Already a member?
Welcome to Brazen Careerist!
Steve Schultz is using Brazen Careerist to share ideas. Join now to become a member and start networking with Steve Schultz and other professionals just like you. Learn more.
Steve Schultz is using Brazen Careerist to share ideas. Join now to become a member and start networking with Steve Schultz and other professionals just like you. Learn more.
I’m really getting sick and tired of hearing people complain how employers searching social networks for employees or potential candidates is a violation of their privacy. Many of them argue that on sites like Facebook even if they are careful and don’t upload pictures of them getting trashed last weekend their friends may upload the pictures tagging them so the picture is found anyways by “no fault” of their own.
Rather than complaining why not use it to your advantage. More & more college students are turning to business blogging and social networks to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in a very public way. So you may have a few pictures smoking a joint or tapping a keg but rather than complain about “privacy violations” on the world wide web, flood the bad with good. I know a number of individuals who started blogging while in college. They were heavily involved in social media and they were way ahead of the curve relative to their classmates. Now those individuals have really good jobs, even in a polarized economy, and they are actually helping initiatives within these larger companies to implement corporate blogging & micro-blogging.
If you take initiative and take an hour a day to blog & provide very positive and worthwhile content current or future employers probably won’t be as concerned with the bad. When they Google your name, why shouldn’t your profile on LinkedIn or Brazen Careerist pop up first. Heck, why shouldn’t your personal/business blog pop up first. This will definitely overshadow the bad and they may not even find the bad because they’ll be so busy learning from your blog. If you just sit back and whine, you’re going to get passed up by someone with a little more savvy.
For the nth time I've seen an article talking about employers finding your drunk pics on Facebook. This when Facebook provides excellent privacy controls, that are not freakin rocket science to set up.
All it takes is about 5 minutes of time- you can create restricted lists of people who cannot see pictures of you (even those that friends have tagged).
You can make yourself unsearchable to non contacts and remove your public search profile, if need be.
And last but not least- use LinkedIn for professional networking, let FB remain for your close friends!!
I second Rex's sentiments.
I agree as well, keep it private, because Facebook is for you and your friends not your boss. However I do suggest getting your profile up on LinkedIn, Brazen Careerist, so when things do change and you need to reach out to people and connect you have the opportunity and a jump start.
The only thing that scares me is when people get fired because of things they have put on facebook- like a status about the Eagles and this kid who was fired..http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/sports/football/eagles/Report-Eagles-Fire-Employee-Over-Facebook-Vent.html
I think that is just wrong and not fair, the kid posted it on his facebook page as a status, venting his frustration. I just feel that although it is out there for the whole world to see, its still a personal venue and not work related. He did not go into work and say he was upset with management, he did it on facebook, and now he is unemployed. I just think thats wrong.
@Jeffry : I disagree with your response about the story about the Eagles employee.
If your Facebook page is NOT restricted to your friends, then is is NOT a personal venue. It is a public forum. I'm not sure what the Eagles' company policy is, but many companies have the right to discipline you if you adversely affect their public reputation.
I think the kid learned a valuable lesson about what kind of face you present to the public.
@Rex
This is exactly why I recommend doing something above and beyond. Who cares about Facebook! I can't believe I still hear people complain about privacy issues. You are completely right that it's a very simple process to protect yourself and while there still may be ways around it "flood the bad with good." Do what everyone on Brazen Careerist is doing and blog. Don't just have a LinkedIn profile but actually USE LinkedIn. There are a lot of things we can do to control our brand image & there's no point in complaining about bad press, especially when we're the ones that posted it. Thanks for the comments everyone.
Beyond using social networks for job advancement, people tend to forget that nothing you do online is private. When this is shown, sometimes in very harsh ways, people panic. I say, don't put anything online that you wouldn't mind your grandmother seeing. That seems to be a good rule of thumb!
And this is why I stay anonmyous online.
My college career was synonymous with Facebook. The first week of school, everyone in my dorm signed up for a profile. We thought it was a private community.
Now, there is no such thing as a private community online. You control what you post about yourself. You control your identity online.
It is great to have a blog, twitter account, etc. to show the personal qualities you can bring to a job. The key is to be yourself and define your professional vs private life. With social media, those lines are blurring.
@Carla I also had face book coincide with college, and at no point did I consider my face book account an online resume, and did not pre-qualify stuff before putting in on face book. I think at the time the only thing that made or break me deleting a wall post, was if it would hurt my chances with a girl. Now we are at a point where there is social networking, and professional social networking, ect. I agree 100% that the lines are blurring, especially because some recruiters try and check your face book account (even by asking other friends they have to log onto their FB account) to see your profile.
@Scott, I have to say I disagree with you on this issue. I personally do not think what he did should have resulted in him being fired. I understand the privacy policy my company has one as well, I just do not think the punishment fit the crime. The kid was writing on his FB wall as an Eagles fan that he thinks they should have tried to keep Dawkins. Personally I do not care I am not a fan, or an employee (thank g-d or I’d be canned too). But what happened to Face book being a place where you can vent frustrations like that, or having a bad day at work, or anything you are thinking or feeling that you want to share...without wondering if you are going to get fired.
