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ENSURING CANDIDATE SUITABILITY
SMC is the solution of choice for educational establishments.
To meet the KCSIE guidelines on social media checks for recruitment, Educational Trusts and schools need an efficient and cost-effective tool that ensures vetting is compliant and robust.
“As part of the shortlisting process, schools and colleges should consider carrying out an online search as part of their due diligence on the shortlisted candidates.”
Our best-in-class, fully automated, social media check solution just got better.
Don’t just take our word for it

Your reputation could be threatened or damaged, potentially taking years of time and effort to rebuild. Undergoing a Social Media Check provides protection from reputational harm and ensures values and cultures are maintained.

When we first learned of the change to KSCiE with regards to completing online checks for all new employees we were concerned, particularly as an expanding MAT, how we would carry these out for all our new employees. Social Media Check has been a lifesaver and has helped us to ensure our Safer Recruitment processes are fully compliant.

At the Link Academy Trust, we have used the services of Social Media Check for almost two years now and have found them to be super-efficient with the turnaround time for checks. Reports are informative and we feel it does exactly what is required in line with KCSIE best practice.

With multiple schools in our Trust, we needed a quick, cost-effective and compliant procedure to conduct on-line checks of candidates. Social Media Check’s automated solution has been very effective. It is quicker and more comprehensive than a manual check, with results often delivered in under an hour.

Hiring the right employee is critical and reviewing their social media profiles is becoming a standard part of the hiring process. Undertaking this manually can be fraught with dangers which can be avoided with an automated social media check.

With the changes to the KCSIE guidelines, we needed an efficient, cost-effective and compliant way to conduct online checks. Manually checking is time-consuming and can find characteristics irrelevant to a hire. Social Media Check’s automated solution reduces the risk of subjectivity and unconscious bias and its ease of use and comprehensive reporting has enabled us to realise operational efficiencies in our recruitment process.

First Federation Trust having been using the social media check package for the past 18 months and we are very happy with the service. It has been an invaluable tool in our recruitment process, in line with keeping children safe in education. The portal is easy to navigate, and the comprehensive reports come back very quickly. We would highly recommend socialmediacheck.com to other schools.

At Equals Trust we have been using Social Media Check for around a year now and it has been easy to implement. The checks are turned around quickly and efficiently and it gives us peace of mind that we are following the recommendations in KCSIE whilst reducing our risk of unconscious bias. The service we have received is great and we appreciate the certificate produced as evidence for our school SCRs. We definitely recommend social media check to other Trusts and schools.

The Leathersellers’ Federation has been using Social Media Check.com for a year and has found it efficient and effective. The process is simple to use for both us and the candidates. The reports are informative and compliant with KCSiE best practice.

We have been using Social Media Checks since November 2022, the checks are computer generated which has therefore saved us time from trying to carry out manual checks and helped to ensure that we have a consistent approach for all applicants who are required to complete this as part of our new joiner process to comply with KCSIE.
The reports and certificates are easy to view, review, and download, and the status of a candidate’s check can be seen via the Dashboard. Orders to add pre-paid checks are easy and instant via the portal
The team at SMC are extremely helpful and quick at responding to any queries we may have.
Ten key categories analysed with Social Media Check
These provide valuable insight into an individual’s behaviours, beliefs and attitudes which can play an important role in the vetting process. By ensuring that there is a good cultural fit with shared values that match the requirements of your organisation, you can avoid the risks of a bad hire and brand reputational damage.

Extremist Groups
Extremist groups: are groups of individuals whose values, ideals and beliefs fall far outside of what society considers normal. An extremist group is often associated with violent tactics to convey their point to outsiders. This includes banned and proscribed groups such as Al Qa’ida or activist groups such as Just Stop Oil.

Hate Speech
Hate Speech: denigrates an individual or a group based on perceived identity factors including: religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, colour, descent, gender, in addition to characteristics such as language, economic or social origin, disability, health status, or sexual orientation, among many others. It can also include symbols e.g. Nazi swastika.

Potential Nudity
Potential nudity: refers to an image ranging from depicting partial or complete nakedness to more explicit pornographic material.

Swearing and Profanity
Swearing and profanity: refers to language that includes four-letter words, cursing, cussing and expletives used in a manner deemed to be socially offensive.

Toxic Language
Toxic Language: is a way of communicating that harms other people. It can be threatening, blaming or labelling and cause emotional turmoil to the recipient: e.g. Trolling is when someone posts or comments online to ‘bait’ people by deliberately provoking an argument or emotional reaction.

Violent Images
Violent images: defined as any image that conveys an imminent physical or existential threat to person(s), property, or society, with or without weaponry.

Drugs
Drugs : relating to the illegal possession, supply or production of controlled drugs. Alcohol is classified as a drug in the context of abuse.

Weapons
Weapons: anything which can be used to inflict death or bodily injury on others.

Firearms

Client Keywords
Client keywords: customised words that are relevant to an organisation such as the name of a school, governor etc.

Interested in Social Media Check?
Get in touch today to see how we can benefit your school or trust.