• There are numerous internet-related technologies and applications that are widely used in recruitment and selection today including social media, email, resume databases, job banks, applicant tracking systems and applicant screeners.
• Many employers use social media sites to aid in both finding and vetting candidates, but they must be extra careful to ensure they don’t factor protected characteristics, such as race, gender identity, or disability, into hiring decisions.
• Some employers may choose to have individuals who will not participate in the actual evaluation of candidates perform social media background checking to ensure protected information won’t be considered.

Internet-related technologies and applications that are widely used in recruitment and selection today include:

• Social media. Social media allows employers to locate passive as well as active candidates and advertise openings. While sites like Facebook and Twitter are geared toward social networking, employers can develop a presence on these sites and use them for recruiting. Also, professional networking sites like LinkedIn allow employers to post jobs or alert contacts of job openings.
• Email. Electronic mail allows for communication of large amounts of information to many sources. Recruiters send emails to lists of potential job seekers. Employers publish job announcements through email to potential job seekers identified through similar means. Job seekers identify large lists of companies to receive electronic resumes through email.
• resume databases. These are databases of personal profiles, usually in resume format. Employers, professional recruiters, and other third parties maintain resume databases. Some third-party resume databases include millions of resumes, each of which remains active for a limited period of time. Database information can be searched using various criteria to match job seekers to potential jobs in which they may be interested.
• Job banks. The converse of the resume database is the database of jobs. Job seekers search these databases to identify jobs for which they may have some level of interest. Job seekers may easily express interest in a large number of jobs with very little effort.
• Third-party providers may maintain job banks or companies may maintain their own job bank through their websites.
• Electronic scanning technology. This software scans resumes and individual profiles contained in a database to identify individuals with certain credentials.
• Applicant tracking systems. Applicant tracking systems allow employers to collect and retrieve data on a large number of job seekers in an efficient manner. Whether custom-made software or an internet service, the system receives and evaluates electronic applications based on direct entry by the applicant and resumes on behalf of employers.
• Applicant screeners. Applicant screeners include vendors that focus on skill tests and others that focus on how to evaluate general skills. Executive recruiting sites emphasize matching job seekers with jobs using information about the individual’s skills, interests, and personality.

Many employers use social media sites to aid in both finding and vetting candidates. However, be careful about how much information is gathered. Individual social media profiles often reveal protected information about applicants or potential applicants. Once a potential employer has information about an individual’s race, gender identity, or disability, for example, they’ll have to be extra careful to ensure they don’t factor such protected characteristics into hiring decisions.

Some employers choose to have individuals who will not participate in the actual evaluation of candidates perform any social media background checking. Those individuals can then pass on only job-related information to the individuals who will ultimately make hiring decisions to ensure protected information won’t be considered.