Over at The Magnificent Frog there’s a conversation going on about online presences, social media and the research that employers undertake.
There’s a software provider in Oxford who put all of their job applicants through Facebook, Twitter and Google checks, before they’ve even invited the candidates to interview.
I mention OPP because not only do they make no bones about their practice of researching potential staff, they also put a mark on the sheet of paper if someone has *no* online presence. OPP’s practice is far from exceptional
So here are the questions:
- What if your Twitter and/or blog accounts were in your name (assuming they’re not)
- And what if you had little or no security on your Facebook?
- What do you think your next potential employer would make of you, from your online presence?
We always check potential employees for any on-line presence that they may have.
It is amazing the information that some people are happy to put on the internet with no thought about how it may affect their future employment / life.
Its so easy to research staff and so expensive to get hiring wrong that every country do this, even if they say they don’t.
Simply, never put anything on the internet (even behind security) that you wouldn’t be happy to see on a billboard.
My full name is nowhere on the internet and i regularly check to make sure of it. My Facebook profile is locked to friends view only, my Twitter is in another name entirely as is my blog.
Having said that there’s nothing in my online presence i would be ashamed or embarrassed about, i don’t discuss my work publicly and i think i am fairly employer-proof
I think the main problem would be the amount of trivial information (pictures of me dancing; weather-related updates; long-winded political discussions) a potential employer would have to sort through in order to find things that are actually relevant (resume, publications, classes I taught…).
I am not ashamed of anything that enters the first category, but I still think it’s no business of any professional relationship of mine.
Future employers need not worry, as I haven’t got the internet yet.
Typical employers. “Hey, I wonder if this candidate was lying to me. I know, I’ll look them up on the internet and judge them on their non-professional, social lives. Y’know – the life they don’t bring to work with them. The side of them that has nothing to do with their capacity to do the job.” How fucking lazy.
Why not just have a better sense of what you’re looking for in the first place?
BECAUSE YOU’RE A CRAP PERSON TO WORK FOR.
They wouldn’t give a toss ‘cus I write meaningless, harmless drivel of no consequence.
I’ll be honest, I’m not entirely sure I’d be comfortable working for a company that felt it was fine to snoop through my personal life online and judge me on what they found. Fact is I’m an entirely different person at work to the one I am at home. Fortunately my blog is not in my name anyway so the only thing they’d find is my slightly ranty updates on facebook.
In our case we had an employee who was doing things in their private life which had a direct effect on the image and professionalism of our business. The fact that they were also encouraging customers and suppliers to see what they were doing meant that it was an easy decision to make to do these kind of checks on people as part of our recruitment process going forwards.
Now that would be getting personal. What’s my ability to function at work got anything to do with my personal life? And I probably won’t be getting any jobs!