Social networking and job applications

LegacyUser

On the job hunt at the moment.

I have one email address, I use it for everything, had it for years

Now I don't have a facebook account at the moment, I had one once but there was nothing bad on it. It passes the "boss standing over my shoulder and reading what's on my screen" test.

I have a twitter account and I tweet a lot but that's asking sports journalists questions about my beloved Newcastle United like injuries, transfers and lineups or asking networks about upcoming TV shows such as when is the new series of Spartacus starting next month. Nothing controversial at all

Have a linkedin account and about thirty connections. I've never done much with it and it's fairly blank. Some people are huge into linkedin, I don't bother with it much.

But I have to say I have some horrendous youtube comments. I get angry sometimes and get into arguments and flame wars and posted some nasty stuff over the years. Quite a bit on politics also.
To give an example I was posting on some British National Party supporters video about that recent case of the racist lady on the tram. He supported her and I took the bait and got stuck in.

Now my email address is my full name and the year I was born. I stuck it into google and you get quite a few of my youtube comments.

I'm going to have a new email address just for job applications obviously

But do employers google and search their applicants?
Any chance a new company will put my name and year I was born into google and connect it to me?
This isn't it but something like johnsmith1984 at yahoo.com

Oh just to say I have a typical Irish "Mc_____" name if that makes sense, it's nothing like John Smith

Eoin

The first thing I would do is google a candidate.

borderlinemeath

Why don't you just delete your youtube comments if they're the only thing that you feel affect your online persona?

pow wow

worriedovernothing? wrote: »

But do employers google and search their applicants?

Absolutely. Then they look them up on facebook, LinkedIn etc. They may also google your phone number and see what awesome stuff you have for sale on the internet Of course some won't do anything at all, but it's more and more common now to do a little online background checking of applicants.

worriedovernothing? wrote: »

Any chance a new company will put my name and year I was born into google and connect it to me?

No. Think how many people with your name may have been born the same year as you? It's not the same as checking your email because you've admitted to them that it belongs to you, whereas your name/year of birth could really be anyone.

I have two facebook profiles, a personal one that is hidden from search results and a more official one that would come up if employers were looking for me with details of my career/education and a few interests in my field of expertise. Employers are becoming increasingly savvy these days with social media so it make sense to be cautious and proactive about how you appear online.

Irish_Elect_Eng

Eoin wrote: »

The first thing I would do is google a candidate.

+1 Same here, first port of call to screen any serious candidate.

Though I am usually looking for the positive rather than the negative, what are they involved in, professional bodies, community groups etc. But occasionally the search does throw up red flags, a classic being a candidate for a senior permanent job that posted to their Facebook site that they were applying for a job "to fill in for a few months before I go to Oz". As the interview had already been scheduled, I waited til the end of the "brief" interview to say to him " it says here on my notes that you are going to Oz in June, how long have you booked your holiday for?" He went white as a Ghost.....Next....

Jim2007

Eoin wrote: »

The first thing I would do is google a candidate.

+1

I employ a lot of technical people and I always check up to see what kind of technical questions and answers they are posting....

"I doing an interview for an XYZ programmer on Monday I only put it on the CV 'cause the company was looking for it, What is XYZ and what are the buzz words....." Is one to watch for :rolleyes:

krd

Eoin wrote: »

The first thing I would do is google a candidate.

And what are you specifically looking for when you google candidates?

Stuff on their private lives?

What are you looking for?

Mrs OBumble

krd wrote: »

And what are you specifically looking for when you google candidates?

Stuff on their private lives?

What are you looking for?

Anything that would make me not want to hire them:

• Inconsistencies between their CV and what they post (no one needs a liar)
• Any indicators of a bad attitude towards bosses / authority. (I don't care if it's justified or not, saying your boss is an a** on the internet will have consequences)
• An over-abundance of drunken-night-out pictures: everyone has some, but every night would suggest an odd work-life balance.
• Comments about future travel plans, or anything else would make me think they're not long term (if I was looking for long term)

Or anything that would make me want to hire them - specifically things they've been involved in or achieved.

imitation

Yeah this is defintely a downside to the internet, I think its more than likely you will get googled. Its one thing if your called John Smith, but if your name is unique then its pretty much a finger print.

