Thank you for sharing your concerns. Looking at data beyond what is on the resume is a very tough and complex issue that we have been working with in regards to Applicant Explorer. Just because an external piece of information such as a press release or a news article has the same name, employer, and job title, is it the same person as the resume you are reviewing? The answer is most likely but not 100%.

With Applicant Explorer we have been working on how to best match the information, but we have also drawn a clear line between candidate supplied information and external data that has not been verified. Many recruiters are “Googling” candidates right now searching just on a name. We are trying to help recruiters through our partnership with Microsoft Bing to formulate searches that search not just on the candidates name but other relevant information such as job title, employers, education etc. The ultimate responsibly falls to the recruiter or hiring manager. If they use external information in a hiring decision they have to use their own judgment on the validity and accuracy of the information.

With Applicant Explorer, we are working to create a tracking mechanism that records what external data is considered when reviewing a candidate. When a recruiter goes out and types in the candidate’s name in a search engine, there is no log of information that was considered in regards to that candidate. Applicant Explorer logs the click, date and time, user information and a brief summary from the external site, so if a company was audited on their hiring practices, with Applicant Explorer, the company could see what candidates were considered for a job opening, but also which external links were clicked on when the recruiter reviewed that candidate.

Finally to answer the data protection law question. Candidate data that is housed on the Careerbuilder site is not shared with other sites when Applicant Explorer is run and the Applicant Explorer results are all public information available via any major search engine. Applicant Explorer only looks at publically exposed sites and web pages. If a candidate has a social networking page that they mark private, Applicant explorer will not have access to that information.

I hope I have answered your concerns and appreciate your feedback.

Thanks,

Greg Brass
Director of Profile Search
CareerBuilder

The Challenges

1. How do you know you aggregating information on the correct person?

2. Information is collected out of context -which can be terrifically misleading. Try answering a tweet a day late and see what sense you make of it.

3. How will you establish your audit trail of the information you used for decision making?

4. How will you satisfy Data Protection laws? This report is now in your hands and you entirely responsible for any action taken on the basis of this information and any interpretation.

Sorry to be pessmisitic but more information is not better. Better information is more.