Big Brother comes to the job interview

Research by talent management consultancy DDI shows that a quarter (25%) of job interviewers across the globe are checking social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace for information about job candidates. Moreover, for those interviewers who do conduct online searches, over half (52%) say they have used the information to make hiring decisions

By contrast less than a third of job-seekers (32%) believe what they put on social networking sites may affect their chances of winning a job – and in the UK under a quarter think this.

Talent management consultancy DDIís 2009 Global Interviewing Practices and Perceptions report released in February surveyed 1,900 interviewers and 3,500 job-seekers across the globe, and discovered some worrying interview practices across the world.

Steve Newhall, Vice President for Europe at DDI, comments;

ìIt appears that job-seekers are quite nave about how personal information on social networking sites is used. While job candidates should consider the sort of information they post online, interviewers should also realise that much of what is put there is for fun, and is unlikely to reflect a candidateís on-the-job demeanor or performance. Itís difficult to gauge when looking at Facebook-type data if the information is true or has any relevance for the job role in question. A well-planned and conducted selection process will uncover relevant information about candidates ability to do the job.î

The good news is UK interviewers are the least likely to check networking sites, with just 12% claiming to do so. Their German counterparts are almost twice as likely as any other country to conduct online searches, with 46% reporting they use this technique to make hiring decisions.

As might be expected, the practice of checking social networking sites becomes more prevalent the younger the interviewer; globally only 19 % of those over 50 check these sites compared to 46% of those under 25.

The research also revealed that;

Many job interviewers are risking landing their organisation in legal difficulties, as on average over half (54%) of UK interviewers are unable to correctly identify illegal questions.

Those who rely on their intuition to make hiring decisions could be wasting their organisations thousands in costs and time by selecting the wrong person for the job.

Globally, almost half of all interviewers (47%) spend less than 30 minutes reviewing candidatesí interview results before making a decision.

The full report can be downloaded from www.ddiworld.com