Sponsored by Fama.
Hiring has never been just about skills.
The best organizations have always looked beyond résumés to answer bigger questions: Will this person collaborate well? Will they treat others with respect? Will they represent our values? Can they be trusted to strengthen our employee experience?
Those questions haven’t changed. What has changed is where employers can find the information that helps answer them. (Hint: online behavior.)
Today’s workforce lives much of its professional and personal life online. As social media, AI, and an increasingly digital workforce reshape hiring, organizations have access to new signals about candidate behavior – and new responsibilities that come with them.
In a recent episode of the #WorkTrends podcast, I sat down with Ben Mones, CEO and Founder of Fama, to discuss how organizations can protect their employer brand while improving the quality of hire in an era where online behavior has become part of the hiring conversation.
One of Ben’s most important insights was surprisingly simple: hiring hasn’t fundamentally changed. The methods have.
That distinction changes the conversation. Rather than replacing traditional hiring practices, today’s leaders are building upon them, using new tools and new sources of information to answer the same important questions while remaining thoughtful, ethical, and fair.
It’s easy to assume candidate screening has been completely reinvented. AI. Social media. Remote work. Digital natives entering the workforce. While these forces have transformed how organizations evaluate talent, Ben offers a refreshingly practical perspective: the fundamentals haven’t changed. The methods have.
The Digital Workforce Has Changed the Conversation
One reason this shift matters so much is simple demographics.
During our conversation, Ben pointed out that Millennials and Gen Z make up roughly half of today’s workforce, and by next year they’ll represent nearly 70% of workers in the United States. These generations are true digital natives. They communicate, collaborate, build relationships, and express themselves online in ways previous generations never experienced.
That means the line between workplace conversations and public conversations has become increasingly blurred.
Ben has long described social media as “the new workplace water cooler,” and it’s an analogy that feels more relevant than ever.
Years ago, inappropriate comments, harassment, intolerance, or unethical behavior might have surfaced in a break room conversation or around the office water cooler. Today, many of those same behaviors play out publicly through social platforms instead.
For some, that could be refreshingly transparent. For others, it could be a nightmare. For employers, that creates both an opportunity and a grave responsibility.
Organizations now have greater visibility into behaviors that may impact workplace culture, employee wellbeing, and organizational reputation before someone ever joins the team. If ignored, organizations may be caught reacting later instead of making informed hiring decisions earlier. That could be the difference between timely resolution and litigation.
Employer Brand Starts with the People You Hire
One of the most thought-provoking moments in our conversation came when Ben challenged the way many organizations think about candidate screening.
Most people assume screening is about evaluating the individual applying for the role. Ben argues it’s something much bigger.
“You’re screening on behalf of your existing workforce,” he said.
Building an Employer Brand People Trust
Employer branding has traditionally focused on attracting talent, but Ben encourages leaders to think more broadly. The behaviors organizations tolerate and the environments they create also shape the employer brand.
Consider a manager demonstrating misogynistic or intolerant behavior in online posts. If those behaviors were ignored during the hiring process and later surface inside the organization, the damage extends well beyond a single employee. It influences how colleagues experience the workplace, how safe they feel speaking up, and ultimately what they share with others about working there. And again, potential litigation.
Those conversations don’t stay within office walls – nothing does! They show up in Glassdoor reviews, social media discussions, recruiting conversations, and professional networks. Every employee becomes part of the employer brand story, every time.
Technology Isn’t the Starting Point
Whenever AI enters the conversation, it’s tempting to jump immediately to technology. Ben offers a different approach. Before organizations think about tools, they need to define what matters most in an employee.
What behaviors align with your values?
What conduct creates a healthy workplace?
What risks are most important for your industry, your customers, and your employees?
Only after those questions are answered should organizations determine how technology can support consistent, ethical decision-making.
Ben noted that different industries face different challenges. A financial services firm may need to monitor behaviors tied to regulatory compliance, while a healthcare organization may be more concerned with patient privacy. Every organization has its own team dynamics, values, and responsibilities. That means there isn’t a one-size-fits-all definition of risk, and that makes it even more complicated and important to stay on top of.
The goal isn’t to label candidates as “good” or “bad.” It’s to establish thoughtful governance first, then use technology to help hiring professionals and managers identify behaviors that align with the organization – as well as those that may signal potential risk.
The Best Hiring Strategies Continue to Evolve
One of my favorite moments from our conversation came at the very end.
Rather than telling HR leaders to throw out everything they’ve learned about hiring, Ben offered a refreshingly practical perspective. He compared today’s hiring landscape to moving from a typewriter to a MacBook. The objective is still the same. You’re still writing, evaluating people and building great teams. However, the tools have simply evolved.
That analogy perfectly captures the challenge organizations face today.
The future of hiring isn’t about replacing human judgment with technology. It’s about giving leaders better information to make better decisions. And that’s critically important today.
Organizations have always sought people who demonstrate integrity, respect, sound judgment, and the ability to work well with others. What’s changed is the visibility around the warning signs.
The organizations that embrace those new realities thoughtfully and ethically will be better positioned to strengthen their teams, protect their employer brands, and improve the quality of every hire.
If you’re thinking about the future of hiring, employer brand, or quality of hire, I encourage you to listen to my full conversation with Fama’s Ben Mones on the latest episode of the #WorkTrends podcast. We explore why he believes social media has become the new workplace water cooler, why governance should come before technology, and how organizations can modernize their hiring practices without abandoning the fundamentals. It’s a practical, thought-provoking conversation for every HR and talent leader.
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