BusinessWeek’s Debate Room recently featured Employers, Get Outta My Facebook on the issue of employers using profiles on social networking sites to evaluate job applicants. Check out the pro/con arguments and have a look at the comments.

Making legitimate social network job connections is powerful for recruiting, especially if you want to net the net generation. Structured data is replacing the traditional resume. Mapping migratory career paths between companies is becoming more transparent. And blogs are changing the recruiting landscape in terms of finding talent.

The proliferation of online personas created by people is now widespread. Just make sure you know where to draw the line if you Google your candidates. Because a majority of people feel that’s taking recruiting a step too far, as expressed in this comment:

…What would you think of a potential employer that drove to your house to gauge your “status” and neighborhood and how meticulously you kept up your house?

ExecutNet’s report Dealing With Your Digital Dirt reveals that executive recruiters are supplementing candidate research with online searches that they admit has serious ramifications:

Our bottom line is that online sources such as blogs and social networking can be a prime source of passive candidates for many recruiters. However, we’ll leave the background checking and ongoing screening to the professionals.