhere somebody is making
a funny video on TikTokand there's music playing
in the background,which is full of racism or hatred.
So and it's a trend and it's,you know, it's all fun and social.
But what they don't realise is the contentthey're playing in the background,
(24:56):
making the funny video, which is a rappersong or something, you know,
you'll find that often they get flaggedfor those kind of things because it
because it shows their acceptanceof that kind of language and behavior.
So it's not so muchthey've created that content
because it's a rapperor a musician or something.
But but it's actually been usedin producing the video,
(25:19):
which is maybe a funny video,
but unfortunately gets yeah,so no, that makes no sense.
a little bit toxic Yeah.
Not people can slip into these behaviors.
very quick trend, isn't it, that peoplealmost thoughtlessly jump on
and that would probably bewhere you're going to get.
Yeah, absolutely.
What are you going to get out of this.
It's consumption based as well.
(25:40):
So so because of the algorithmswithin some of these apps.
tend to find that contentbecomes normalised.
So so if it if you're fed constantly,
you know, videos which include
that kind of content,you might normalise that and think
that, well, that's actually just a trendthat I don't need to worry about that.
(26:00):
That's just everybody's doing it right.
So be careful of that kind of that'swhat I'd say.
Be careful of that, kind of make surea trend isn't actually just trending.
You know,
a trend of the site.
I really, really good advice.
I always keep that criticalsetting in the back of your mind.
Always be awareof what you're looking at 67%.
Also check Instagram, with employers.
(26:23):
So 92% of recruitersusing LinkedIn, 67% also
checking Instagram,and about 45% to check.
Tick tock.
Specifically for younger candidatesand younger being 18 to 25.
if you do not have
social media in thatif you do not have an Instagram account
(26:43):
at tick tock account,are you almost at a disadvantage in that?
Do employers are employersthen worried that
you're not expressing yourself online,that you don't have a digital footprint?
would you say the bias comes into this.
So you shouldn't be worried right.If somebody is not on social media.
And I mean there's an employeras an employer, I wouldn't be worried.
But you'veyou got deeper insights into it.
(27:05):
I mean, could that could that candidate,for example, have scrubbed
deleted their all their accountsand therefore they don't have a profile?
Or would youwould you know that had done that?
This is tremendously excitingdiscussion for me.
I love this concept that.
And so the first thing of of bias.
So this is justmentioned there. Right. So so
(27:28):
you shouldn't be discriminated against
because you choosenot to have social media.
Let's first thing okay.
So employersshould use text that you shouldn't.
Yeah.
So you shouldn't bewe've just said right.
We like on social media etc..
So, you know, should I be discriminate?
Absolutely not.
You know, from my perspective and however,the it's important to recognise
(27:51):
that a social media vetting is to checkwhat is actually online,
not what could be online,should be knowing might be online, etc..
Right?
So if somebody has deleted every accountthat they have online,
then it might be just for the purposeof the job, might for applying for a job
if they've done that.
First of all, it's their right,
(28:11):
their right to be forgotten, their rightto do that under the privacy legislations.
And secondly, the so screening companiesshouldn't be using content
that's not online. Okay.
So it's a safe sonefor both the individual and the employer
because the employer is looking forwhat is online, not what's not online.
if you look at their riskis their brand or their,
(28:33):
you know, and that third partieslook at that candidate's
profilesand don't see anything risk isn't there.
it's not something I encourageas a, as a tactic
to delete your accounts, etc., just to beand we yeah.
In fact I say get online,enjoy yourself, just follow the rules of
good behavior, etc.
(28:53):
I think a lot of it is what?
Not a lot of it.
But I like mine personally, was like,you know, it's
the mental health reasonsand the, the going
more analog reasons trying to bring back2002 make sense, like that sort of thing.
Whereas like,I think I would have been worried
if you hadn't just confirmed all of that,that I would look suspicious
(29:14):
for just trying to, like, get into crossstitch instead of being on TikTok.
Does that make sense?
Which feels unfair,but actually it's not unfair
because of course,they just want to make sure
that if they employ you,someone doesn't look you up.
And yeah, you'rereflecting them. Branded about what?
I actually can look of good things that,
you know, mental healthor general health issues, you know,
(29:34):
also other things like prescribedor sorry, protected characteristics.
Right. It's race. Gender.
Yeah.
Political ideologies, sexual orientation,
all of these things are protectedunder the discrimination laws.
Right.
So, so an employershould never be utilising
that kind of informationfor making a decision.
(29:57):
Well, one of the good things, about,what we call the professional
social media vetting is that it removes
that bias from employers byyou're not going to look at somebody,
the employer is not going to lookat some of these Facebook or X
or, you know, LinkedIn per se.
They will rely on the vetting processfrom the professional company
(30:20):
like ourselves to say,here's the results of that vetting.
And there's nothing to see here.So you the independent Yeah.
So we so we remove that potential,conscious or unconscious bias creeping in.
and are you able to sort of explainwhat that looks like if,
if a couple of things were flagged,like you mentioned, the music
in the back of a TikTok video,is that video presented to the employer
(30:42):
and then they are able to make a decisionoff of that with all the context.
So if there's an intersection,for example, of a protected characteristic
and something that might be flagged,let's say
possibly a stereotypical example,that you're in a pride parade
in a fairly revealing costumethat feels like an intersection
of like potentially verging on nudity,which would be flagged.
(31:02):
But it's within this contextof like expressing your right to,
you know, official event.
And so the employer would thenlook at that
and make a decision from there. Correct?
Yeah.
So so it's important to the
to realise thatonly the flagged content gets reported.
So it's not the general accountsand even the,
(31:22):
you know, the employer doesn'tget to see every single thing.
Yeah. It's only the conduct.
And it's also then placed intowhat's called risk classifications.
So typically on a particular industrylike education, for example,
there would be eight classificationrisk classifications.
So explicit content,not having British values
(31:45):
or and teachers not meeting teacherstandards, being intolerant.
So this is about usually about eightclear risk classifications.
It would be differentin financial services
like I said earlier and so on.
And that content,those specific posts or interactions,
it could be read tweets,it could be likes, it could be
people will use different waysof expressing themselves online.
(32:07):
It's only those specifics that will getto flag to the employer on the report.
And again, the right to socialsallows you to get your own report so
you can get, you know, you get visibilityof that prior to the employer.
Yeah. Seeing it. So,so that's really good.
And those risk classifications, of course,
you've mentioned a couple of the edgecases.
(32:27):
So, you know, an easier example
I think to understandwould be a political ideology.
So you might like conservatives or laboror Reform or whatever you like.
And you might express that online.
Those will not get reported per se.
But if you start getting aggressiveand violent towards
others in that field,you know, opposition, Yeah, yeah.
(32:51):
Such as starting fights in the commentsthat will be pulled out.
But just going and leafletingfor your political party
ending on the context it could be thatthat would be redacted for the employer.
