It is quite clear that many in-house recruiters are, nowadays, using all names provided by consultants to expand their LinkedIn networks. It means that the client is building up a highly focused and readily searchable database, together with the ability to contact via LinkedIn.

This is particularly relevant in niche or specialist industries and within a few years the agency will have ‘given’ its database to the client! A clear case of the parasite (client) feeding on the host (agency) and slowly killing it.

However, inviting candidates to join a group or to ‘connect’ via LinkedIn would constitute a breach of the Data Protection Act. The existence of a candidate’s name is just as protected as his personal details. So they shouldn’t do it.

We can obviously point this out in our T&Cs but is there more we could do? After all, neither party wants the host to die!

I urge all agencies to unite to combat this trend. Any ideas, anyone?

Julien Hofer, managing director, Datascope