Employers sifting more thoroughly through 'digital dirt'

Hiring managers are increasingly turning to Internet search engines and online networks as a means to assess candidates during the hiring process.

"No two ways about it -- it's increasing," said Dave Opton, who started ExecuNet, an online executive career and recruiting network during 1988. "We live in an information age. It's much easier and takes less time to get information -- it's not burdensome."

Given the long shelf life of Internet content, Opton predicts that the number of job seekers who are prejudged or eliminated because of "digital dirt" searches will climb during 2008.

During 2005, when ExecuNet asked recruiters if they'd eliminated an employment prospect because of Internet-search results, 26 percent said "yes." By 2007, the number had climbed to 43 percent.

"Employers want to know what they're buying, when they hire, since their companies are subject to public and legal scrutiny," Opton said. "The first thing a recruiter will do before even picking up the telephone is Google someone's name."

And as society becomes more dependent on the Web, the use of Internet reputation clean-up companies will continue to trend higher, said William E. Ayen, senior instructor of information systems at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

Because search engines locate information based on a word or a string of words, individuals hire companies to add information in such a way that it's given higher priority. Companies have used the same type of tools to secure a higher pecking order since shortly after search engines were created.

"Now individuals are using search engines to market themselves, and employers are using search engines to check on prospective employees," Ayen said.

Matt Cooke started RemoveYourName.com during 2004. He said his business has increased 100 percent annually because jobseekers have come to realize that prospective employers have instant access to information -- some of which is not always favorable. His company offers a guarantee for its work, which creates a variety of online profiles to push back negative information.

"We use specific industry information, or promote older existing links and move information from, say, page four of search engines, to page two," Cooke said.

If people have hobbies or donate time or money to charities, RemoveYourName.com publishes that positive information.

Since the New York Times has expanded its free access to archives, Cooke said, something someone did 30 years ago, which they thought was gone and buried, can end up on the first page of a search engine.

The percentage of recruiters using search engines to learn more about candidates increased from 75 percent during 2005 to 83 percent during 2007, according to ExecuNet.

Kelly Shaffer, vice president of Addstaff Inc., said that employers increasingly use the Internet as a tool to perform criminal background checks and verify employment references. But that's not all employers are searching for.

"With the advent of social networking sites, people post things about themselves that can be viewed as negative or positive," he said. "And now it's part of the due diligence available to employers because information posted online points to the judgment of a prospective employee."

Generally, employers are looking to eliminate candidates based on negative legal proceedings, social or criminal behavior, suspension of licenses or certifications, mis-stated or falsified academic or professional qualifications, bankruptcy -- and whether a candidate would be a good fit for the company, Opton said.

Job candidates might not realize that employers are not just looking for criminal records -- they're looking to see if a person has communication skills and knows how to spell or write. A comment made in a story or written in an article or a posted comment in an online discussion or forum -- it's all being electronically observed, Opton said.

"Employers are trying to get clues -- does it make sense, culturally, to hire this person," he said. "Will they be a problem child, or will they fit in?"

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