Newshound
10-02-2009, 10:29 AM
We noticed a couple of blog threads today about using search engines and social networks such as Facebook and MySpace to check up on candidates in the recruitment process. It's an interesting topic that's not about to go away for the foreseeable future.
There are some conflicting arguments. The owner of the Job Adder Blog (http://jobadder.com/blog/2009/02/10/Is-it-ethical-for-a-recruiter-to-Google-a-candidate-I-think-so.aspx), Brett Iredale, says "Quite frankly if there are photos of you on Facebook being a knuckle then a recruiter has every right to assume you are such and to find a suitable reason not to offer you an interview. ".
Then there's the view of Mary Ellen Slayter in SmartBlog on Workforce (http://smartblogs.com/workforce/2009/02/09/how-not-to-use-social-media-to-vet-job-candidates/) who says " DON’T get distracted by irrelevant information. Yes, you now know that your top candidate loves sci-fi movies, old-school Italian cooking and sky-diving, but does it matter? Does this actually have ANY bearing on whether a person could do a great job for you? You’ve also likely learned your candidate’s religion and race pretty early in the game. Do you trust yourself to still make a bias-free decision with this information?"
Maybe the way people use social networking will change in the future when they realise that their public profile on a "Web 2.0" site could prevent them from getting a job!
What do you think?
There are some conflicting arguments. The owner of the Job Adder Blog (http://jobadder.com/blog/2009/02/10/Is-it-ethical-for-a-recruiter-to-Google-a-candidate-I-think-so.aspx), Brett Iredale, says "Quite frankly if there are photos of you on Facebook being a knuckle then a recruiter has every right to assume you are such and to find a suitable reason not to offer you an interview. ".
Then there's the view of Mary Ellen Slayter in SmartBlog on Workforce (http://smartblogs.com/workforce/2009/02/09/how-not-to-use-social-media-to-vet-job-candidates/) who says " DON’T get distracted by irrelevant information. Yes, you now know that your top candidate loves sci-fi movies, old-school Italian cooking and sky-diving, but does it matter? Does this actually have ANY bearing on whether a person could do a great job for you? You’ve also likely learned your candidate’s religion and race pretty early in the game. Do you trust yourself to still make a bias-free decision with this information?"
Maybe the way people use social networking will change in the future when they realise that their public profile on a "Web 2.0" site could prevent them from getting a job!
What do you think?