Employers are increasingly doing back-ground checks on candidates that apply for positions in their companies, according to a study by Carnegie Mellon University. The findings of the study showed that between 10-30% of US companies search social networks for job applicants’ information early in the hiring process.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the study found a Muslim was less likely to be given a chance before the interview panel compared to a Christian, especially in conservative states. The Carnegie Mellon University experiment created dummy CVs and social-media profiles and sent them to agencies and firms.
“There is so much information we reveal about ourselves online, sometimes in ways we do not even realize,” said Alessandro Acquisti, an information-technology and public-policy professor at Carnegie Mellon and one of the study’s authors.