So maybe the ideology gets redacted.
So you can't identify maybea political party or something like that,
but the language will still be flagged.
(33:12):
Unless there's a direct link.
So if you, you know, you literallythreatening an MP, it's, it's difficult to
it's difficult to remove that ideology.
what about likes liking something. How is.
Yeah how how is that picked upit's put in the risk category.
So if somebody likes a hated, hate speech.
(33:33):
Yeah. Some idea.
Let's say there's someanti-Semitism posted and you liking it.
Okay.
Never a good sign because you're showingyour behaviors as supporting.
What is potentially, racismor hatred, towards,
you know, a protectedcharacteristic of religion or whatever.
So, such a gray area Thereit is. It's Yeah.
(33:55):
Because I was just about to ask, like,there have been what I would consider
very disrespectful things being tweeted
by very high up peoplein governing bodies of certain countries,
but also they hold a very high upposition.
And so or for example, like
(34:15):
there are
some authors that have some very strongopinions on line that might be considered
hate speechby some and by others activism.
And if you're liking this, who decideswhether it's hate speech or activism?
And I honestly sometimes wish myselfthat standards would be higher at these,
because it sets higher standards, But,you know, the check itself
(34:39):
is objective, right? We, we, we look at,
like you say, risk categories
in the context of a role and an employer.
And it doesn't matter who it is,whether you know, these,
these senior people that tend to,
you know, post maybe hate
they'd be flagged, some of them would havea very long report.
(35:00):
I would guess, But, you know, in the endit's up to the data controller
and the law,
which is the employer in most, situationsto decide what's relevant or not.
So as a social media check,
we had with thatto report the fact that it exists online.
I mean, and then the data controller.
So we would be a processor, the datacontroller, which is the employer,
(35:20):
and under the GDPR regulations, UK GDPR,
they would make the decisionbased on that information.
And they may
just over
override that and make the decisionto employ or not.
I wouldn't take the chance myself. Yeah.
At what stage of the application processis this happening
(35:42):
and is that down to the employerlike they can do.
So let's say they at 600 CVSand they're going to interview 20 people.
Do those 20 people get vettedor is or are we just vetting people
once we get down to the final like two
it's usually at the point of,offer the vetting starts.
So you need the candidate's consent.
(36:04):
So that all has to be agreed.
So, and, the offer isn't concludeduntil the vetting has been concluded.
So the, the whole background checking
process is going on in, in, in tandem.
Once the results are through,then that's confirmed.
So, that's the stage.
(36:24):
And when you're then one of the threelike one of three rejected people, we,
we've completed our checksand we've decided
we're not going to go forwardwith your blah blah blah.
Are you able to find out why.
Are you able to find out which videoswhat it was exactly.
That why they don't thinkyou're a good fit for super juicy area.
(36:44):
Look at I love it.
the recommendation in generalis that the, screening happens
at the later stage of the process, right?
So that it doesn't become an influence
in the first stagewhere somebody just says, well,
I've seen somebodyI've seen of a post on the social media
not having that person in them.It should be holistic.
There's lots of checks.And would you name them?
(37:06):
All right.
Criminal records, checks, Financialprobity, which is a credit check.
You've got sanctions list, you'vegot employment, you've got education.
You can I can rattle them all through.
You know, there are so many. Absolutely.
So there's, there's soand we actually produce
about 15 different types of social medialike vetting checks, online checks.
(37:27):
So I'd so that so even within the socialmedia part there's lots of checks types.
Right.Because it's open source intelligence.
So it's it's fair game.
Public informationthat the employers are concerned
about let's talk about how what,what a candidate can rely on.
so the first question is if I, let's sayyou're coming out of university
(37:47):
and you go, you'd go into an industryor you have an intention of
going into an industry, first thing to dois educate yourself to say,
what are the industryspecific mandates in this area?
And there's enough information on thingslike the right to socials, blogs
and the likes where you can findthat information quite easily.
there's also some resources onon the right social
(38:09):
dashboard for the individualto find out that information.
So learn about it.
First of all, the education yourself.
The second thing is, what does that mean?
Some industry sectors,like the Department for education,
they've statedthat check should be done at shortlisting.
Okay.
Now that's a little bit differentto what how
most checks most employers will do it.
(38:30):
They'll do it at final stage and they willsee that as the right way to do it.
But the Department for educationsays it should be at shortlisting
because they're concernedabout the welfare of the children.
So they're saying,let's just vet these people out.
Now, of course, it's not.
It's not mandated, mandated in the sensethat they get punished the day before.
He gets punished.
If you don't,if you only do it at final stage.
(38:52):
But there is punishmentif they don't do it at all.
Okay.
So so it's very much at the discretionof data controller, the school
or the universityor the whoever's screening to decide,
whether they do it, right at the endonly for the final candidate selection
or whether they do itearlier on in the shortlisting process.
(39:13):
So I would say for a candidate,don't take the risk.
You know, in the end,it doesn't change the scenario.
Yeah, it'sgoing to happen one way or another. It
Look after thehealthy things we've talked about today.
And then that will mean
they're coveredand it doesn't not in fact do it
six months before applying for the rolethat don't don't wait till I don't wait
(39:35):
till you putting a CVin front of somebody, because possibly
you've already been spotted and seenand yeah, you know.
But anyway, so, so I would say to any timeso legislatively
so there are some minor kind of guidancearound associations
and authoritiesthat that force some requirements.
And then from a privacy perspective,they come back to the question
(39:58):
you asked, arethey allowed to see the report?
This is this should neverbe a covered thing, right?
The employer should not treat this asbeing a, this should be very transparent.
In terms of you mentioned consent,
specifically in this areaand this is the rights of the candidate.
So. The employer,from a risk assessment for a role
(40:18):
will be assessing what consentthey need to get.
Now, actually, under the UK GDPR,all you need
is a lawful basis to carry out a check.
Okay, so on the strict, case.
So it might be safeguarding of children.
It might be fraudprevention of fraud might be money
because the individualbe managing high value assets.
(40:41):
So there's lots of different reasons
an employer will choosewhat is the lawful basis.
And the UK GDPR listsabout 7 or 8 different options.
They they
range from things like public testwhich means it's mandated by government.
Or it might mean it might be somethinglike legitimate interest.
(41:03):
That's quite a common one.
So they have a legitimate interest toprotect their brand, their assets, etc..
So legitimate interestis the lawful basis.
On that basis, you don't need consent tosuch as well recommended in the industry.
You should get consent anyway.
But very importantlyfor social media checks
especially,the processor is going to process
(41:24):
special category data under UK, GDPR,
race, gender, etc..
Okay.
To slightly different to a DBS orsomething like that, which is binary
to have a criminal record or not.
What you got
is this massive online portalthat the expresses you in different ways.
And so consent is,is absolutely necessary
(41:46):
for special category data processing.
