Applying for jobs and social media

[Deleted]

I'm in the process of hiring a new engineer, a recent graduate, and have been googling the applicants. Normal, right?  It amazes me that these kids don't clean up or lock down their fb pages.  I've seen way too many frat party pics.  I almost spit out my coffee this morning because one dude had the craziest crazy eyes in his profile pic.  When I was looking, I actually cleaned up my online presence to make sure there were no old drunken pics or mention of my new baby. Were you aware of your online presence when you were looking for a job? 

[v]

Not when I was their age, because I had no social media presence. Life was easier then. But yes, they should have everything on lockdown and an appropriate profile picture.

[shortstax]

Yep, for sure!

I'm so glad social media wasn't around when I was in college 

[Deleted]

Oh yeah, there wasn't fb when I graduated either, thank goodness! I meant like when you have recently looked for a job.

[mbcdefg]

I had MySpace and Facebook around the time I graduated from college and started looking for work. I'm pretty sure I adjusted the settings to private, but I can't remember. I also can't remember if any of my professors hammered that point home, but I think it was common sense by that point. Social media wasn't really around when I was in high school, but if it had been I feel like that's the sort of thing we would've been taught.

However, I don't put a lot of controversial/risque stuff on my social media accounts in the first place. I don't have any party pics (probably because I don't really "party," lol), and anything political that I post is no-brainer sort of stuff. I deleted MySpace, I mainly keep Facebook around to know what other people are up to nowadays, and my Twitter account is basically just retweets of stuff I find interesting or funny.

[shortstax]

I'm also thankful that my college years were the years of Funsaver/disposable cameras (instead of digital.) Most mortifying pictures went straight into the trashcan, never to be seen again

[raangoli]

Definitely - I will periodically check my social media accounts to ensure that they are properly secured. I am surprised that recent graduates aren't more aware of doing that.

[Deleted]

Well, I am job searching. I think my FB is set to private, but I've also been careful in the last several years not to post anything embarrassing or controversial, so I feel like if any potential employer looked at my FB the worst they'd get is a realistic idea of who I am. Which is fine.

[FishChicks]

Yes and no. I'm the fuddy-duddy who only has a LinkedIn account. I have no other social media presence, so I thought about it for a second and was done.

[raangoli]

Jan 29, 2015 12:39:57 GMT -5 @buckybells said:

Well, I am job searching. I think my FB is set to private, but I've also been careful in the last several years not to post anything embarrassing or controversial, so I feel like if any potential employer looked at my FB the worst they'd get is a realistic idea of who I am. Which is fine.

You can always check to see how your profile appears to the public or even a particular person if you wanted to be sure that it was private.

[Poppy]

Jan 29, 2015 13:08:24 GMT -5 raangoli said:

Jan 29, 2015 12:39:57 GMT -5 @buckybells said:

Well, I am job searching. I think my FB is set to private, but I've also been careful in the last several years not to post anything embarrassing or controversial, so I feel like if any potential employer looked at my FB the worst they'd get is a realistic idea of who I am. Which is fine.

You can always check to see how your profile appears to the public or even a particular person if you wanted to be sure that it was private.

How do you do this now? I did it a couple years ago but it seems their interface has changed.

[my3bears]

I'm in a field working with children so I have definitely been aware of my social media presence. There's this "role model" bubble that surrounds fields like mine so I always had my fb on the most private setting possible. It was so private I would have to tell someone to friend me at a specific time of the day that I would turn off the privacy settings just long enough to friend them and change it back.

I have a very common name so when searching in google I'd have to put my name plus fairly specific things like my alma matter or town I lived in to get a hit in the first 5-10 pages. The things that came up were normal so that was fine. When fb got lax with privacy things I further protected it by changing my last name to a different spelling.

ONE big deal thing is I searched myself in Spokeo . com and found some old photobucket accounts I'd completely forgotten about from college. I quickly deleted those, but they were also associated with old email addresses that no work-related people would know about. I shudder to think of what people could have found!

