Survey: recruiters use social networking sites like MySpace to filter job candidates

Drunken Facebook wall posts seem like a good idea at the time, but some students are finding out those decisions could cost them when looking for jobs.\nAccording to an October survey of more than 1,150 hiring managers nationwide by CareerBuilder.com, one quarter of hiring managers reported using Internet search engines to screen job candidates. One in 10 said they have used social networking sites, including Facebook or MySpace. \nThe survey also said that more than half of hiring managers have chosen not to hire an applicant after viewing their profiles on such Web sites. Why? Managers said the sites have divulged some candidates' poor communication skills, links to criminal behavior, unprofessional screen names and lies about qualifications. Employers are not just looking at professional profiles but personal profiles, pictures, screen names and online correspondence. \nEmployers don't use everything they find against potential employees -- some say what they find on the Internet can actually help a candidate get the job. \n"While sharing information online can have a potentially negative impact on your job search or career plans, it can also be leveraged as a tool to differentiate yourself to employers," Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder.com said in a statement. "Highlighting professional and personal accomplishments and showcasing your creativity can help a candidate make a positive, lasting impression on employers and validate why he (or) she is the right person for the job."\nReasons for this also varied among employers. A majority said they hired the candidate because her background information supported her professional qualifications for the job.\nThe managers on CareerBuilder.com are not the only ones using the Internet. The National Association of Colleges and Employers conducted the same survey with many of the same results. ExecuNet, a business social networking site, released a survey that indicated 77 percent of recruiters search candidates using the Web, and 35 percent said they've eliminated a candidate based on the information they uncovered. \n"Companies spend a great deal of money to recruit, hire and train candidates," Kelley School of Business professor April Legler said in an e-mail interview. "They are using every means available to them to find both good candidates and to eliminate potential problem candidates before they get them onto the company payroll and then discover they've inadvertently hired a problem employee."\nBill Gillis, a graduate student in the School of Journalism, feels this approach would be more helpful in a field like banking than a field like education.\n"Professions that are concerned with background for security issues would probably really use it," he said. "But many people in the University probably wouldn't use it because of the privacy issue."\nLegler said she believes employers will use the Internet more and more to screen applicants.\nStudents are also predicting a rise in the trend. \n"Technology makes it easier and easier," Gillis said. "It seems logical just for that reason."\nLegler said the best way to avoid trouble with potential employers is to keep all online personal profiles and activities private or keep them clean and truthful.\n"It's like getting a tattoo," Legler said. "Do not post anything you wouldn't want your grandmother to see"