And that's where you get into the finedetail of the legislation to say,
a good screening, professional screeningcompany will ensure the consent is gained.
Yeah. Beforehand.
and that's what the PSA,the Professional Background
Screening Association, absolutely endorsesconsent is key.
So hopefullythat takes it into a bit of depth.
(42:07):
But the candidates rights are clearthat if there is a negative decision,
if it's an adverse decision being made,they have absolutely every right
to ask the employerfor a copy of the report
and would not a discussionhave happened in advance
between employer and candidateto explain why there's been a negative?
(42:31):
And would that not be?
That's responsibleemployment, isn't it? Yeah.
I mean, what would you sayfrom a general perspective,
you know, because I already saidit should be holistic.
It's vetting.
Yeah. It'snot just about the social mean check.
It's you know,you might have the best sales
guy in the world
with the best history and, you know, andthen he's made some silly posts online.
You know, the employer might look at itholistically
(42:51):
and say,well, okay, let's deal with those posts.
So it's show notes.
Show the candidatethe report, discuss it with them.
So again, good employers will engagewith the candidate
on particularly on minor the minor contentand and actually resolve the issue.
I mean it's that'swhat the transparency is about right.
So see the report.Learn what you look like.
(43:13):
Learn what the employer is using.
And you can do that through the rootlike social platform.
Fix upwhat you what you think is a risk for you.
Get the job.
and if there's a, if you don't getthe job, perfectly acceptable to ask why.
so even if the employer doesn't offera social media
vetting report, you can ask for it.
(43:35):
we as a, as a business on the industry,we encourage transparency.
This is not covered.
And it should not be a surpriseto the candidate.
It's their profile. Yeah.
they might have forgotten aboutsome of the I think that's it isn't it.
If you're thinking of like a tweetfrom 2009, that's when you might be like
you suggested that,That's really nice as well.
(43:55):
The thought that you can sit downwith your potential future employer
and be like here's what was goingthrough my mind when I did that.
It won't happen again.
What lalala employer Is it a start time?
So I throw in yeah So he loves his stats
key thing is by
2030, it's estimated that 90%and more of employers
(44:19):
will be expected to useautomated digital screening.
So that's huge.
And that early digital reputation
managementimproves hiring access by 3 to 4 times.
Okay.
So these are all,these are not our stats.
These are published by,
professional bodies and associationsthat have gone into these.
(44:39):
So your digital identity is basicallygoing to become as important as your CV.
So I would saytreat your digital identity as an asset.
Okay. It'snot something to fear or ignore.
We've just talked about that.
It's something you can shape forand own it.
As you said earlier, I really own it.
A few small changes, whether that'sreviewing privacy or being mindful about,
(45:03):
you know, what's public sharing thingsthat you genuinely care about.
We didn't talk too much about the positivethings, but,
you know, share what you're genuinely,you know, positive about
share it online because it certainly showsyou the, in the right light.
like we use for force for good content.
Absolutely. It can. Yeah. Yeah.
And it can havea massive impact over time.
(45:23):
So remember that time doesn'tyou know, there's no cut off here.
Again, we've chatted on the sidelinesabout the history.
Those 1510 years of history, is important
to curate and the early start the better.
So that, you know, you know,you're not waiting for the job application
and just doing it.
(45:43):
Then take control.
Now it's it's not going away.
90% of employees are going to be screeningdigitally.
Take control, own it. Yeah.
know, March and I have a vision of youand I being in schools
and advising kids of today on actually,
making sure that their digital profile isis what it should be.
Wouldn'tthat just be a great, great outcome?
(46:05):
absolutely. That would be fantastic.
Yeah.
Just as important as the uncertainty of AIin this day and age.
So So the closing line I'd say isyour future self will genuinely
thank you for it.
If you own itand and do something about it.
Amasing. Thank you so much for your timetoday, guys.
Thank you for the fabulous to be there.
Yeah yeah yeah.
And as you can see,we're passionate about the subject.
(46:27):
So great that we could give something and,you know, help, help
folks along the way.100% here. Thanks again. Emily.
Whether you like it or not, it's now here.
(00:01):
Employers are actually,checking, graduates and job seekers,
in terms of their professionals,for their professional reputations.
I'm Susie Thompson.
I was, the founder of Security Watchdog.
Security Watchdog
is one of the largest, backgroundchecking businesses in Europe.
I'm now a consultant to thescreening industry, so I'm the generalist,
(00:22):
but I've got about 35 yearsexperience of background checking,
and I've had the real pleasure of workingwith the lovely Martin Hardy here.
Over the last ten years,I would you. Yeah.
So I'm Martin Hardy I'mthe founder and, executive director
for Social Media Consulting Limited,which is Right2Socials brand.
Welcome to Future You
the Student and Careers Advice podcastbrought to you by Prospects.
(00:46):
So for students and graduates,
especially, social media is oftenthe first impression that employers get.
And, and that's whywe have a lot of passion around this
to support youngsters, to support,jobseekers into, getting the right roles.
And we absolutely love backgroundchecking.
And I this is a really dry subjectfor some people, but we we adore it.
(01:07):
And it was over a cup of coffeewhere we thought, you know what,
we want to give something back.
We want to smooth pathwaysfor young people to get into employment
and we feel that people don't know enoughabout this particular subject.
So, he's the expert.
I can talk the talk.
So we thought this was a really good comboto to kind of, pass on the word.
Yeah.
So what is it that Right2Socialsdoes? So Right2Socails is
(01:31):
an employability brand.
So so it's designed specifically to help
like, say graduates or jobseekers,to understand
what their social media profilelooks like in the context of an employer.
And then, to change that profileif they wish.
But first of all, to understand it,then then have the ability to learn
(01:52):
how to improve that profilein the eyes of an employer.
So it's so right to socials, provideseducation material.
Also benchmarks against other candidatesin other locations demographics
so that you can see basicallywhat what you look like
in terms of an employer screening,and then adapt accordingly. Amazing.
(02:14):
And is this a new problemthat we found a solution for,
or is this something that has been theresince the dawn of Instagram in 2007?
It's a great question.
I mean, if you if you lookat the sort of ten year of social media
checking in the industry,how long is that?
How long is that industry been goingon, for we we were established in 2010.
(02:34):
So it's now 16 yearsI so, so yeah, you do that thing.
So but but we met in 2016ish time specifically for this purpose.
So that social media checks were on the upthat, they were becoming
the check of choice for employers,but that the audience, i.e.
(02:55):
the individuals, the recruits,the candidates probably
were not aware of what their profilesshould look like or what
to avoid or, you know, offensive language, etc.
that we may all have committed to in ouryouth.
Not thinking throughthat audience was really unaware.
So I think with the,
(03:17):
you know, the advent of, Martin's product
and also the social media industry,
we are now wanting to say, hey, be aware,
just like you're aware,when you have a credit check, be aware
that there's a social media check comingand it is the check of growth.
