Friends Reunited can cost you your job

Job hunters have been warned not to be too frank on the Internet after an employee was sacked when her bosses read her message on the Friends Reunited website.

The woman, a public relations executive, wrote that she worked for a 'bunch of cowboys' and 'the boss from hell' on the site, which is meant to put old school friends back in touch.

What she did not know was that the website would later be checked by her company.

So, as well as providing her former friends with a few humorous lines about her life since leaving school, she paved the way for her own dismissal.

Last night, a recruitment agency also told how employers recently withdrew job offers to two of its clients following spotchecks on the same website.

One firm, looking to fill a post in advertising sales, reversed its offer after the preferred candidate described his application on Friends Reunited as 'a masterpiece of fiction'.

A spokesman for Media Contacts, a specialist recruitment agency for the communications industry, said: 'We're advising clients not to be negative about their employers or exaggerate their CVs.'

The site, which has eight million registered users, has become one of the fastest-growing Internet businesses in recent years, and is attracting 15,000 new users a day.

As well as being an aid to employers, it has also become the source of controversy and marriage heartache through the rekindling of old flames.

In April, West Ham and England goalkeeper David James became one of the most high profile 'victims' of Friends Reunited.

Father of five James, 32, is said to have had a fling with former school friend Amanda Salmon, 31, after bombarding her with late-night text messages and phone calls.

He had made contact with her through the website.

Many other people have been reunited with teenage sweethearts.

Ten babies have been born as a result of people meeting through the site and adopted children have tracked down their natural parents, one man was even 'reunited' with his old cat after a decade apart.

Last night, Friends Reunited declined to comment on the use of its database as an aid to recruiting and dismissing employees.