Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

More Warnings Against Oversharing on MySpace

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the internet-never-forgets dept.

Skapare writes "Your next prospective employer might be watching your MySpace page, according to a story at the New York Times. And if you think Facebook is more private, maybe not if that prospective employer has an intern from the same school checking up on you." From the article: "Students may not know when they have been passed up for an interview or a job offer because of something a recruiter saw on the Internet. But more than a dozen college career counselors said recruiters had been telling them since last fall about incidents in which students' online writing or photographs had raised serious questions about their judgment, eliminating them as job candidates."

11 of 383 comments (clear)

  1. Woohoo! by hpcanswers · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is great news; my Facebook site is a combination resume, cover letter, and reference letters. Hey recruiters, this way!

  2. It's as much the employer's loss here by plasmacutter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There are many highly qualified and intelligent people here (it's a top 20 university) with very vapid social lives.

    these employers using google and myspace to research their prospective employees may as well be basing their decisions on the bible or the magic 8 ball.

    There are many people who can quickly switch personalities to a work mode, many of the most intelligent are also the most eccentric as well. Passing people up because of eccentricity, quirks, or political views will harm employers in the end.

    --
    VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
    1. Re:It's as much the employer's loss here by Umbral+Blot · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You know intelligence isn't everything when hiring. People with vapid social lives may be generally annoying to their co-workers, and thus actually be a hindrance to a group effort.

      --

      Philosophy.
    2. Re:It's as much the employer's loss here by ejdmoo · · Score: 5, Insightful
      There are many highly qualified and intelligent people here (it's a top 20 university) with very vapid social lives.

      They aren't very intelligent if they post about it publicly online.
    3. Re:It's as much the employer's loss here by GreatBunzinni · · Score: 5, Insightful
      There are many people who can quickly switch personalities to a work mode, many of the most intelligent are also the most eccentric as well. Passing people up because of eccentricity, quirks, or political views will harm employers in the end.

      Yet, the damaging information about those people, information that they personally posted, is out there for anyone to access. This time the bosses happen to access them but what about the prospective clients and business partners? Independently of that person's competence and professional attitude, what damage can a public profile like that bring to a company?

      As I see it this has a lot in common with politics. What does it matter if a political candidate smoked pot or even if he's into S&M? Isn't his competence the only thing that matters? Yet, when the public learns about those details the would-be politician is automatically done for, even if the voters or political opponents do as bad or even worse than him. It's all about public image and if someone is involved in socially questionable things and if that information passes to that person's professional environment and life, then obviously it will have an impact.

      Oh and let's not forget that the person in question bragged about doing drugs, which not only is considered ilegal in a lot of countries but it can also, at least to some extent, be a liability.

      --
      Slashdot, fix your code or at least hire someone who is competent at it to do it for you.
    4. Re:It's as much the employer's loss here by plasmacutter · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yet, the damaging information about those people, information that they personally posted, is out there for anyone to access. This time the bosses happen to access them but what about the prospective clients and business partners?

      I refer you further up in this story to the post from the guy who happens to have a shared name, age, and major with someone else.

      In truth, when you google someone's name or search for it on myspace there is no guarantee it's the same person.. you may as well be shaking your magic 8 ball: "is this employee responsible and cordial?"? "ask again later"

      --
      VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
    5. Re:It's as much the employer's loss here by xstonedogx · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Amazingly enough there is something known as anonymity on the internet. In other words you make sure it's not easy to find your blog using whatever info you provide to your employer.

      I've always view these types of things as great filters, removing the people from my life that I would not want to associate with anyway. Don't like me because I'm funny/had purple hair when I was younger/listen to Dream Theater/love Sushi/am left handed/have OMG, political views/get drunk once in a while/whatever? Oh well, have a nice life.

      Who really cares what they find out about me? I don't apologize for having freedom and using it; and I accept the consequences of the same. I don't want to associate with people (including employers) who would first hunt down that information and second use it to discriminate against me in some way. With friends/employers like that, who needs enemies?

      (And ya, I realize the irony in posting this as a more or less anonymous identity, but this is /. afterall.) :)

  3. More news from the obvious forefront by obscurelyfamous · · Score: 5, Informative

    While it's not much a surprise that employers would do some unconventional background checking, the article seems to make it seem increasingly prevalent. Unless you are completely in an online pseudonym, don't portray yourself in a manner online that you wouldn't want seen in real life. As far as a Google search is concerned, I can't find much with just a straight name search. My only online profile would be a Facebook listing where nothing is risque.

  4. Not only MySpace by cheese-cube · · Score: 5, Funny

    Imagine if a prospective employer saw your Slashdot postings!

    Employer: I'm sorry but your just not the person we're looking for.
    You: But why?
    Employer: We saw that all your Slashdot posts were rated -1 Troll and our company doesn't need anymore trolls.
    You: Damn it!

  5. Not just MySpace... by Mendy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Last year we were interviewing for a helpdesk position and one of the candidates mentioned that he'd written tools to aid posting to LiveJournal. This meant that there was a good chance he had an LJ himself so, out of interest we did some googling and found it.

    In it he had written...

    -That he was currently suspended from work for misuse of IT equipment.
    -That his current duties were less technical than the impression he'd given in the interview.
    -That he wasn't really interested in the position we were offering and would be hoping to leave within a few months.

    Needless to say he didn't get the position.

    His blog also went into some detail about his sexual fetishes. This wouldn't have been a reason not to employ him, but it might have made things a bit awkward in the office especially with him not knowing we knew and such.

  6. First Hand Experience by imstanny · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I can agree with that 100%. I interned at a corporate office of a Coal Mining company this year, and HR department told me to help them recruit new interns. In essense, all of the resumes filtered through me first. I facebooked all of the candidates... and it just so happened that the number one candidate for the position (with a 3.91 GPA) was part of a malicious environmentalist group on campus at my school. I can give you 2 guesses to whether or not she even got the interview, but you'll only need one.