And we've
seen it rise over the last five years.
(03:39):
And I wouldn't be surprised.
Emily,you know, with my background screening hat
on, is if that became the maincheck of the future.
Yeah. Yeah.
Which is really interestingwhen you think about it, as social media
is social media.
And it was sort of invented, you know,you think back to The Facebook to
(04:02):
enhance communitiesand express yourself online.
And it sort of felt like a safe spacewhere especially when it first dawned of
like how fun we can all just experimentand have fun on here.
This is sounding, not scary.
I don't want to put that tone on it, but
it's evolved so much that it it almostdoesn't feel like it's what it was.
(04:25):
It's not social anymore. Like,
can you still express yourself onlineor do you have to have that filter now?
I mean it's, it's it's a reflectionof somebody in the digital world.
Right.
So it's, it's a real reflectionof somebody in a digital world.
And yeah, back in the early daysbecause I remember
when we set up the companyand we established that yeah,
there's a concern here.
Employee is going to start being concernedabout what's posted online.
(04:48):
And, you know, a little bit of history.
We started the company with the intentionof supporting parents.
And,you know, very much an educational brand.
And it was soon,
you know, came to lightthat if employers really adopted this,
the the parents would be very concerned.
(05:11):
Okay.
Now, what's happened in the last ten yearsis social media vetting is has matured.
It's now a very mature product.
Almost all backgroundscreening companies,
are coming out.
Social media checking, vetting.
Susie, no wonder you're the, you know,
about to be the PBS global chair
(05:33):
because Susie was one of the earlyadopters with security watchdog.
That's that's when we firstkind of collaborated together.
And saw saw what was coming. Yeah.
And then and I think we shared thatvision, and so but it's now matured.
So, what we,what we're trying to do particularly
with like two socials,is create that balance and fairness
(05:56):
so that candidates and employersboth get what they need.
But in a very fair and compliant way.
Okay.
And so and we're going to gointo a bit of depth today I'm sure.
And and if you think about it, Emily,we all have a digital life
and we all have a physical life.
And, and those two should run to harmonise together.
(06:20):
But sometimes our digital presence goeshaywire and needs to be corrected.
And it's when thoseyou have those haywire moments
and you don't realise what you're actuallyputting down on the socials
could be detrimental to your futureemployability.
That's not fair.
You know, and we want to make surethat it is absolutely
(06:41):
fair hence and, collaboration on this.
Yeah. Fantastic.
Let's dive in.
So we've sort of touched on it.
But from your experience, how oftendo employers check candidates social media
before making hiring decisionsand what is it that they're looking for?
So if I could start off on that one,I think you're seeing as I mentioned,
(07:04):
this is the growth check.
And I think, 2026 is going to be a monumental year
for social media checksas, as the one that employers
actually choose to safeguard their,reputation statistics.
Do you have statistics around howmany organisations are currently using it?
Yeah, we got some stats.
So about 70% of employersscreen candidates social media
(07:27):
So that's that's in a it's in a wide sensethat statistic in the sense
it's not just about alike a behavioral check.
But he could also be using social mediato check that candidate in general.
So just be likewhat do they look like online.
Yeah.
So it's less formal, but it's also sothat 70%, there's 1 in 3 employers
(07:48):
who rejected the candidate,because of their online content.
And about 45% say they've hired someonebecause of their positive online profile.
So we're not just talking hereabout negative behaviors.
Right. Well employers are looking foris this balance.
What what does this individuallook like online.
You knowoverall it's not just about the negative.
(08:09):
Yeah that's really interestingto point out there.
Yeah it absolutely is.
So they're looking for that individual'sprofessionalism.
They're looking for their tone.
Other positivesthat they could possibly want
to see the individual's judgmentin certain scenarios.
That's important as well.
And no, we're not going to get italways right, have the right judgment.
(08:29):
But that iswhat employers are looking for.
and they're not trying to kickcatch candidates out.
This is not the purpose, you know.
Do I talk about, red flag hunting,and that's not what it's about, right?
We definitely don't look at itfrom that perspective.
Employers are looking for that, reassurance so that they're looking for
those behaviors to be likenegative behaviors, like aggression, etc.,
(08:53):
and being eliminated from a profileso that it doesn't.
Yeah, they want that reassurance.
I think you'll findwith your customers, Martin.
And forgive meif I've got this right, but,
so many of them are focusedon the importance of culture.
They've invested massive amountsin their brands, in their culture,
all sorts of internal engagement.
And they want to make surethat the individuals
(09:14):
joining their organisation sharethe same values, can be absorbed
into the culture of the organisationwithout any red flags.
And that's where that social media checkis so important.
Yeah. 100%.
Like you said, it's a mirror of somebody'sreal life.
Yeah. completely.
And so we're not talking about like,you know, if you've gone for
(09:35):
a bottomless brunch
and you're pictured with a prosecco,that's not going to not get you employed.
well, it depends on how much proseccowhat all this happens.
Now the the key thing here is it'snot it's about behaviors.
It's not about lifestyle.
It's not about there's absolutely fine toto demonstrate your lifestyle online.
Employers understand that people are real.
(09:58):
Well I didn't and especially today
they see that it's a reflectionof your real life on online.
So going on holidays, having fun,you know that's that's all healthy.
And the employee looks at itfrom a healthy perspective.
And Susie already touched on culture.
You know, that might be somethingthey really want within the organisation.
So, you know, it's it'sthe other elements of things
(10:20):
like aggression or argumentsonline and expose hate speech.
Yeah.
This is itranges from very simple things like just,
you know, behaviors that don't fit theculture of the organisation.
You know, having an open argumentonline is never a good thing,
but it can go right through to,you know, links to proscribed
(10:43):
organisations, terrorist groups, violent gangs.
So we see a whole range ofwhat is out there.
Yeah.
But but employers are really looking,
like I said,focused on the cultural aspects.
This is personset my organisation a holistically,
So I suppose to follow on to whatI was asking just now.
(11:03):
Are there common misconceptionsas to what risky behavior is?
I think everyone watching
this is is probably clicking on to checkthat they are allowed
to have a cocktail with the girlsand not not get employed for it.
We are talking about that more severebehavior that is showcased online.
And again, out of curiosity, is there,if you are anonymous,
(11:25):
if you are working throughan anonymous username profile picture,
will that still catch you over to you?
That's uptwo two very separate things there.
So so the first thingis on misconceptions.
So one obvious misconception isthat you have to be squeaky clean online.
Right?
(11:45):
And you know, everything has to be boringand perfect or professional.
Okay.
That isn't you know, quite oftenemployers are actually looking
for candidates who demonstrate behaviors
which are outgoing and social and,you know,
so it doesn't have to be professionaland doesn't have to be boring.
That's that's a misconception.
(12:06):
So going out, traveling, joking withfriends or completely normal and accepted.
Yeah. Right.
