I've seen figures saying that nearly three-quarters of recruiting managers Google and search social networking sites for candidates in progress on a recruitment campaign.
The article I was sent a couple of weeks ago suggests its' around 30%.
However, the actual figure isn't what interests me. The things I do find interesting are:
a) Googling a candidate is only really viable if they have an unusual name or can be also found by other "unique" criteria. Searching for Peter Evans a Marketing Executive in Solihull isn't likely to find your candidate
b) Trying to find ANY candidate on facebook isn't likely to bring up useful results unless again they are easily identifiable and then allow you into their network.
c) Suggesting the recruiters differentiate between a candidate's work and personal life is mostly unrealistic. You can't "forget" stuff you find out about a candidate (well, obviously you can; but you know what I mean!). A recruiter can choose to find something insignificant but seeing photos of their first choice candidate vomiting into someone's pint is likely to have some impact!
d) You can't call a recruiter checking you out on the internet "sneaky". Them following you home and rifling through your bin is sneaky but taking the opportunity to find as much out about you - in the public domain - is fair game.
In my opinion!
I think social media is playing a role in recruiting but not perhaps so much with facebook - sites like twitter have introduced new ways of communication - one that i've noticed on twitter is twitjobs.co.uk that streams (or tweets) jobs to peoples profiles -
This kind of 'opt in' and interaction between recruiter and candidate, for me will change - and twitter will be the medium that changes it.
Posted by: Peter | 18 March 2009 at 04:45 PM