Recruiters increasingly seek information on prospective job candidates on social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Viadeo as well as Facebook. Robert Half conducted a survey of 2000 recruiters in nine European countries, in order to understand how they manage private or compromising information about a particular candidate.

The results show that most recruiters would refrain from taking any immediate decision and request an explanation from the candidate at a later stage. This solution was favoured by 67% of recruiters in the Czech Republic, 58% in Switzerland and 50% in Austria.

Furthermore, the second most popular approach amongst the recruiters who participated in the survey would be to reject the candidate after providing an explanation: 32% in Italy, 26% in the Netherlands and 24% in Belgium said so. On the other hand, some recruiters would reject the candidate without an explanation: 15% in Luxembourg, 11% in Germany and 10% in the Netherlands of recruiters there were of that opinion. 

Finally, the results also indicated that many recruiters would not base any decision on the finding of compromising information about a candidate on a social networking site as 41% in Luxembourg, 30% in France and 29% in Belgium responded.

For Olivier Gélis, General Director of Robert Half International France, “it is very tempting to seek further information about candidates on social networking sites. While most recruitment professionals would only consult candidate’s professional profiles on LinkedIn or Viadeo, those with lesser ethical standards would also check on Facebook. My best advice for candidates is to set their Facebook accounts to private, and be proactive on professional networking sites.”