Nothing wrong with those kind of things.
And the employers won't be lookingto scrutinise that.
That actually, I'mprobably quite pleased about that.
What catches people out, isn't
necessarily their personality,but it's their behavior, right?
(12:28):
So you can be outgoing.
You can be showing thatyou're going to social events, etc.,
but the behavior that you demonstratewithin those social events,
but like real life,because all we're doing
is putting real lifeinto a digital world. Right?
So if you were to go to a party,
and, you know, got exceedingly drunk and,
(12:48):
you know, caused damage or difficulties,you know, that is a behavior
you wouldn't be accepted in real lifestarted bullying somebody.
bullying somebody. Yeah, exactly.
Even just having a fightor an argument with
just isn't socially, and the right valuesthat the company's probably looking for.
So if you're expressing that online.
So it's the hands and that's the key thingbehaviors more than personalities.
(13:11):
Employees are expecting personalityto be shown in social media checks.
And just a point on the risk.
It's not lifestylecontent that causes the risk.
It's the patterns of poor judgmentjust one other thing as well.
On the myth side, one would postso, you know, oh, hang on that I did that
when I was 18and now I'm 28 and I made that post.
(13:34):
And so old posts matterbecause, Most grads
have it good eight,ten years of online history now.
So it's quite substantial.
The behavioral pattern online.
So it's importantto make sure that if you're refreshing
or looking at your profiles,you don't believe that you don't,
(13:57):
make the assumption that old postsdon't matter because they do.
And it helps build up a pictureof somebody over a period of time.
the other thing is,I like to say that social media vetting
is as matureda lot over the last 4 to 5 years.
I has come along and technology
is nowdriving the power of social media vetting.
(14:19):
Right.
So you might think that, have keeping, you know,
a pseudonym or a profile private,might not be picked up, or particularly
if you're using a different username or,you know, trying to keep a pseudonym
running or on your social media,you might think it's not picked up.
But, you know, there's so many waysof picking up a link between profiles,
(14:42):
you know, tags and locationsettings and followings
and followersand and technology is sweeping.
You know, the outputs there.
So, I wouldn't take the risk.
You should bear that in mind
when you have, alter alter egos online.
As well.
Yeah.
Because the technology
(15:03):
and the maturity of the checksthese days is, is quite advanced.
And then of that, if you deletedyour social media, can it still be found?
Companieswith good practice in the vetting industry
and should not be using recordedversions of the web or history,
the historic postswhich are not currently online.
(15:25):
They should be live checks because again,
legislationalso dictates this in a little way.
You know, individualshave the right to be forgotten.
So deleting an account is a rightunder the legislation to,
the any candidate should think about,you know, maybe that's an easy option.
Just delete it.
But most don't want to do that.
(15:46):
They it'sthey've got their history on there okay.
Especially ten years of history.
So they might not want to do that.
The better approach is to look at security
settings, refresh the tags
in your content, you know, are you taggedhere, here, there and everywhere.
Get rid of some of the tags,clean up a little bit of the,
historic content as you see it publicly.
(16:10):
Very important publicly.
So no, no screeningcompany should be using private
messaging or private content.
Because again, that wouldbreach privacy, would regulation,
to say soit's only publicly available information.
So make sure you look at thatin a public way, not in a private way.
(16:31):
Consider it from that perspective.
What is public?
What is my behavior look like?
Do I have some of those thingsI've mentioned already?
Aggression,all these kind of red flags and,
and curated accordingly?
Yeah, but it doesn't have to beprofessional. Boring.
Just to be clear.
Leave the personalityto get out the bad behavior.
(16:53):
Yeah.
Talking about those risks oftenwhen when we were together
and I saywe brought on a new contract and,
the requirement for that,employer was social media checks.
We would work alongside youto identify the risks
that were specifically importantto that particular employer.
But there was some concern.
(17:13):
There were some consistent risks.
The a couple of themthat you could just call out that actually
make folks understandwhat to look out for.
Yeah, I think some of the common ones,explicit content excuse illicit language,
nudity, endorsement of drugs, illegal substances.
(17:34):
Those are three key ones.
And then we get into the, further,
some of the more extreme ones, you know,connections to proscribed organisations,
to illegal organisations,involvement in gangs, etc..
So it kind of ranges from that, I think.
I think another little myth is it'sokay to post memes and GIFs
(17:55):
and all these lovely thingswith a bit of humor in there, but
be careful about whatthe you know, there's a difference between
what humor looks likewhen with you, with your friends,
and what humor looks like in a third partycontext posted online.
So when an employer's looking at it,they may not find it so funny.
Yeah, because it's also out of contextthat could be able to contact.
(18:18):
So so just be a little bit careful.
Memes, gifs, they're funny.
You know employers laugh as well right?
You know it's a normal behavior.
However did they want that kind of,
if you like humor in their organisation,it might be distasteful.
when we talk
about cleaning up our digital footprint,that's,
(18:40):
that's not going tothat you are entitled to do that.
You almost recommended to do that.
And it's just about sifting through yourold posts, as you said, refreshing tags,
updating things, keeping the personality.
And then just, just really thinkingabout how it looks and keeping perhaps
inappropriate humor to the private groupchats, that sort of thing.
(19:00):
Yeah. Just touch on what you said.
The role is also key right?
So so so one of the things we encourage
candidates to look at is whatwhat are the roles you're applying for.
Right.So what roles will you be vetted for?
There's a difference
between a role in financial servicesversus education, for example.
And the employers will look for different
(19:22):
behaviors in those scenarios.
So, you know, the confidential informationmight be
a very important thingfrom many organisations.
But you might be leaning down the fraudroute or,
you know, asking for money routeopen to bribery route.
If you're looking at financial services
and in education,you might be looking at harm to children
(19:43):
through the Keeping Children Safeand education guidelines, you know,
so that the Department for educationguidelines for, social media vetting.
So they're very different.
Harmful children include thingslike intolerance, teacher standards,
meeting with the mock democracy,rule of law, these kind of things.
(20:03):
So they it does differ by industry.
And I think that's somethingwe established.
Yeah.
Early on iswhat are actually your clients.
Yeah.
What are the
employers looking forin each industry sector.
And make sure it's, tailoredtailored towards those things.
So that's important for the,for the candidates
(20:24):
to know because they're obviously goingto come out of uni,
they're going to be going into educationor financial services.
So understand the ethics of that industrythat you're applying for roles in.
And therefore you can help that will helpyou understand what,
what is important for social media vettingand what you want.
They might be looking for.Yeah, definitely.
(20:47):
Does certain platforms have more weightthan others, like LinkedIn?
You'resort of expected to be professional.
Whereas TikTok,you might be a bit more social.
Is is there any sort of differenceacross the platforms?
Yeah, there is a difference.
I mean, you're on LinkedIn, right?We're on LinkedIn. We are on LinkedIn.
Yeah, yeah.
I don't know how much you're on.
