By Natasha Lomas, 5 February 2009 12:53
NEWS
Who's poking around your Facebook profile? If you're looking for a new job, it could well be the HR boss considering your application.
A survey of HR and business managers has revealed almost a third (32 per cent) search the internet and check social networking websites to gather background and behaviour information on potential recruits and existing employees.
Meanwhile, a quarter (24 per cent) said they have been put off a new hire by what they found - with drunken photos and rude comments being the biggest turn-offs.
Use of Facebook et al as an informal resource on job candidates looks set to continue: of the 68 per cent of business people who had not searched for data on would-be staff online, almost half (44 per cent) said they are likely to do so in future.
The survey, which was commissioned by people search website yasni.co.uk, polled more than 950 HR people and business managers.
It's not just Facebook that can land a job-hunter in hot water: a significant proportion of Brits also appear to be willing to stretch the truth in an interview.
Research from jobs website Monster.co.uk has found close to a third (28 per cent) of people admitted lying in a job interview and a further 14 per cent said they have embellished the truth in the hopes of appearing better qualified. However more than half (58 per cent) of those polled claimed never to have lied or stretched the truth to get a job.
Comments
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1. Kelly Hair
Regarding social networking site - just have to be smart about it. For example, don't make your profiles on "friendly" social sites like Facebook public. For the "business/professional" side of Facebook, clump those contacts into a set of friends and share only things that will not get you in trouble...
For "business" related sites like LinkedIn, keep it strictly business.
Other ways they'll find you - blogging & forums. For Forums, don't use your real name. For blogging, consider and alias if you are writing about things like religion, politics, money or off the wall hobbies.
There's nothing wrong with posting information provided you're smart about it...
2. Jack
Why is there a big 'clear' button where logically it should be 'submit'? I'll try again...
I completely disagree that you should have to manage two different profiles of yourself; 'internal' for friends and family, and 'external' for professional'.
The counter arguement is 'if you put it out there then your fair game', true but if you live in a small town and go drinking in a bar, is it ok for an employer to come down and spy on you? No.
If you prove yourself competent for the role in the interview then your personal life is none of their business.
It just shows how incapable recruiters are in making effective candidate assessments and how paranoid employers are.
In fact that paranoia is a self fulfilling prophesy that creates a value out of snooping for it's own sake.
For all I know the guy sitting on the desk opposite me could be a trans-gender burlesque dancer with a previous life as a cage fighter, but he's a good project managere, so gives a toss?
Jack (not real name of course)
3. Roy Corneloues
Jack (or whatever your name is)
Spot On!!!
Roy (Real Name)
4. anonymous
Sites like facebook can be injurious to your employment health. My Grandaughter found her job to be at risk when she was off sick.... with stress. After much prodding by her friends and grandparents she went out and enjoyed herself. Photos were posted by a friend and seen by her office colleagues and bosses who were less than pleased. It took a great deal of negotiation to defuse the situation. Which goes to show you do need some separation between "business" and "social" use of these sites.
Yo never know who is watching without the benefit of context.
5. Simon Allen
"said they have been put off a new hire by what they found"
Just proves that HR know nothing about 'Personnel'.
If they can find hard evidence of and behaviour across an extended period of time, then they might want to think about it and check their references better.
My father was in personnel and executive recruitment all of his working life and said that the correct pursuit of references was worth more than any other part of the recruitment process.
These HR people are just idiots ticking boxes who have no understanding of human nature.
What next? We'll have a Chancellor of the Exchequer who says 'No more boom and bust'.
6. Jeremy Wickins
It is absolutely, totally unacceptable for employers to do this. Work is work, home/social is home/social. As an earlier poster said, employers have EXACTLY what information they get from application forms, selection days, interviews, and, later, from what happens at work. End of story. Any employer found doing this spying should be prosecuted. After all, what is the unacceptability here? It can't be that people get drunk and take photos, so it must be that they post them up for others to see.
Oh, and on the topic that some people exaggerate in their application forms and interviews - this is about as much news as bears defecating in the woods, and ducks floating on water!
7. anonymous
Total bull - you can't do this, i've tried several times to check out candidates on FaceBook !!!
all you can find out from FaceBook is if they so much of a muppet that they have over-ridden the security defaults to actually allow anyone to view their profile.
A STANDARD, DEFAULT FACEBOOK SET UP WILL NOT ALLOW SOMEONE WHO IS NOT YOUR FRIEND TO VIEW YOUR PROFILE - END OF !!
can you tell that i'm getting sick of people perpetuating this myth?
8. drew stephenson
@Anonymous, a certain amount of frustration does appear to come through with the wording of your comment... :¬)