DALLAS (WBAP & KLIF News) — While protesting is well within an American’s First Amendment rights, some companies are starting to look elsewhere when considering new hires.
A corporate recruiter in North Texas, who spoke exclusively to WBAP & KLIF News on terms of anonymity, says the CEO’s of several well-known companies are contacting him and asking him to scan Millennial Facebook pages of those who have applied for jobs for signs of participating in protests against President-elect Donald Trump.
“They’ve asked that if I see any evidence of that type of group participation that I absolutely, positively do not contact them for any interview,” he said. “[A CEO] said ‘Hey listen, we really aren’t interested in entertaining applications for people that might be involved in demonstrations.'”
He says the biggest reason companies are instructing recruiters to shy away from protesters is to protect company culture.
“They don’t want it infiltrated in any possible way,” he said of CEO’s valuing their workplace culture. “They have a right to do that just as those [protesters] have a right to do what they do.”
While surprised, the recruiter says he has dealt with a similar situation in the past. In May of 2015, a group of UNT students protested Governor Greg Abbott’s commencement speech at graduation on grounds that his policies and views didn’t align with those of many students at UNT.
The recruiter says he was also contacted by CEO’s then, and had to deny interviews to multiple applicants because of their names being linked online to the protests.
He says he’s been instructed to look for all types of evidence of participation — not just violence or profanity.
“It’s the kind of thing where there might be violence or there might be someone bragging about what they did or how they participated,” he said.
The recruiter says he still may grant an interview to an applicant who shows signs of protesting on social media, but only if he or she was a perfect fit for the job. Then, he says he would ask questions like, “Tell me what I might see on your social media page or in your social life” to get a good gauge on whether somebody was indeed actively protesting or may have been a passer-by not associated with a public demonstration.
Regardless, he issued a warning to Millennials as to how they manage their personal social media accounts.
“They control their future, especially on Facebook and Instagram,” he said. “Those things and what they’re doing and participating in can really impact them, not only with their own safety but also their future as a possible employee.”