The legal issues of using social media sites with employment issues were highlighted at the Recruitment Society event yesterday evening at IBM Global Technology Services’ offices on London’s South Bank.

Adrian Marlowe, managing director of Lawspeed and founder of the Association of Recruitment Consultancies, spoke to around 50 members about some of the legal pitfalls of using social networking sites.

The Data Protection Act has rules governing recruiters looking at potential candidates’ social networking profiles. Legally, Marlowe told the audience, recruiters and employers would need to gain the consent of the person concerned.

For more on the event, see 25 November issue of Recruiter.