X or desktop.
(21:10):
funnyenough, you won't find me there either.
So yeah, there is a difference.
Obviously in maybe two ways.
So LinkedIn obviouslyis a recognised professional site.
Okay.
So, I think I've got to start hereon LinkedIn, which is that,
92% of recruiters use LinkedIn.
Okay.
So LinkedIn is obviously an important siteboth for sourcing
(21:31):
candidates as well as vetting candidates.
So, to make sure again, those behaviors.
So as long as the candidates have,
you know, to expresswhat they're passionate about, right?
This LinkedIn is great for that.
You can get involved in conversations,you can post, you know,
(21:52):
social values, itemsthat you're passionate about.
So that's an important thing to dowhen it comes to things
like TikTok x Instagram.
I think first thing to note isthey are definitely involved in the,
screening process.
Okay, so if anybody thinks it's LinkedInis only thing allowed, that's just a myth.
Let's just, you know, it's an importantpart of the checks for the employer.
(22:15):
But but socialsthen when you talk about the Insta,
Facebook, TikTok and X, for example,they're very definitely YouTube.
All right.
They're all involved.
And it can even gointo the degree of e-commerce.
So you know what?
What are you trading online?
And many flags come up, where, give you a couple of specific
(22:38):
examples, teachers trading in knivesor blades or things like that.
So these are real life examples.
So this, are you going to be likesomeone had a really good vinted page?
What's about, you know,
Now we have we have real, you know,
posting messages about schoolsburning down or you know,
(23:03):
anti-religious messages,you know, having seen this, it's
very evident why employersneed to carry out the vetting.
and we should remember,
this is all in the control of a candidate,The where the candidates.
This is the candidate's profile.
This is the candidate's choice.
So what we're encouraging is,
first of all, learnthrough the Right2Socials concept.
(23:25):
Learn about it firstand then fix it up Interesting.
You mentioned tick tock.
I had I spoken to about three parentsin the last week who said,
I'm really concerned about that videothat my teenage daughters put up on.
Tick tock, must have goodness sake.
Speak to them, get them to take it down.
They just don't realise the damage,that that's going to do going forward.
(23:48):
But I'm hearing more and more about ticktock.
it's kind of mixed with itdepends on the age groups as well.
So TikTok does tend to be a little bityounger in terms of its age group.
You know, we can touch actuallywith clothing that these, these
individuals were, 19 and 17 on TikTok.
that is younger. Oh, right.
(24:08):
the oh perfect AD.
Thank you.
That's good. Good thing to pinpoint right.
So when we're talking about 18 to 25 yeahTikTok seems to be quite a popular app.
I mean a couple of things to recognise.
The screening processdoes involve those socials, right?
That's first thing, the technology used in these,
the screening nowis, is, is, high powered, wide.
(24:32):
So you know, even somebody said,you know, we got
I think we get often flagged contentwhere somebody is making
a funny video on TikTokand there's music playing
in the background,which is full of racism or hatred.
So and it's a trend and it's,you know, it's all fun and social.
But what they don't realise is the contentthey're playing in the background,
(24:56):
making the funny video, which is a rappersong or something, you know,
you'll find that often they get flaggedfor those kind of things because it
because it shows their acceptanceof that kind of language and behavior.
So it's not so muchthey've created that content
because it's a rapperor a musician or something.
But but it's actually been usedin producing the video,
(25:19):
which is maybe a funny video,
but unfortunately gets yeah,so no, that makes no sense.
a little bit toxic Yeah.
Not people can slip into these behaviors.
very quick trend, isn't it, that peoplealmost thoughtlessly jump on
and that would probably bewhere you're going to get.
Yeah, absolutely.
What are you going to get out of this.
It's consumption based as well.
(25:40):
So so because of the algorithmswithin some of these apps.
tend to find that contentbecomes normalised.
So so if it if you're fed constantly,
you know, videos which include
that kind of content,you might normalise that and think
that, well, that's actually just a trendthat I don't need to worry about that.
(26:00):
That's just everybody's doing it right.
So be careful of that kind of that'swhat I'd say.
Be careful of that, kind of make surea trend isn't actually just trending.
You know,
a trend of the site.
I really, really good advice.
I always keep that criticalsetting in the back of your mind.
Always be awareof what you're looking at 67%.
Also check Instagram, with employers.
(26:23):
So 92% of recruitersusing LinkedIn, 67% also
checking Instagram,and about 45% to check.
Tick tock.
Specifically for younger candidatesand younger being 18 to 25.
if you do not have
social media in thatif you do not have an Instagram account
(26:43):
at tick tock account,are you almost at a disadvantage in that?
Do employers are employersthen worried that
you're not expressing yourself online,that you don't have a digital footprint?
would you say the bias comes into this.
So you shouldn't be worried right.If somebody is not on social media.
And I mean there's an employeras an employer, I wouldn't be worried.
But you'veyou got deeper insights into it.
(27:05):
I mean, could that could that candidate,for example, have scrubbed
deleted their all their accountsand therefore they don't have a profile?
Or would youwould you know that had done that?
This is tremendously excitingdiscussion for me.
I love this concept that.
And so the first thing of of bias.
So this is justmentioned there. Right. So so
(27:28):
you shouldn't be discriminated against
because you choosenot to have social media.
Let's first thing okay.
So employersshould use text that you shouldn't.
Yeah.
So you shouldn't bewe've just said right.
We like on social media etc..
So, you know, should I be discriminate?
Absolutely not.
You know, from my perspective and however,the it's important to recognise
(27:51):
that a social media vetting is to checkwhat is actually online,
not what could be online,should be knowing might be online, etc..
Right?
So if somebody has deleted every accountthat they have online,
then it might be just for the purposeof the job, might for applying for a job
if they've done that.
First of all, it's their right,
(28:11):
their right to be forgotten, their rightto do that under the privacy legislations.
And secondly, the so screening companiesshouldn't be using content
that's not online. Okay.
So it's a safe sonefor both the individual and the employer
because the employer is looking forwhat is online, not what's not online.
if you look at their riskis their brand or their,
(28:33):
you know, and that third partieslook at that candidate's
profilesand don't see anything risk isn't there.
it's not something I encourageas a, as a tactic
to delete your accounts, etc., just to beand we yeah.
In fact I say get online,enjoy yourself, just follow the rules of
good behavior, etc.
(28:53):
I think a lot of it is what?
Not a lot of it.
But I like mine personally, was like,you know, it's
the mental health reasonsand the, the going
more analog reasons trying to bring back2002 make sense, like that sort of thing.
Whereas like,I think I would have been worried
if you hadn't just confirmed all of that,that I would look suspicious
(29:14):
for just trying to, like, get into crossstitch instead of being on TikTok.
Does that make sense?
Which feels unfair,but actually it's not unfair
because of course,they just want to make sure
that if they employ you,someone doesn't look you up.