You can apparently delete youtube comments, they may not disappear off google for a while, but its probably your best bet.

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/youtube/thread?tid=75939b906c428ff6&hl=en

I think is going to be a bigger issue as the years go on, if theres one thing people should get the first time they go on the net, its a big list of what not to do. The number one rule people break is putting your real name over anything thats public (or even not that public) with candid comments.

I employ a lot of technical people and I always check up to see what kind of technical questions and answers they are posting....

I have to admit, I never thought of it this way, time to go make a few real name accounts on stack overload, MSDN etc

krd

JustMary wrote: »

Anything that would make me not want to hire them:

• Inconsistencies between their CV and what they post (no one needs a liar)
• Any indicators of a bad attitude towards bosses / authority. (I don't care if it's justified or not, saying your boss is an a** on the internet will have consequences)
• An over-abundance of drunken-night-out pictures: everyone has some, but every night would suggest an odd work-life balance.
• Comments about future travel plans, or anything else would make me think they're not long term (if I was looking for long term)

Or anything that would make me want to hire them - specifically things they've been involved in or achieved.

How do you know by seeing a few photographs of someone on the internet having drinks with their friends, that they're out every night of the week?

Even if there are a lot of those photographs. For a lot of people that's the only time they have their photographs taken. And I'm not stupid - if a friend has posted a picture of me drinking, I make them take it down. I don't want a busybody to see it and think I'm an alcoholic, because there's a photograph of me having a drink and enjoying myself.

Work life balance as far as I am concerned, is you have your private life, and you have your work life. And your private life is none of your employers business. Absolutely none of their business. Making it their business is an invasion of privacy.

When you google someone, with the specific intention of taking a peak at their private life, you are violating their privacy. You're being as dirty a stalker creeping through someone's garden and trying to peak in their bedroom window.

It's underpants sniffing.

How far do you think you have a right to go?

A busy body is a busy body.

On my facebook, there is one disgusting little scumbag. One of these little tell tale maggots (be very careful what you say to anyone at work - there's often a little maggot who'll run along to your managers and tell tales). This little maggot would send facebook friends requests to the other people he was working with. Then when they accepted, he'd run over to a desk with some of the managers (right beside me - so I could spy on what they were doing). He'd log onto his account, and then they'd scrutinise the facebook page of the employee. They weren't looking to see if someone didn't have the right "work life balance". They just wanted as much private information on the person as they could get.

My biggest worry about privacy has always been paddy whackery. Ireland has always been the kind of country where people will not mind their own business. Where people will dislike you because your lifestyle isn't "normal" like theirs.

A few years ago an American friend was in town - they were having a business/project meeting in Dublin and they asked me to come along. We were meeting with this project manager who was in her early 30s. With nearly every question asked about the project, she'd voluntarily drop into the conversation some mention of her lifestyle - her husband, her new house, her new car. After the meeting, the American was asking what the hell was this woman on about - they were really annoyed they wanted to talk about the project and they just kept getting all this rubbish about this woman's lifestyle. And I explained to them, that in Ireland to prove you're a "good" person and a worthy manager, you have to have the house, the husband, the car etc.

And that's probably what all this snooping on facebook and all the rest is really about. Bottom sniffing people for their lifestyle. Instead of the old days, where we had a few thousand priest poking their noses in, now we have millions of little priests armed with internet connections and social networks. We'll turn Ireland into a paradise of good little boys and girls.

Eoin

krd wrote:

When you google someone, with the specific intention of taking a peak at their private life, you are violating their privacy. You're being as dirty a stalker creeping through someone's garden and trying to peak in their bedroom window.

It's underpants sniffing.

How far do you think you have a right to go?

What a load of complete and utter nonsense.

Scram

What an utter sad state of affairs it is that an employer can google you, fackebook you etc. Its none of their business.

A job is a job, its not a 24 hour commitment or marrage, jeez.

Eoin

Scram wrote: »

What an utter sad state of affairs it is that an employer can google you, fackebook you etc. Its none of their business.

A job is a job, its not a 24 hour commitment or marrage, jeez.

An employer would be a fool not to check out what the candidate has voluntarily posted online.

