If I do not like your online profile I will not hire you!

Abstract

Today, both employees and employers are active online. A lot of people live their lives through personal online social networks. Online social networking sites are an easy tool to screen potential employees online profiles and for human resource management to use in recruitment processes. The screening process includes Internet and social networking site search that will provide not only professional but also personal information. Investigating personal information, however, may be considered violation of privacy. Our study goals are to find out how common it is to do background checks on possible future employees in Estonia, how students feel about such a practice and how they maintain their public profiles. Methods used to gather information were a survey among employees (n=34), pupils (n=117) from five high schools, students (n=91) from one university, and a case study that involved pupils (n=54) and students (n=38). Results reported in this paper will give an overview of our understanding of the accuracy of online profiles, common practices, unspoken risks, and maybe even frustration from the side of future employees. The results of this study can be applied to improve youth-related Internet safety training modules and programmes. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.