Employers are turning to social networking sites including MySpace and Facebook to filter out unsuitable candidates, according to a report by the Recruitment Employment Confederation (REC).

A total of 298 recruitment consultants were quizzed as part of the survey, which looked at how Web 2.0 is affecting recruitment.

It found that leaving an internet footprint could damage recruitment chances and encourage employers to discriminate on the grounds of race, sexual orientation or religion.

The survey also showed that a whopping 86 per cent say candidates should think twice before putting certain information online for fear of it affecting their chances of employment.

Tom Hadley, the REC’s director of external affairs, commented: “As more employers take interview shortcuts and rely on internet searches to filter out unsuitable candidates, it’s vital that job seekers take their internet footprint seriously and keep in mind that it could affect their job prospects.

Before posting any personal details on the internet, candidates need to think twice about how an employer might perceive them.”

Parading hobbies and interests is also causing problems, with 71 per cent saying something written in the ‘other interests’ section of a CV has resulted in candidates being left in the rejected pile.

Reputation and word of mouth gets top billing, however, with 75 per cent claiming that employers have indicated to them that they won’t take a candidate for interview due to negative comments from ex-work colleagues or people that have known them.

And in a sign that traditional recruitment methods are waning, half said that the MySpace/Facebook generation has the potential to reduce the number of candidate placements through a recruitment agency because workers use internet social networks rather than formal networks to find and apply for jobs.

Join the debate on Blogging policy at Any Answers