If you post stuff that you don't want associated with yourself then don't use your real name. Lock down your social networking accounts appropriately.

Irish_Elect_Eng

I am in total agreement that what any employee does outside of work is their own business.

If and it is a big if, they are 100% honest at the interview and they can keep their personal and professional lives separate. But we all know that both of those are not common enough occurrences in today's Ireland. You just have to look at some of the forums here to see the stated behavior of some people during interview and at work.

The internet offers a candid picture of the person's avatar or online persona. Perhaps this is not a real picture of the person,but it is one that the person has chosen on their own free will to share with the world. The image that the same people carefully construct for and interview is often very different and biased necessarily towards capturing the job on offer.

It is very like when an employer calls a previous employer for a reference, the referee presents the persona that the person created in their previous jobs. Again this may not be the same as the one presented at interview. All this adds up to allow the employer to form their opinion of the candidate.

krd

Eoin wrote: »

What a load of complete and utter nonsense.

If you were in a public place - like a pub - and you saw some people you work with, sitting at a table, having a conversation in a public place - since it was a public conversation in a public place, would you think it would give you a right, to sneak over and eavesdrop on the conversation?

ABajaninCork

Eoin wrote: »

The first thing I would do is google a candidate.

How do you know you have the right person? Particularly if the name you're looking for is a common one??

Eoin

ABajaninCork wrote: »

How do you know you have the right person? Particularly if the name you're looking for is a common one??

I don't for sure, but some people have their current company name on their facebook profile, and some people give their email address on their CV.

I don't attach that much weighting to what I might find. But it's something I can do easily. If their profiles are not instantly visible to me, I'm not going to play private detective and try and find their profile. But if they've left it public, then of course I'll have a look.

There are two questions here - should employers search? Opinion seems divided. Do employers search? Yes - many do, and if you use the same email address on your job applications that you use to troll youtube, then you've nobody else to blame but yourself.

Mrs OBumble

krd wrote: »

If you were in a public place - like a pub - and you saw some people you work with, sitting at a table, having a conversation in a public place - since it was a public conversation in a public place, would you think it would give you a right, to sneak over and eavesdrop on the conversation?

If they put a transcript of the conversation on the internet, publically searchable for anyone to see, then I'd see nothing wrong with reading it. And really, leaving a Facebook or LinkedIn profile open for anyone to see is doing just that.



And I totally disagree with the idea that what people do in their private lives is totally their own business. Practically every job I've ever had has a clause in the code of conduct about not bringing the company into disrepute - and that applies 24x7. Practically every job involves knowing things that are not public information, and you're required not to share or benefit from this information while you have the job - and afterwards.

Zirconia

I'm glad (and amazed!) to say that having used the Internet since 1992 - the very early days of general public access, a search on my email address brings up absolutely nothing on google, and it not like I've been super-clandestine.

You can get details about me if you search my name alone, but you have to already know something specific about me to pick me out of all the other people with the same name as me.

Basically never use your email address or even part of it as a publically visible username on web sites etc, and ensure your username isn't related to your name. Only let people you already have identified as friends or family access personal details on facebook, etc.

If your email address is already associated with stuff on the internet you'd rather keep secret then get a new email address (get someone on gmail to send you an invite). Take out all references to the email address from your CV and put the new one on it, even if you only use the new one for interview purposes (and don't forget to check it, if that's the case).

Irish_Elect_Eng

Out of curiosity I just Google'd my own name.

The first 20/100 of the results referred directly to me.

When I added my job title, close to 90/100 of the results referred directly to me.

The references comprised mainly of:

• My public profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook & Google+.
• My profile and posts on 3 "professional body" forums of which I am a member.
• Reference to me on my company's Website.
• And surprisingly 2 pages referencing my "ancient" sporting achievements.

Like a previous poster, I have had an online presence for longer than I would care to remember and my profile is one that I would have no problem with anyone viewing.

It is easy to find "most" applicants once you have a frame of reference in their last job title from their CV.

steve9859

krd wrote: »

If you were in a public place - like a pub - and you saw some people you work with, sitting at a table, having a conversation in a public place - since it was a public conversation in a public place, would you think it would give you a right, to sneak over and eavesdrop on the conversation?

