Bosses claim they don't check Facebook

A new poll has revealed that majority of employers claim to not check social-networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo when recruiting new employees.

Out of 220 human resources workers questioned by Personnel Today and legal firm Charles Russell, 73% said they would not use such sites in the recruitment process, Personnel Today reports.

Industries that are least likely to check employee profiles on social-networking sites were found to be charity and retail.

However, 35% of bosses in the media, finance and professional services sectors stated that they had used such methods to aid recruitment.

Human Resources Director at the British Heart Foundation, Julie Weston, described the activity as 'intrusive.'

'We would not use Facebook to check candidate information as the validity and reliability of the information is questionable,' she remarked.

Her comments follow the news earlier this week that an alliance of eight charities is calling for a ban on job applicant searches on social-networking sites.

However, Ms Weston stated that she does 'not favour more employment legislation.'