NOWHERE TO HIDE ON THE WEB AS WORLD’S BIGGEST FREE PEOPLE SEARCH LAUNCHES IN UK
With more than 360 British universities searching applicants online, a straight-A college student with impeccable school reports and a real dedication to their education may no longer be accepted by their chosen university because of their family’s background, some photos they had taken on a night out or their secret extra curricular activities.
Figures released today from the world’s biggest people search website can reveal that more than 360 British universities are carrying out free background checks on applicants via online searches; checking their social networking sites, reading blogs they have commented on and looking at pictures they have uploaded onto the web.
Social networking sites could be the future for university recruiting efforts and research from www.yasni.co.uk has found that Oxford and Cambridge University, Britain’s most elite places to study are using yasni more actively than any other university, with several thousand searches coming from both universities in the last 4 months.
The Top 5 British universities using yasni.co.uk are as follows;
1 – Oxford University
2 – Cambridge University
3 – The University of Nottingham
4 – Sheffield Hallam University
5 – University of Manchester
These figures make Oxford and Cambridge the 1st and 2nd most active yasni-using universities in the UK and US; seemingly using the internet as a high-powered tool for sieving through the unsuitable applicants and learning more about an individual’s home life and interests.
The Top 10 UK and US universities using yasni as people search source:
1 – Oxford University
2 – Cambridge University
3 – Harvard University
4 – Stanford University
5 – University of New York
6 – Yale University
7 – University of Nottingham
8 – University of California Los Angeles
9 – Sheffield Hallam University
10 – Princeton University
Steffen Ruehl, CEO and Co-Founder of yasni.co.uk comments on the findings;
"These statistics highlight how important it is for people to monitor their online reputation and be aware of what image they are portraying on the net. It is no longer enough for a student to have straight A’s and strong reports, if they party every night of the week and write inappropriate comments on a blog, they could be hindering their future opportunities.
"Once again I stress that these social pages are just that; social. Just because an applicant has a wild night out once a month doesn’t make them unsuitable. Universities must be sure to use the information intelligently and not disregard a very suitable applicant."