But posting private stuff all over the internet, the most public of forums, is the equivalent of the people in the pub (to use your example) not having a private conversation, but instead shouting their conversation at the top of their voice for all the pub to hear. That doesn't make it eavesdropping.....

Mrs OBumble

Some mighty fine advice there from zirconica. And these days, you don't need an invite to gmail, you can just sign up for a new one anytime.

I did when I started job hunting in 2008, because the email address I've had since 1990 :eek: shows that I'm not from here. Found that my job applications got a lot more attention with an "Irish looking" gmail address.

krd

JustMary wrote: »

And I totally disagree with the idea that what people do in their private lives is totally their own business.

You sound like a tabloid journalist. The public has a right to know.

Practically every job I've ever had has a clause in the code of conduct about not bringing the company into disrepute - and that applies 24x7.

Yes, and that would refer to things like committing criminal acts. Not how someone leads their life, what their friends look like, their sexuality, that they're not like you.

Practically every job involves knowing things that are not public information, and you're required not to share or benefit from this information while you have the job - and afterwards.

I think you're just making excuses for your nosiness.

krd

steve9859 wrote: »

But posting private stuff all over the internet, the most public of forums, is the equivalent of the people in the pub (to use your example) not having a private conversation, but instead shouting their conversation at the top of their voice for all the pub to hear. That doesn't make it eavesdropping.....

Come on now.

Investigating innocent people, digging into their private life, is like something the cheka did in the Soviet Union, or the Stasi in East Germany.

Eoin

More silly exaggeration.

What if they have a blog - would you consider that off-limits? What if the blog was related to their job and was a positive for their application? Edit - and yes, maybe it would be listed in their CV, but suppose it wasn't...

Another example - I have a twitter account I use for work related stuff. I wouldn't list it on my CV, but if you googled my name it would appear.

krd

Eoin wrote: »

More silly exaggeration.

Yes....That's exactly the kind of thing the Stasis would say, to justify breaking into peoples houses, and looking for diaries, and personal letters, going throw their underwear drawers. Writing up notes on their relationships.

Calling people in for interviews, and putting them on the spot about their private lives.

It was important.....It needed to be done.

What if they have a blog - would you consider that off-limits? What if the blog was related to their job and was a positive for their application? Edit - and yes, maybe it would be listed in their CV, but suppose it wasn't...

But suppose what? .....You've unveiled their secret blog....and now you've got them. You can learn their inner most thoughts......Gaze into their very soul.

Another example - I have a twitter account I use for work related stuff. I wouldn't list it on my CV, but if you googled my name it would appear.

Christ. They're even going after the police....http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/dec/30/police-sacked-facebook-posts

Eoin

I think this is just a wind-up at this stage.

wha

I use a fake name for facebook, and have twitter on private, but when you google my name a video comes up of some girl with my name "beer bonging" at rag week in some university a few years ago. It's very annoying. I've reported it to youtube a couple of times but it's still there! I always wonder if any potential employers have seen it...

leeroybrown

I work in a technical/scientific area so normally Google results tend to be a positive thing for people who appear a lot on mailing lists, publication lists, etc. Conversely, I could look someone up and find that they're an argumentative so-and-so who openly disagrees with some of the company's practices online. Those people are less likely to be getting a job...

steve9859

krd wrote: »

Come on now.

Investigating innocent people, digging into their private life, is like something the cheka did in the Soviet Union, or the Stasi in East Germany.

Come on now. Looking at stuff that people have stupidly chosen to post publicly on the internet hardly counts as Stasi type behaviour. If you don't put in place the appropriate privacy settings on facebook, or use your real name and email to post stupid comments on youtube you deserve what you get. It isn't exactly hard to keep that stuff out of the immediate public view

If a company employs internet experts to bypass privacy settings and do some real digging, effectively hacking into a profile (which I know that a couple of London banks do), I would have serious reservations about the legality of it.

But if you've made your details and photos public, then you've made them public, and it is fair game to look at them

Mrs OBumble

Eoin wrote: »

I think this is just a wind-up at this stage.

I agree.

The OP has got the advice they were looking for, so I'm closing this thread. If anyone has a good reason for re-opening it, feel free to PM me.