Facebook users can breathe easy when job hunting, research reveals

Three in four employers donít use social networking sites as recruitment tools, research has revealed.

A poll of more than 220 HR directors by Personnel Today magazine and law firm Charles Russell found that 73% of companies donít check sites like Facebook during the hiring process.

The results cast doubt on the need for laws to ban the practice, as called for last week.

The study found that charities and retail firms were the least likely to use such methods, with just 8% and 7% respectively checking Facebook or similar sites to research applicants. Employers in the media, professional services and finance were most likely to go online to check out candidatesí profiles, with more than 35% of HR bosses from these sectors admitting they do so. One respondent also claimed to use such sites to head-hunt. ìWe use [social networking sites] a lot to recruit people for the organisation,î he said.

Julie Weston, HR director at the British Heart Foundation, warned that such sites were unreliable. ìWe would not use Facebook to check candidate information as the validity of the information is questionable. Also we believe it to be too intrusive to a candidateís private life.î

But she rejected childrenís charitiesí calls last week for laws to ban employers using such sites in the hiring process. ìIt will be almost impossible to police,î she said.

Michael Powner, partner at law firm Charles Russell, who conducted the survey with Personnel Today, said: Based on the outcome of our recent research and experience with our clients, the current call from children's charities to ban employers using social networking sites as part of the recruitment process is unnecessary.

From this research it is clear that very few employers are using these sites as the basis for their recruitment decisions. Even if one were to support such a ban, there are considerable practical difficulties in trying to enforce such a ban.

It appears that although most employers do have good faith in their employees' use of these sites, they do monitor usage and adopt a sensible approach to the matter. Such a balanced approach would appear to be the way forward for recruitment so that the sites could be used but in an appropriate way.

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