CareerBuilder reported that 54 percent of employers have decided not to hire a candidate based on content found on social media profiles.
SHRM states that the average cost-per-hire is about $4,700, making every avoidable mis-hire a measurable cost concern.
A 2025 Frontiers paper cites SHRM research reporting that approximately 43 percent of U.S. employers examine social media profiles during recruitment, and 36 percent have eliminated candidates based on those reviews.
This can include:
80-90%
The Defence Sector Check – Premium is the specialist Security & Defence pathway within the broader OSINT and social media screening stack. It is designed for organisations that need deeper visibility into publicly available online behavior, associations, activities, and content that may create heightened security, reputational, operational, or insider-threat concerns.
This check is most relevant when standard social media screening does not provide enough context for roles involving sensitive programmes, critical infrastructure, security-cleared personnel, defence-sector leadership, or high-trust operational environments.
The Defence Sector Check supports organisations hiring or vetting people in roles where public online conduct, associations, or activities could create security, reputational, operational, compliance, or stakeholder scrutiny concerns.
candidates applying for roles involving restricted programmes, sensitive data, or defence-related work
positions connected to sensitive technologies, technical programmes, or innovation pipelines
individuals being considered for roles that require security vetting or ongoing personnel assurance
contractors supporting energy, transport, communications, or other resilience-critical environments
senior leaders in defence-sector organisations who may face public, stakeholder, or regulatory scrutiny
The report gives hiring, compliance, and security teams structured evidence for review without turning findings into suitability recommendations.
Report outputs may include:
The Defence Sector Check does not assess political opinions, lawful beliefs, or protected characteristics. It focuses on publicly available online behaviours and activities that may present legitimate operational, security, reputational, or compliance concerns.
The methodology includes:
Trained analysts review findings before reporting them. They assess context, intent, relevance, and proportionality so that lawful personal beliefs alone do not become reportable findings.
The check supports informed decision-making, but it should not be used as the sole basis for any employment, security, or commercial decision.
AIS social media screening and OSINT verification methods are designed to help employers review publicly available online information in a structured, evidence-based, and proportionate way.
The final workflow should be confirmed with AIS, but based on the available service materials, the process may include the following stages:
Years Industry
Experience
Background Checks Conducted Annually
Professional Combined Accreditations
Countries Global
Screening Coverage
Service Satisfaction Commitment
We’ve been using AIS for background checks and I-9/Everify processing for the past two years. By far, this has been the best background check vendor experience! Our ‘AIS Experience’ includes:
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OSINT means Open Source Intelligence, which is the collection and analysis of publicly available information. Social media screening is one application of OSINT, focused on public social and professional profiles, while broader OSINT background checks may also review webpages, public media, forums, blogs, vlogs, and other open-source material.
AIS offers a risk-aligned online vetting stack that may include Essential, Premium, Adverse Media, and Advocacy checks. Industry-tailored options may also be available for sectors such as Education, Healthcare, Security & Defence, and general workforce screening.
Social media background checks review publicly available online content connected to a candidate or employee. A structured process may include profile identification, profile relevance checks, category-based review, human analyst assessment, and evidence-based reporting.
The review period depends on the check type, client requirements, legal context, and agreed scope. The available service materials reference public online history covering 3, 5, or up to 10 years depending on the type of social media check and any agreed customizations.
The Essential Check provides a proportionate review of an individual’s online presence across widely used social and professional platforms. The Premium Check provides a broader online risk assessment across social media, professional networks, blogs, forums, websites, and other open-source intelligence sources.
The Defence Sector Check is a specialist Security & Defence pathway for roles where public online conduct, associations, or activities may create heightened security, reputational, operational, or insider-threat concerns. It adds defence-specific risk categories such as Political Activism, Extremism & Violence, Public Events, Corporate Support, Geopolitics, Organisations & Campaigns, Controversial Figures, and Miscellaneous.