Some 44% of marketing executives and 63% of advertising executives say they search online for information about prospective employees at least some of the time, according to recent research from The Creative Group.

The report was based on data from a survey of 200 marketing executives randomly selected from companies with 100 or more employees, and 200 advertising executives randomly selected from agencies with 20 or more employees.

Some 18% of marketing executives say they always use Google or another search engine to learn additional information about prospective hires, and 26% say they sometimes do.

And 29% of advertising executives say they always search online about prospective hires, and 34% say they sometimes do.

Nearly half (48%) of advertising executives and more than a quarter (26%) of marketing executives say they have decided not to extend a job offer to a job candidate based on what they uncovered online.

About the research: The report was based on data from a survey of 200 marketing executives randomly selected from companies with 100 or more employees, and 200 advertising executives randomly selected from agencies with 20 or more employees.