Companies admit Facebook profiles influence hiring

Increasing numbers of employers are checking out potential staff's social networking profiles, says Careerbuilder.com.

The job-search website surveyed employers and found that 20 percent of companies admitted to checking out candidate's profiles on social-networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace before deciding to employ them. A further 9 percent said they planned to start reviewing potential employees social-networking pages in the future.

The research also revealed that while 24 percent of employers had hired a member of staff based on their social-networking profile, 33 percent had also decided not to make a job offer after reviewing the content on a profile. Use of drugs or drinking and the posting of photographs deemed 'inappropriate' or 'provocative' were identified as the most popular reasons why employers eliminated a candidate after viewing their social networking profile.

Careerbuilder.com advises job hunters to either regularly edit their social-networking pages to ensure there is no negative content available or make them 'private' to avoid would-be employers snooping at their personal life.