And yeah, you'rereflecting them. Branded about what?
I actually can look of good things that,
you know, mental healthor general health issues, you know,
(29:34):
also other things like prescribedor sorry, protected characteristics.
Right. It's race. Gender.
Yeah.
Political ideologies, sexual orientation,
all of these things are protectedunder the discrimination laws.
Right.
So, so an employershould never be utilising
that kind of informationfor making a decision.
(29:57):
Well, one of the good things, about,what we call the professional
social media vetting is that it removes
that bias from employers byyou're not going to look at somebody,
the employer is not going to lookat some of these Facebook or X
or, you know, LinkedIn per se.
They will rely on the vetting processfrom the professional company
(30:20):
like ourselves to say,here's the results of that vetting.
And there's nothing to see here.So you the independent Yeah.
So we so we remove that potential,conscious or unconscious bias creeping in.
and are you able to sort of explainwhat that looks like if,
if a couple of things were flagged,like you mentioned, the music
in the back of a TikTok video,is that video presented to the employer
(30:42):
and then they are able to make a decisionoff of that with all the context.
So if there's an intersection,for example, of a protected characteristic
and something that might be flagged,let's say
possibly a stereotypical example,that you're in a pride parade
in a fairly revealing costumethat feels like an intersection
of like potentially verging on nudity,which would be flagged.
(31:02):
But it's within this contextof like expressing your right to,
you know, official event.
And so the employer would thenlook at that
and make a decision from there. Correct?
Yeah.
So so it's important to the
to realise thatonly the flagged content gets reported.
So it's not the general accountsand even the,
(31:22):
you know, the employer doesn'tget to see every single thing.
Yeah. It's only the conduct.
And it's also then placed intowhat's called risk classifications.
So typically on a particular industrylike education, for example,
there would be eight classificationrisk classifications.
So explicit content,not having British values
(31:45):
or and teachers not meeting teacherstandards, being intolerant.
So this is about usually about eightclear risk classifications.
It would be differentin financial services
like I said earlier and so on.
And that content,those specific posts or interactions,
it could be read tweets,it could be likes, it could be
people will use different waysof expressing themselves online.
(32:07):
It's only those specifics that will getto flag to the employer on the report.
And again, the right to socialsallows you to get your own report so
you can get, you know, you get visibilityof that prior to the employer.
Yeah. Seeing it. So,so that's really good.
And those risk classifications, of course,
you've mentioned a couple of the edgecases.
(32:27):
So, you know, an easier example
I think to understandwould be a political ideology.
So you might like conservatives or laboror Reform or whatever you like.
And you might express that online.
Those will not get reported per se.
But if you start getting aggressiveand violent towards
others in that field,you know, opposition, Yeah, yeah.
(32:51):
Such as starting fights in the commentsthat will be pulled out.
But just going and leafletingfor your political party
ending on the context it could be thatthat would be redacted for the employer.
So maybe the ideology gets redacted.
So you can't identify maybea political party or something like that,
but the language will still be flagged.
(33:12):
Unless there's a direct link.
So if you, you know, you literallythreatening an MP, it's, it's difficult to
it's difficult to remove that ideology.
what about likes liking something. How is.
Yeah how how is that picked upit's put in the risk category.
So if somebody likes a hated, hate speech.
(33:33):
Yeah. Some idea.
Let's say there's someanti-Semitism posted and you liking it.
Okay.
Never a good sign because you're showingyour behaviors as supporting.
What is potentially, racismor hatred, towards,
you know, a protectedcharacteristic of religion or whatever.
So, such a gray area Thereit is. It's Yeah.
(33:55):
Because I was just about to ask, like,there have been what I would consider
very disrespectful things being tweeted
by very high up peoplein governing bodies of certain countries,
but also they hold a very high upposition.
And so or for example, like
(34:15):
there are
some authors that have some very strongopinions on line that might be considered
hate speechby some and by others activism.
And if you're liking this, who decideswhether it's hate speech or activism?
And I honestly sometimes wish myselfthat standards would be higher at these,
because it sets higher standards, But,you know, the check itself
(34:39):
is objective, right? We, we, we look at,
like you say, risk categories
in the context of a role and an employer.
And it doesn't matter who it is,whether you know, these,
these senior people that tend to,
you know, post maybe hate
they'd be flagged, some of them would havea very long report.
(35:00):
I would guess, But, you know, in the endit's up to the data controller
and the law,
which is the employer in most, situationsto decide what's relevant or not.
So as a social media check,
we had with thatto report the fact that it exists online.
I mean, and then the data controller.
So we would be a processor, the datacontroller, which is the employer,
(35:20):
and under the GDPR regulations, UK GDPR,
they would make the decisionbased on that information.
And they may
just over
override that and make the decisionto employ or not.
I wouldn't take the chance myself. Yeah.
At what stage of the application processis this happening
(35:42):
and is that down to the employerlike they can do.
So let's say they at 600 CVSand they're going to interview 20 people.
Do those 20 people get vettedor is or are we just vetting people
once we get down to the final like two
it's usually at the point of,offer the vetting starts.
So you need the candidate's consent.
(36:04):
So that all has to be agreed.
So, and, the offer isn't concludeduntil the vetting has been concluded.
So the, the whole background checking
process is going on in, in, in tandem.
Once the results are through,then that's confirmed.
So, that's the stage.
(36:24):
And when you're then one of the threelike one of three rejected people, we,
we've completed our checksand we've decided
we're not going to go forwardwith your blah blah blah.
Are you able to find out why.
Are you able to find out which videoswhat it was exactly.
That why they don't thinkyou're a good fit for super juicy area.
(36:44):
Look at I love it.
the recommendation in generalis that the, screening happens
at the later stage of the process, right?
So that it doesn't become an influence
in the first stagewhere somebody just says, well,
I've seen somebodyI've seen of a post on the social media
not having that person in them.It should be holistic.
There's lots of checks.And would you name them?
(37:06):
All right.
Criminal records, checks, Financialprobity, which is a credit check.
You've got sanctions list, you'vegot employment, you've got education.
You can I can rattle them all through.
You know, there are so many. Absolutely.
So there's, there's soand we actually produce
about 15 different types of social medialike vetting checks, online checks.
(37:27):
So I'd so that so even within the socialmedia part there's lots of checks types.
Right.Because it's open source intelligence.
So it's it's fair game.
Public informationthat the employers are concerned
about let's talk about how what,what a candidate can rely on.
so the first question is if I, let's sayyou're coming out of university
(37:47):
and you go, you'd go into an industryor you have an intention of
going into an industry, first thing to dois educate yourself to say,
what are the industryspecific mandates in this area?
And there's enough information on thingslike the right to socials, blogs
and the likes where you can findthat information quite easily.
there's also some resources onon the right social
(38:09):
dashboard for the individualto find out that information.
So learn about it.
First of all, the education yourself.
