Social networking websites are not a "reliable" source of information for recruiters, it has been suggested.
According to Dan Hawes, co-founder of the Graduate Recruitment Bureau, these sites are tempting for employers because they can use them to look for information about potential members of staff.
However, Mr Hawes pointed out that social networks contain a lot of information that should perhaps not be taken very seriously, or that would have an impact on someone's ability to perform work-based tasks.
He said: "In terms of recruiters using it, I wouldn't say it was that reliable. I wouldn't use it as a recruitment tool at all, it's just people's curiosity gets the better of them."
Mr Hawes went made his comments in light of the fact that both Facebook and Twitter now have recruitment pages.
He said that sites like Facebook could be useful for recruiters, as long as they used other sources of information when deciding whether or not to hire someone.
"In terms of recruiting using it as a deciding factor, that's pretty short-sighted, at the foremost they should interview someone and make a decision on that and their CV."
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