Yes, consent or proper notice is required under Canadian Privacy Laws. Before a social media background check can be conducted, employers must inform candidates and either obtain their consent or provide a formal notice, depending on the applicable legal requirements.

To make this process easier for our clients, Hire Performance provides a ready-to-use consent or notice form that meets legal standards. This ensures you remain compliant while streamlining the screening process.

Hire Performance's social media background screening service involves scanning of information that is accessible to the public on, for example, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and the Internet in general.  Hire Performance does not use any unfair, misleading or unlawful means to obtain information about individuals.  Hire Performance will never attempt to circumvent passwords and does not obtain information by “friending” the candidate or connecting with their social media contacts.

Absolutely. We’ve developed our process with privacy compliance in mind. Our team only scans publicly available information across major platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and public websites.

We never use misleading, deceptive, or invasive techniques to gather data. That means no password circumvention, no fake friend requests, and no connecting with candidates or their contacts. Our approach aligns with Canadian privacy regulations and is designed to withstand legal scrutiny.

Another concern expressed by privacy regulators in Canada is that social media searches can result in collection of irrelevant information and/or too much information.

Clients that use Hire Performance’s services define the content that is relevant to their hiring decisions. The results of the social media search that are returned to our clients only include content that is relevant to the pre-selected criteria.  This means that clients only receive information that is relevant to their workplaces and the positions for which they are hiring. 

Therefore, using Hire Performance’s services reduces the risk that social medial background screening will result in collection of more information than is reasonable and appropriate in the circumstances.

Yes, and that’s one of the biggest advantages of using our service. Clients determine what content is relevant to their specific hiring criteria—whether that’s threats, profanity, discriminatory language, or risky behaviour.

The final report you receive only includes content that matches those selected categories. This helps avoid information overload and ensures you're only reviewing what’s appropriate and necessary for the role you’re hiring for.