The second thing is, what does that mean?
Some industry sectors,like the Department for education,
they've statedthat check should be done at shortlisting.
Okay.
Now that's a little bit differentto what how
most checks most employers will do it.
(38:30):
They'll do it at final stage and they willsee that as the right way to do it.
But the Department for educationsays it should be at shortlisting
because they're concernedabout the welfare of the children.
So they're saying,let's just vet these people out.
Now, of course, it's not.
It's not mandated, mandated in the sensethat they get punished the day before.
He gets punished.
If you don't,if you only do it at final stage.
(38:52):
But there is punishmentif they don't do it at all.
Okay.
So so it's very much at the discretionof data controller, the school
or the universityor the whoever's screening to decide,
whether they do it, right at the endonly for the final candidate selection
or whether they do itearlier on in the shortlisting process.
(39:13):
So I would say for a candidate,don't take the risk.
You know, in the end,it doesn't change the scenario.
Yeah, it'sgoing to happen one way or another. It
Look after thehealthy things we've talked about today.
And then that will mean
they're coveredand it doesn't not in fact do it
six months before applying for the rolethat don't don't wait till I don't wait
(39:35):
till you putting a CVin front of somebody, because possibly
you've already been spotted and seenand yeah, you know.
But anyway, so, so I would say to any timeso legislatively
so there are some minor kind of guidancearound associations
and authoritiesthat that force some requirements.
And then from a privacy perspective,they come back to the question
(39:58):
you asked, arethey allowed to see the report?
This is this should neverbe a covered thing, right?
The employer should not treat this asbeing a, this should be very transparent.
In terms of you mentioned consent,
specifically in this areaand this is the rights of the candidate.
So. The employer,from a risk assessment for a role
(40:18):
will be assessing what consentthey need to get.
Now, actually, under the UK GDPR,all you need
is a lawful basis to carry out a check.
Okay, so on the strict, case.
So it might be safeguarding of children.
It might be fraudprevention of fraud might be money
because the individualbe managing high value assets.
(40:41):
So there's lots of different reasons
an employer will choosewhat is the lawful basis.
And the UK GDPR listsabout 7 or 8 different options.
They they
range from things like public testwhich means it's mandated by government.
Or it might mean it might be somethinglike legitimate interest.
(41:03):
That's quite a common one.
So they have a legitimate interest toprotect their brand, their assets, etc..
So legitimate interestis the lawful basis.
On that basis, you don't need consent tosuch as well recommended in the industry.
You should get consent anyway.
But very importantlyfor social media checks
especially,the processor is going to process
(41:24):
special category data under UK, GDPR,
race, gender, etc..
Okay.
To slightly different to a DBS orsomething like that, which is binary
to have a criminal record or not.
What you got
is this massive online portalthat the expresses you in different ways.
And so consent is,is absolutely necessary
(41:46):
for special category data processing.
And that's where you get into the finedetail of the legislation to say,
a good screening, professional screeningcompany will ensure the consent is gained.
Yeah. Beforehand.
and that's what the PSA,the Professional Background
Screening Association, absolutely endorsesconsent is key.
So hopefullythat takes it into a bit of depth.
(42:07):
But the candidates rights are clearthat if there is a negative decision,
if it's an adverse decision being made,they have absolutely every right
to ask the employerfor a copy of the report
and would not a discussionhave happened in advance
between employer and candidateto explain why there's been a negative?
(42:31):
And would that not be?
That's responsibleemployment, isn't it? Yeah.
I mean, what would you sayfrom a general perspective,
you know, because I already saidit should be holistic.
It's vetting.
Yeah. It'snot just about the social mean check.
It's you know,you might have the best sales
guy in the world
with the best history and, you know, andthen he's made some silly posts online.
You know, the employer might look at itholistically
(42:51):
and say,well, okay, let's deal with those posts.
So it's show notes.
Show the candidatethe report, discuss it with them.
So again, good employers will engagewith the candidate
on particularly on minor the minor contentand and actually resolve the issue.
I mean it's that'swhat the transparency is about right.
So see the report.Learn what you look like.
(43:13):
Learn what the employer is using.
And you can do that through the rootlike social platform.
Fix upwhat you what you think is a risk for you.
Get the job.
and if there's a, if you don't getthe job, perfectly acceptable to ask why.
so even if the employer doesn't offera social media
vetting report, you can ask for it.
(43:35):
we as a, as a business on the industry,we encourage transparency.
This is not covered.
And it should not be a surpriseto the candidate.
It's their profile. Yeah.
they might have forgotten aboutsome of the I think that's it isn't it.
If you're thinking of like a tweetfrom 2009, that's when you might be like
you suggested that,That's really nice as well.
(43:55):
The thought that you can sit downwith your potential future employer
and be like here's what was goingthrough my mind when I did that.
It won't happen again.
What lalala employer Is it a start time?
So I throw in yeah So he loves his stats
key thing is by
2030, it's estimated that 90%and more of employers
(44:19):
will be expected to useautomated digital screening.
So that's huge.
And that early digital reputation
managementimproves hiring access by 3 to 4 times.
Okay.
So these are all,these are not our stats.
These are published by,
professional bodies and associationsthat have gone into these.
(44:39):
So your digital identity is basicallygoing to become as important as your CV.
So I would saytreat your digital identity as an asset.
Okay. It'snot something to fear or ignore.
We've just talked about that.
It's something you can shape forand own it.
As you said earlier, I really own it.
A few small changes, whether that'sreviewing privacy or being mindful about,
(45:03):
you know, what's public sharing thingsthat you genuinely care about.
We didn't talk too much about the positivethings, but,
you know, share what you're genuinely,you know, positive about
share it online because it certainly showsyou the, in the right light.
like we use for force for good content.
Absolutely. It can. Yeah. Yeah.
And it can havea massive impact over time.
(45:23):
So remember that time doesn'tyou know, there's no cut off here.
Again, we've chatted on the sidelinesabout the history.
Those 1510 years of history, is important
to curate and the early start the better.
So that, you know, you know,you're not waiting for the job application
and just doing it.
(45:43):
Then take control.
Now it's it's not going away.
90% of employees are going to be screeningdigitally.
Take control, own it. Yeah.
know, March and I have a vision of youand I being in schools
and advising kids of today on actually,
making sure that their digital profile isis what it should be.
Wouldn'tthat just be a great, great outcome?
(46:05):
absolutely. That would be fantastic.
Yeah.
Just as important as the uncertainty of AIin this day and age.
So So the closing line I'd say isyour future self will genuinely
thank you for it.
If you own itand and do something about it.
Amasing. Thank you so much for your timetoday, guys.
Thank you for the fabulous to be there.
Yeah yeah yeah.
And as you can see,we're passionate about the subject.
(46:27):
So great that we could give something and,you know, help, help
folks along the way.100% here. Thanks again. Emily.
Popular Podcasts
Betrayal Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com