Likewise, as you know I’ve said before: policy. Each employer, no matter who it is, mustmustmust have a policy and apply it absolutely uniformly. Otherwise, they’re really opening themselves up to problems.

And then, there’s the whole idea that it’s a crutch. In most cases, people are honest on their resumes and then you meet them. People in HR should be able to vet other people out, instinct – it’s their job to do that, yes? Relying on Google to help you decide? No. Using it as one of many, many factors, sure. So long as it is just one component and,again, used the same way every single time.

My take on this: I think if HR people are predisposed to hire or not hire someone, they’ll find whatever they need to reinforce that decision on the net, IF they Google after the interview. I wonder, however, if more HR people are using Google prior to scheduling interviews – I think that might be seen as a time saver. However, I think if HR people don’t know what they are doing they could be writing off people in error. First, there are a lot of people on the net with the same first and last names and sometimes its hard to tell who is who. There is a Keith Gottschalk who is a somewhat renown South African poet. I think we’d probably get on well if we met. In this case I think its obvious but for a lot of people it may not be so obvious. The other bit of information is using Intelius to pre-screen employees but the expense of using Intelius makes it hard for smaller employers to use in volume.