Criminal Background Check left the following comment on my February 11, 2007, post “Employee Screening and Risk Assessment“:

The latest thing is what people have done/posted on online. Employers are now starting to scour perspective employees Social Networking sites such as Facebook, and MySpace to see what they are up to in their own time. Let alone their political views.

Thanks for the comment.

You’re right. However, I think that this is a natural evolution in the use of the Internet by allowing employers to cheaply and easily see who they’re hiring or considering to hire.

More mature and sophisticated employers will be more tolerant of divergent political or social views which don’t harm potential customers or the public, and don’t hurt profits. Less sophisticated and mature employers won’t hire those individuals, yet possibly shrink their pool of qualified and profitable prospective employees for more compliant employees. If my prior statement is correct, then those less sophisticated and less mature companies may also lose profit due to utilizing a less qualified workforce.

In other words, as I’ve indicated in prior posts, positive and proactive human resources leads to increased profits.

Additionally, this will also compel the users of social networking websites and other Web 2.0 applications to think before they post.