[raangoli]

Jan 29, 2015 13:19:20 GMT -5 Poppy said:

Jan 29, 2015 13:08:24 GMT -5 raangoli said:

You can always check to see how your profile appears to the public or even a particular person if you wanted to be sure that it was private.

How do you do this now? I did it a couple years ago but it seems their interface has changed.

The easiest way to do it is when you're on your own profile page.  On the bottom right corner of your cover photo there will be a button that has an ellipsis: "..."

Click on that and then select "View as..." 

It will take you to what your page looks like to the public and across the top you can enter a particular name if you wanted to see what it looks like to a specific person.

Hope that helps! 

[Deleted]

Before I was hired, my boss asked his daughter to look me up on FB (because he didn't have one) and all she could see was my profile picture. She told him this reflected positively on my judgement.

I weep for the future. Privacy settings are so simple.

[msmerymac]

I've deleted my FB while job searching before. At the very least, it's locked down. And I'm not using a photo of me with alcohol as my profile picture. 

[thebulldog]

Curious what people think of FB photos of older people with a glass of wine etc

I have my settings on private but my circle of friends shares a lot as we are spread out all over the place. If you found someone at say a winery with a wine glass or holding a cocktail at a black tie party or in a costume at a race, would this be a deal breaker?



Sent from my SM-G900P using proboards

[shortstax]

Jan 29, 2015 13:33:59 GMT -5 thebulldog said:

Curious what people think of FB photos of older people with a glass of wine etc

I have my settings on private but my circle of friends shares a lot as we are spread out all over the place. If you found someone at say a winery with a wine glass or holding a cocktail at a black tie party or in a costume at a race, would this be a deal breaker?



Sent from my SM-G900P using proboards

Me personally? I'd probably like you more, lol.

[Deleted]

Jan 29, 2015 13:33:59 GMT -5 thebulldog said:

Curious what people think of FB photos of older people with a glass of wine etc

I have my settings on private but my circle of friends shares a lot as we are spread out all over the place. If you found someone at say a winery with a wine glass or holding a cocktail at a black tie party or in a costume at a race, would this be a deal breaker?



Sent from my SM-G900P using proboards

For me, this would be fine. It would actually give me the impression that you are a fun and sociable person.

Double fisting tequila shots in Cancun is another thing.

[WOT?*]

I'm an old so I don't have frat party picture on my FB. I have political leanings and lots of grandkid and Girl Scout and cute baby/kitten/puppy stuff and family "yay look at the award my niece won!" and "other niece here's a HORSE post you would love!" but if that sways them then it's not a place I'd want to work.

(My security is set to Friends Only but it's not like I would be awash in scandal anyway.)

On the other side of "Lock It Down People" we had a case (defending - insurance defense) where the plaintiff was pleading huge damages for injuries and exacerbation of pre-existing conditions.  Case went to trial.  Defense attorney hopped on FB mid-trial and found tons of pictures of them camping and hiking and rafting, that led to a personal blog of all their adventures over the summer, including seriously injured mom white-water rafting and jumping off rocks into a lake.  She lost the case.  Her family blog then became an "Insurance Company and Attorney and Expert are horrible cheaters and liars" blog.  So, if you don't want damaging or incriminating stuff out there, LOCK IT DOWN!

[Deleted]

Jan 29, 2015 14:00:44 GMT -5 WOT?* said:

On the other side of "Lock It Down People" we had a case .....

OMG I feel like that happens on TV legal shows every now & then & I am dying that someone is so dumb they would let that happen in real life!

[orangeblossom]

Not when I first starred working. It wasn't really relevant. As I apply for things more recently, I try to make site everything is cool, though I really don't post any crazy things.

That said, I'm really not a fan of googling potential employees online profiles. Should they make sure it's cleaned up, yes, but in general not a fan, but know that the practice is here to stay.

[Deleted]

PS: Our HR team does a social media check before any live interview, and they report that the % of individuals they disqualify based on the results of that check has risen exponentially since 2010 when they made it standard practice. Eek. In professional services, its fair to assume a client googles you, so we've gotta do it.

