New software to recruit employees through Facebook, LinkedIn

Using a new software program, employers are scanning social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn to recruit and evaluate staff.

The software categorizes candidates under age, gender, skills and the quality of their business and social interactions.

Software company SAP has already negotiated with LinkedIn to allow its clients, about 140,000 companies worldwide, access to the networking site for employees.

''These programs have a function which allows an employer to basically say, 'I need a computer programmer with these skills and these characteristics', then hit a button and ... come up with a list of potential candidates,'' the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Nick Wailes, from the University of Sydney's work and organisational studies department, as saying.

He added that recruitment firms could suffer losses because the software enables employers to look for candidate themselves.

Wailes said. ''LinkedIn and Facebook are repositories of so much information: rather than going through an agency that has a database, you can virtually do it yourself - they're developing a shortlist without even going to the market.''

The software will be introduced in Australia later this year.

An Australian spokesman for SAP said the software ''will help bring professionals and employers together by highlighting [people's] unique accomplishments''.