However, such screens cannot block companies or individuals who have been hired by employers to search for resumes posted by their employees. In the tight labor market of recent years, there has been little incentive to search for such postings. Indeed, it might even work in the employee s favor, if an employer did so, in eliciting incentives not to look elsewhere. But as the economy softens, such simple curiosity might well cost employees their jobs. There are also issues of privacy in online recruitment, particularly when it comes to the so-called passive applicants.
Many companies screen applicants or take job applications online.
That s not surprising, but some companies seed their applications with questions that elicit personal information unbeknownst to the applicant. JP Morgan s online application, for example, is in the form of a computer game. The answers, says Cappelli, reveal information about interests and attitudes of applicants. Cisco Systems, among other technology companies, offers research facilities like libraries in part to identify and track users to recruit. Some of these practices disturb Cappelli.