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Social Networking and your Job Question

Mirah

Mirah

I love you
Is recruiting via social networking sites a good practice?

What do you think of companies who check your background on the internet?

Should we regulate how social networking site information can be used related to work?
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My answer to the last question is: Anyone who gets caught doing something stupid on the internet or who does not know how to hide their on line activities from their boss, employment company whatever is a dumb ass. But for the grace of God there go I.

As far as recruiting via SNS I think it is a great practice. People just need to know how to do it properly.

Should social networking be regulated? No. Leave it as it is.

If a company I want to work for does a background check on line and finds something questionable and brings it up to me, I probably don't want to work there. It is all situational. If I am working for a gaming company there is a certain on line presence most likely required. If I am working for a law entity or something, then it is fair game and understandable I would need to be investigated. All others can go suck my ass.
 
Define "doing something stupid on the internet".
 
Posting a blog about my previous job and leaving it open for potential employers to be found. Or leaving party pictures out in the open when I am job hunting. Or whatever.

Having a recruiter look at my SNS is like me bringing a whole bunch of family photo albums to my interview.! I think I will do that btw to make a point. : )
 
Social networking should not be regulated unless a crime has been commited and the victim can be clearly identified.

An employer should be free to require someone to jump though any hoop they see fit as a condition of employment providing no one is victimized.
 
I was recruited via Twitter, so I'm entirely in favour of such practice, as would be my employers.

When it comes to checking your background on the net, I'd like to know what they'd be checking for? I mean, they could probably verify some parts of my CV/resumé and they could find out if I'm emotionally stable perhaps, but it'd just be scraps, really. Hardly seems worth the trouble.

As far as regulation, well, I don't like the idea of companies investigating their employees' personal lives, but as you say, there are some jobs where it may be understandable, so I suppose it's down to the individual to protect themselves.
 
I find you to be emotionally stable, but I might not be qualified to make that determination.
 
Just goes to show how little you can tell about people over the internet!
 
Fuddlemiff said:
I was recruited via Twitter, so I'm entirely in favour of such practice, as would be my employers.

When it comes to checking your background on the net, I'd like to know what they'd be checking for? I mean, they could probably verify some parts of my CV/resumé and they could find out if I'm emotionally stable perhaps, but it'd just be scraps, really. Hardly seems worth the trouble.

As far as regulation, well, I don't like the idea of companies investigating their employees' personal lives, but as you say, there are some jobs where it may be understandable, so I suppose it's down to the individual to protect themselves.
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Awesome! Thanks for your reflection!
Apparently a company has to tell you even if they will be googling your name, looking you up on various networks, and using that as an employment standard. But I am sure many don't tell!
 
Hmmm...my mom asked me a few days ago if my Facebook page was alright because she read an article about companies checking up on you online. I couldn't think of anything on there that was questionable but just now realized my profile pic is me and Weird Al Yankovic. Could Weird Al be the reason I haven't been getting any of the jobs I've applied/interviewed for?
 
Yes.
 
Good to know. Not that I'm going to change it. Don't want to work for a company that is anti-Weird Al.
 
Damn straight.
 
Time for some polka.

[YOUTUBE]oAa5RCZPT4w[/YOUTUBE]
 
I wonder what these background checkers are going to do when the kids in school now grow up and start looking for a job. They put all kinds of dumb shit on Facebook and Twitter under their real names.
 
Wait just a second...we don't have to use our real names?
 
WELL that's the thing.

Facebook has a 'real name policy' (although it doesn't really enforce it that hard) so that if you have a name that's obviously fake then they'll make you change it to your actual name.
Google+ also has this policy except they just ban people for not wanting to use their real name.
Twitter gives no fucks and lets you be whoever you like.
 
Considering that most of the stuff that occurred at our office Christmas party is best left forgotten, I don't think companies could claim any moral high ground when it comes to people's photos of drunken nights out, nor draw any conclusions from them about the person's work ethic.

I must say, I'm glad none of these things existed when I was a kid. As an adult, they're brilliant, because my friends all have a modicum of respect and are sensible enough to know where the boundaries are, but I can't imagine what it's like being a kid on one of these things. The number of friends you have must seem really crucial, and must be a lightning rod for bullying. And anything embarrassing that happens is likely to be accompanied by photographic, virally spread evidence.
 
I don't tweet much and I mask my real name on Twitter so they wouldn't find me there.

My Facebook page is only open to Friends, so I don't think a snooping company would see much. But even if they did, they wouldn't find anything sick, but they'd know I was a liberal Democrat and GOP-hater, so that could work against me in the business world.

I just Googled my name and there are others out there with the same name who are more prominent than me. The first thing someone would learn about me is that I hate Google Plus, LOL.
 
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