Why 35% of firms reject job applicants

More employers are subscribing to the mindset, “Anything a prospective employee puts up online is fair game.”

The number of companies that used social networking sites to check out applicants in 2009 is more than double what it was in 2008.

According to a recent CareerBuilder study, 45% of respondents used sites like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn to research job applicants — up from 22% in 2008.

And employers are acting on what they find there. In fact, 35% of respondents said they rejected a candidate because of what they found on a social networking site.

Check out the chart below for a detailed breakdown of which networking sites employers were more apt to review:

Does your company check job candidates’ social networking profiles? How do you use what you find? Let us know in the comments sections.