There’s no legal reason to fear searching the Internet for information about your applicants – an issue only arises if you unlawfully discriminate against someone because of what you find (Harvard Law professor) But lots of personal information which could lead to unlawful

discrimination can be found via Facebook or MySpace (trial lawyer) Many young people have a questionable online presence

If Hathaway Jones doesn’t want to hire these people, it will miss out on best minds of that generation (adviser to major media corporations)

CEO of ReputationDefender: “I’m 28, and I’m part of a generation that doesn’t even go on a second date without Googling the other person.” (Note: recent research indicates Facebook profiles reasonably

accurate, much more so than, e.g., Match.com profiles; note also that to identify neuroticism one likely needs face-to-face encounter. See New York Times, 12/2/09.)

Because retail and service businesses are so local in nature, I would hesitate to put an expatriate in Shanghai position (Manpower CEO) Chinese ees expect leaders to be modest and humble and see them

as highly respected authority figures w/ parent-like attributes