New Software to Recruit Employees Through Facebook, LinkedIn (suuuure to recruit employees, right)

Using a new software program, employers are scanning social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn to recruit and evaluate staff.

Article Source

The software categorizes candidates under age, gender, skills and the quality of their business and social interactions.

Software company SAP has already negotiated with LinkedIn to allow its clients, about 140,000 companies worldwide, access to the networking site for employees.

"These programs have a function which allows an employer to basically say, 'I need a computer programmer with these skills and these characteristics', then hit a button and ... come up with a list of potential candidates," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Nick Wailes, from the University of Sydney's work and organisational studies department, as saying.

He added that recruitment firms could suffer losses because the software enables employers to look for candidate themselves.

Wailes said. "LinkedIn and Facebook are repositories of so much information: rather than going through an agency that has a database, you can virtually do it yourself - they're developing a shortlist without even going to the market."

The software will be introduced in Australia later this year.

An Australian spokesman for SAP said the software "will help bring professionals and employers together by highlighting [people's] unique accomplishments".

"These programs have a function which allows an employer to basically say, 'I need a computer programmer with these skills and these characteristics', then hit a button and ... come up with a list of potential candidates,"

Is anyone else disturbed at the potential for ulterior motives this software could have if in the hands of TPTB?

[edit on 5/31/2010 by UberL33t]

A company I worked for was doing this but using Myspace as the source. Almost 8 years ago...
Criminal background checks
Credit scores and ratings
Social Networking monitoring.
Drug tests...

It goes on and on. What you put on the web is not private.

Sorry I was off topic.

[edit on 5/31/2010 by staple]

TPTB already own facebook. Everything that's ever been written on that site is already recorded by them. And just think of what kind of software programs TPTB are running. IMHO this is something that is beneficial for business and commerce all over the land down under. I'm an American and I don't know what people down there think, but it would be interesting to hear from some of them.

Looks like i will have to remove my photos of drunken girlie nights out now or i'll never get a job offer

I swear i do not know that girl attempting to climb up that lamppost with one shoe on, nor do I know that guy in the other picture with shaving foam all over his head and wearing a boris style bathing suit.

Great, just what we need. Software that allows companies to spam people they want who may already have a job, rather than looking at applications of people who actually need a job and went to the trouble of looking for them in the first place

Not to mention all the possible detail stealing companies are prone to, as well as the potential for others to use it for more insidious purposes