Hiring managers are increasingly turning to Internet search engines and online networks as a means to assess candidates during the hiring process.

“Employers want to know what they’re buying, when they hire, since their companies are subject to public and legal scrutiny,” Opton said. “The first thing a recruiter will do before even picking up the telephone is Google someone’s name.”

And as society becomes more dependent on the Web, the use of Internet reputation clean-up companies will continue to trend higher, said William E. Ayen, senior instructor of information systems at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

read more on this trend in this article:  Employers sifting more thoroughly through ‘digital dirt’. BNET March 21  2008