Employers make the most of Internet networking sites to find out more about their employees

Havenít heard of MySpace? Itís likely that you will soon. Never mind simply Googling a candidate, you can now type them into an internet social networking site and find yourself invited into their virtual world, where you can browse at your leisure through their likes, dislikes, aspirations, love interests and sometimes even diary entries. With the vast majority of job seekers now using search engines to find relevant job postings, many recruitment agencies and HR departments are turning to search marketing to improve candidate flow, and networking sites like MySpace are becoming a popular target. Employers are no longer limited to CVs and interviews to judge candidates, they can now delve into their personal lives as well - but is it fair?

Should employers use this type of information as a screening tool?

Blogs, Podcasts, Vodcasts are all being recognised as an e-recruitment tool as well as a corporate communications channel. By their nature, blogs open up a two-way communication between a company and a prospective employee. However itís not an entirely positive progression, as many people arenít considering the ramifications of posting such personal messages on the World Wide Web.

Across the globe over one hundred million people have cottoned on to this craze and built their own homepage complete with personal information and friend networks and the majority of these bloggers are not backward about coming forward. By flicking between message boards that allow ífriendsí to post comments on other ífriendsí pages, you can piece together titbits of gossip that you might not even expect to hear at the Christmas party, yet people are posting this information on the World Wide Web, detailing the most intimate areas of their lives for the world to see.

Andy Atalla is Head of Search at PHD Media based in the West End and works with both MySpace and Google:

People who are getting more aware of the potential pitfalls of this kind of íresearchí are starting to combat it themselves. Many more advanced internet users are actually creating multiple MySpace sites and multiple web personals under aliases. This means they can still swap stories and secrets with friends, but not have to worry that employerís might find out more than they bargained for. I expect this trend to continue, as people become more and more aware of how they are publicising their personal secrets.

Poolia UK Ltd, a specialist recruitment consultancy specialising in the recruitment of temporary, contract and permanent Accountancy, Banking Finance and Operations, Office Support, Human Resources and Property professionals within the commercial, banking, financial services and public sectors conducted a web poll to find out more. The poll results determined that 66% of clients questioned regularly perform internet searches on prospective candidates to help determine their suitability for employment. 19% of those polled said they would consider doing it. The web poll which has been on Pooliaís website www.poolia.co.uk has questioned over 500 employers on their internet-search policies and indicated that this trend is a lot more common than people are letting on.

One of Pooliaís city-based clients who wishes to remain anonymous says he regularly checks up on his potential candidates in this way: íSometimes its easier to find out whatís going on behind the CV before you waste time in an interview, you have a clearer idea what to expect and can whittle down the process quite sufficiently. In the past I have simply Googled prospective candidates, whereas now I will type their name into My Space as well. I have found some interesting things on that site. One candidate declared in his personal profile that he was against religion and anyone who believed in it. Working for such a diverse company I dropped that application like a hot potato. Funnily enough he wasnít so quick to admit to that on his CV.í

Tom Hadley, Director of External Relations at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, the representative body for the UK recruitment industry, says:
There is a fine line between legally accessing information from public web-sites, and knowing what you can do and cannot do with this information. For example, simply taking into account a personís hobbies and interests when considering suitability for a role, would in general not amount to any form of discrimination. However, seeking some additional details such as photos of the applicant or information on religious beliefs etc... could leave you open to claims of discrimination on grounds such as race, age or religious belief unless you can demonstrate that these factors had no influence on the recruitment decision. The key issue is to always take into account how relevant the information really is to the particular position you are recruiting for. It is also a general principle under the Data Protection Act that you should only store information on an individual, where this is necessary.

Once upon a time a CV might have been enough to secure a job, but in a day where cultural fit is just as important to a company as a strong educational background, taking advantage of search engines and social networking sites like this is likely to become all the more popular amongst employers looking to recruit. If the information is available what employer isnít going to take a closer look at their potential employee?

The anonymity of the internet seems to be losing its appeal; suddenly we all want everyone to know who we are. However, inevitably by doing this we are forgetting about those people who weíd rather didnít know the finer details of our personal lives. All sorts of misdemeanours can be all too apparent if you are someone that frequents networking sites.

So herein the problem lies. There is currently nothing to stop employers choosing not to employ someone if their personality doesnít strike them as an appropriate fit for their company, but then run the very risk of being criticised for doing so. So where does this leave a candidate?

Until there are clearer rules made on this matter it is probably better to adhere to an old adage; if its something you wouldnít want your employer to read donít email it, and now perhaps we should add to that: Donít email/post blogs/write electronic diaries/use message boards/create websites/use forums and networking sites or generally use the internet at all!