Offices around the UK are banning staff from using social networking sites like Facebook, but an increasing number of companies are beginning to use the websites as recruitment resources.

A survey conducted by UK recruitment firms Crone Corkill and FSS revealed that 7.5 per cent of employers are using social networking sites as an informal part of the referencing process.

This number is expected to rise now that Facebook profiles can be accessed quickly and easily through search engines like Google.

Meanwhile, a poll of Crone Corkill's office support candidates revealed that 86 per cent use Facebook regularly, and over 75 per cent of respondents from FSS agreed that Facebook was the site they used most frequently.

The recruiters said that any extra tool to determine whether a candidate is right for the job is beneficial to recruiters.

A social networking profile can give a more personal insight into someone's character that cannot be portrayed on a CV.

However, some have argued that these online profiles are personal and that companies should not mix the business and private lives of candidates.

Other concerns include the possibility of researching the wrong person, and the problem of comments falsely made in someone's name.