(Funny story: I was on a webinar with a client once, and they didn't realize they were sharing their screen, and they were looking me up across Facebook, LinkedIn, etc, as I was kicking off the call. So awkward!)

[niq]

I made sure pictures of my kid weren't in my FB profile or cover photo. Previous profile pictures are still visible and public, so this doesn't really do that much, but it beats nothing. My FB is fairly locked down to "friends only" (and I'm hella annoyed about the recent move back to tagging meaning that the post/photo is visible to friends of friends with no option to require people to ask).

We get advice from HR not to ask interview questions that aren't directly job related. (e.g. "are you okay with frequent travel" is fine, "I see you have four children, do you think that will make it hard to travel" isn't, etc.), and to steer conversations away from a variety of not-job-related danger zones. I don't understand why people think it's okay to be nosy and look at prospective employees' social media presence.

(if you want just their linkedin profile, search for "first last site:linkedin.com" and choose I'm Feeling Lucky, or just search directly on LinkedIn itself)

[orangeblossom]

Jan 29, 2015 14:16:39 GMT -5 niq said:

I made sure pictures of my kid weren't in my FB profile or cover photo. Previous profile pictures are still visible and public, so this doesn't really do that much, but it beats nothing. My FB is fairly locked down to "friends only" (and I'm hella annoyed about the recent move back to tagging meaning that the post/photo is visible to friends of friends with no option to require people to ask).

We get advice from HR not to ask interview questions that aren't directly job related. (e.g. "are you okay with frequent travel" is fine, "I see you have four children, do you think that will make it hard to travel" isn't, etc.), and to steer conversations away from a variety of not-job-related danger zones. I don't understand why people think it's okay to be nosy and look at prospective employees' social media presence.

(if you want just their linkedin profile, search for "first last site:linkedin.com" and choose I'm Feeling Lucky, or just search directly on LinkedIn itself)

I 100% agree.

It bothers me almost as much as news outlets make up a whole persons's life stories based in their FB/Twitter/posts, especially when it's about a tragedy.

[Emerald1486]

I have my FB profile locked down and will do frequent checks as to what those who are not friends with me can see (mild paranoia has its advantages). I also use my nickname on FB to make it harder to find me.

[spindle92]

I am going to be on the job hunt in the near future and I am almost crazy about my friends NOT tagging me on social media. I do not want anything even remotely questionable to come up and ruin my chances at a position.


Now my 26 yr old cousin who is in her last year of law school and also enjoys pole dancing feels there is no problem showing herself spread eagle on a pole in next to nothing all over fb.

[alleinesein]

My name on FB does not include my last name and the emails that I have associated with it are not the emails that I use in my job hunt. You cant find me unless I give you the email I use or if I give you the exact url for my page.

If you google my FB name the only thing that comes up is my old storenvy page and all they would learn from that is that I like nail polish. If you google my real name you will get pages and pages of info for the other person with my name and there is no danger of ever confusing us because I am neither an athlete or blonde! Even on Linkedin you end up getting the other person as the first search result instead of me. My FB page is pretty boring and the only things you will discover is that I like to travel, go to concerts, polish my nails and post pics of my cats and food. My life is definitely lacking anything scandalous!

[alleinesein]

Jan 29, 2015 15:48:07 GMT -5 spindle92 said:

I am going to be on the job hunt in the near future and I am almost crazy about my friends NOT tagging me on social media. I do not want anything even remotely questionable to come up and ruin my chances at a position.


Now my 26 yr old cousin who is in her last year of law school and also enjoys pole dancing feels there is no problem showing herself spread eagle on a pole in next to nothing all over fb.

Adjust your settings so that you have to approve all tags.  People can tag away but unless you approve it it wont show up on your page.  

[pinkdutchtulips]

no bc I wasn't on social media.

I've got the worlds most boring FB, IG and twitter feeds lol

[rikki]

Mine is private always, but I don't think I post anything too out there. I am not sure what the norm would be. The only person I can think of that I know who completely removed her profile is one of my husband's good friends. She was just appointed by the president to be a federal judge. The same day as the nomination her page disappeared.