Interesting UK Study on Social Networking Sites Role in Hiring Decisions

Have you noticed a recent trend in this blog of chronicaling the role Social Networking sites play in the hiring process? This story isn't going away and neither is the trend for employers to go on-line to learn about their candidates. This study conducted in the UK by Joslin Rowe, a financial services recruiter finds that 20% of the employers polled said that they used social networking such as myspace to find out more information about their job applicants. The poll says that 68% of respondants claim to have used search engines. While I question the sampling of employers used in this study, these numbers do suggest that more and more employers are using the internet as a means to qualify candidates. And while this study reflects employers in the UK, this trend no doubt exists throughout the industrialized world.

Here's a question though. I don't have numbers to support this assumption (although I hardly doubt that I am far off here), but I am guessing that most people over the age of 35 don't not have a facebook or myspace account. Using this logic, that means that this practice is being used primarily for candidates just entering the workforce up to those looking for second and third jobs. What are these employers doing with the rest of their candidates? What qualifies as information that would prevent an individual from being employed? Who decides? How is the information found verified to ensure both that it is true and accurate?

All lot of questions. We don't have the answers. I'm sure this won't be the last entry on this topic.