31-03-2008
73% of employers do not screen candidates using social networking sites
News by Adfero for Simply Business - independent providers of public liability insurance, business finance, landlord insurance, buy-to-let mortgages & commercial mortgages.
Most employers prefer not to look up potential employees on social networking sites such as Facebook, it has been claimed.
A recent poll by Personnel Today has that that 73 per cent of respondents do not use such sites as a way to verify the information provided by candidates.
The survey was conducted in partnership with Charles Russell, a firm specialising in law, and involved the participation of more than 220 individuals.
"We would not use Facebook to check candidate information as the validity and reliability of the information is questionable," said Julie Weston, the director of human resources at the British Heart Foundation.
"Also we believe it to be too intrusive to a candidate's private life."
However, the reverse was found to be partially true within the finance, media and professional services sectors, with over 35 per cent admitting to using social networking sites to look at the profiles of candidates.
The history of Facebook goes back to 2004.