I like to think that the internet has opened up amazing new doors for recruiting. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn gives the people doing the hiring an opportunity to get a glimpse into our candidates' lives before we hire them. The good, the bad, the ugly. I personally would never use information on any of these social media sites as reasons to not hire someone, but I like to use them to learn more about a candidate, get to know their personality. One thing I love in particular is the reference section on LinkedIn. This is a chance for me to read references I may not typically get. It also serves as a great referral tool. Typically when you write a reference for someone on LinkedIn, it is customary to return the favor. Should companies have policies about writing references for current and past employees on LinkedIn? I say no.
Hypothetical situation:
I write a reference for a former employee on LinkedIn - I see that he is job hunting and I want to write something for him since he was a stellar member of my team. He thanks me for the reference, and seeing that I have recently started my own business, surprises me and writes a nice reference about my skills as an HR professional (very sweet of him and unnecessary). Someone high ranking (and his manager) at the company where we worked together, decided to tell other folks that this is unacceptable - you MAY NOT serve as a reference for someone, that this is against policy.
Hmmmm . . .first of all, there is no policy at the company regarding referrals on LinkedIn: a free-speech, 3rd party, web based, social networking application. Second of all, he wasn't serving as a reference for anything in particular, but rather as a general reference of our time working together. BUT, most disturbing, he got fired 2 days later, for apparently "not fitting in." Ummm . . .he has worked there for 2 years, now you think he doesn't fit it? A little too coincidental for me.
Am I the only one who finds this disturbing? Should there be a policy about referring people on LinkedIn?
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