Facebook? Bebo? Etc....I just canned three out of 5 prospective candidates because of what they'd written & linked to on Facebook.

[Doodlez]

So, regardless of whether you think I'm right or wrong....I receive CV's, I decide on which candidates I want to interview and then I look them up to see if and what internet presence they have.

BE WARNED.....if you use social networking sites, make your security settings as tight as a gnat's chuff, to stop potential employers like me researching you in advance and not liking what they find!

Also, warn the kids - universities are doing this more and more now.

As you were.

DH's firm have also vetoed applicants based on what has been seen on their FB accounts too. I think a lot of prospective employers do this.

Or just make sure you don't post anything online that you would be embarassed for your mum to see - this is my tactic.

Out of interest, what (vaguely speaking of course) put you off them?

You have to be seriously stupid not to think of this before applying for a job, so this is a great screening tool really.

Depends very much what it is that you're taking against. If it's work related then fine but anything that's in their own time then you are pushing it. I recruit pretty often and would never dump someone because they have drunk photos on their FB.

Joined groups with BNP type content, anti-Islamic etc.

Vile comments made on wall posts about fat people etc.

Comments made about women known to them and what they'd like to do to them etc.

That kind of thing.

One of them is a Recruitment consultant which a direct link to his employer's website. He is a real arse on FB, so I won't be using his agency either, if he's the type of knob-for-brains they employ!

Oh that kind of thing, definitely. Sorry, thought it was the 'Jodie's hen night photos' type of thing

Oh that is pretty stupid and a fairly safe indicator that they are not employee material too. I don't blame you.

Aye, it's a good ploy for weeding out nutters and bigots!

Please though - make the teens aware of it. They say such stoooooopid things, and careers will be dashed before they've even begun.

Yes, and the internet is forever!

I always think it's a safety mechanism to have your mum or another similar aged relative as a Facebook friend. Then you'll never post anything toooo embarassing!

i'm interested to know where you get your information from that Universities are doing this?

One of our candidates made a claim about winning an international prize for something, so we double-checked online, and we found that he had set up his own internet porn business, and yes, we do know it was the same guy.

Full marks for entrepreneurship, but it ain't going to go down well at uni (btw he had fibbed about the prize thing as well).

Are you certain that the candidates were the same people as the facebook people? Were you matching pictures to people you'd met?

No, this was not FB, we did it by perfectly legitimate technological means by digging down a bit through the cyber jungle. We are a university, after all ...

My post was for the OP. I had assumed something more reliable than FB for the Uni.

I was pondering how easy it would be to make mistakes and the possibility of harrassment against a candidate.

Curiosity really

Their political views etc aside, it sounds like you've successfully weeded out complete morons, which can only be good. Do people really not think about this stuff?

I guess if they put their emails on their CV you can search FB for their emails.

I work in HE and we look at FB in relation to students and applicants, for registered students bullying/racist comments on FB is potentially a disciplinary matter. Studentroom site is also checked.

Well in this case the porn thing was coicidental, candidate has lied about prize (because it didn't exist, as we discovered).

It should be commonsense not to put anything there you would expect a parent to dislike, but some parents aren't particularly discerning / strict so some young people may put language or photos on which could go against them.

Some time ago on Radio 4 was a discussion about online privacy, and one guy from Google said that whilst Google itself doesn't have personal pages on its own site, they are a pretty good search tool and keep archives.

His comment was that he had told his teenagers to put nothing personal online, because if it could be archived, it could later be found again. It's a bit chilling, but a significant warning to anyone not to drop their guard.

Rather than consider using the highest protection (and let's face it, such protection measures can be disabled by accident) it's safer not to upload/ display/ store anything too personal, whether that be phone numbers, photos, likes/dislikes let alone consider membership of any group, of any persuasion, lest it be deemed unsuitable in future!

Unfortunately, even if you don't disclose it, someone else might (compromising photos, or perhaps a party membership list) so be concerned, be very concerned!

for this reason, Dbro has a 'dummy'FB page, with his full name, and only family attached and a real FB page under his nickname.

though he doesn't put anything particularly disgraceful on that either, you never can tell what someone else will disapprove of...

As my MIl insists upon being my 'friend' (and indeed, when i briefly de-friended everyone to de-reg from it for a bit, sent me a message saying 'don't you want to be my friend then?') i hardly use it at all.

This can work both ways. My FB page is mainly for keeping in touch with work colleagues in other institutions or departments, and raising my profile that way. A candidate could be very clever and set up one with all sorts of wholesome, university-friendly things on (membership of sports organisations, volunteer work, academic subject interest group) and see it as a kind of Web 2.0 CV. I am surprised people haven't worked that one out.

That's exactly how I see everything online under my real name, BoffinMum - it's my online CV, and I know that people from work are looking at it fairly regularly. Seems to be working so far...

Unis have used FB evidence to kick students out for lying about illnesses at exam time (photos of them out drinking), plagiarism and all sorts. When I did advice work we ran a campaign about students on FB and people were horrified at the amount we could find out.

The worst one I saw was when one of my students had tastefully done some pubic topiary and moulded her lady parts into a tribute to Gucci. And posted it up on her profile. For public consumption.

I still shudder thinking about it.