Employers 'don't screen applicants via Facebook'

The majority of employers do not screen potential new recruits using social networking sites such as Facebook, it has been claimed.

According to the results of a recent poll by Personnel Today, in partnership with legal firm Charles Russell, 73 per cent of those studied preferred to not use such sites as a way of verifying information provided by candidates.

"We would not use Facebook to check candidate information as the validity and reliability of the information is questionable," said Julie Weston, the director of human resources at the British Heart Foundation.

"Also we believe it to be too intrusive to a candidate's private life."

However, within the professional services, media and finance sectors, in excess of 35 per cent of those polled confirming that the social networking profiles of job applicants were examined.

The findings of the study have been based upon the responses of more than 220 individuals.

Social networking site Facebook was established in 2004.