Its a touchy subject I see both sides, the company has a policy against it, and from the post it seems the kid just was upset with his team that he is a fan of. I personally do not think it’s fair to get fired for that. Suck for him, I guess he did learn a lesson.
@Jeffry: "But what happened to Face book being a place where you can vent frustrations like that, or having a bad day at work, or anything you are thinking or feeling that you want to share...without wondering if you are going to get fired"
What happened? It became popular! People noticed it!
You cannot have it both ways. You cannot shout your thoughts to the world... then complain when people actually listen to you!
People have to accept the consequences of their actions. If you want a voice in today's society, if you want people to notice you, then you have to accept that there might be others that don't agree. And there might be consequences for what you say. Entirely legal and moral consequences, I might add.
Since I'm in my 40's I now have an entirely different take on what my dad meant when he said "Life's not fair". Life IS fair, when you look at the big picture. Life is NOT fair to me personally, because the world doesn't revolve around me. There are other people involved.
Like the Philadelphia Eagles.
@Scott: Fair enough, you win. Unless of course I want to try and debate the fact that it would be OK to make such comments if the "facebook-esk forum" is not popular or noticable...however I will save that for someone else, or maybe I wont, but at the moment I am content.
@Jeffery: I would say that a person would be safe in making any comments they want as long as
1. They don't use their real name and what they say can't be traced back to them (no pictures, identifying information, etc)
2. OR they comment on a invitation only blog where only friends can see it.
You really only have 2 choices: be private and let it all hang out, or be public and watch what you say.
I say, it's ok to do stupid sh!t, just don't take photos of yourself doing it and then post them up online (see Michael Phelps).
In case anyone hasn't noticed, Facebook is a PUBLIC FORUM. It's the same as writing your opinions on a giant poster and putting it up on a building.
If you want to rant about your employer, do it with friends at the bar.
Has everyone forgotten that there is, in fact, a world outside the internet?
"You have zero privacy anyway," Scott McNealy told a group of reporters and analysts Monday night at an event to launch his company's new Jini technology.
"Get over it."
There are some places I use my real name, but most places I don't. Regardless, I know that there isn't really any anonymity on the web. It's why I have a long-held policy of not sharing things that I don't want people to know. If I do share it, I'm willing for the world to know about it.
It's also worth keeping in mind that you don't control what others put up about you. I'm not the one who put my second-grade class photo on Facebook. I can remove the tag, but not the photo. That's there no matter how I feel about it (I don't much care; it was second grade, for crying out loud--but it is an example of how anyone can share anything, pretty much instantly).
Does this mean you should live your life never making a mistake? Not at all. But it does mean that you should think about how you present yourself, and how you might deal with the way that other people present you.
@KateNonymous
I applaud you for making that choice. Being anonymous on certain sites, that is. It's a choice we all have to make if we want to be involved on the web. I made the choice to publicize everything about me. My cell#, numerous email accounts, twitter, skype, even home address are all online in one place or another. I made that choice and I'll accept any consequences, good or bad, of that decision. The problem with most people, including some that have commented here, is that they aren't willing to make that choice. They don't know if they want to be public, private, or both. Until they make that choice, like you and I, all they will do is complain about it. Even on the individual level, building your own brand image, there needs to be a plan and objective. These are the steps everyone needs to take to publicize the good and flood any possible negative things out there.
I think that's a valid choice, particularly since you seem to have thought through its possible ramifications. Of course, there are always unanticipated ramifications to any choice, no matter how much it's thought through in advance.
I'm amazed, though, at how many people seem not to think it through at all, and then are indignant about the most obvious and predictable effects.
Epic Facebook Fail:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/nyregion/11about.html?_r=2
Correction: Epic MySpace Fail, but the concept is the same.
FACEBOOK PROFILES ARE NONE OF ANYONE BUSINESS EXCEPT THE PEOPLE WHO FRIENDS WITH THAT INDIVIDUAL! I am disgusted with employers who try to go into prepective employees profiles. They absolutely not business doing it! WHAT GOES ON IN YOUR PERSONAL LIFE IS NONE OF THE COMPANY'S BUSINESS. Employers should focus on your work performance and qualification and not your person life! Period!
At the same time. For the staffer that was fired, should have been careful to make sure to take advantage of the excellent privacy controls which I have utlized into my profile to keep the Eagle from finding the status update.
I locked my profile from the whole world and only my friends can see my profile and a percentage of my facebook friends can see my status updates, because I have privacy updates for that as a well. If an employer dare hacks into my profile and get that infomation, I would sue the employer, because that would be illegal.
@againstnosyemployers, I would be surprised if employers were hacking into profiles. So if you don't want them to know certain things, don't put it where they can see it. It sounds like you pay attention to your privacy settings, which is great--a lot of people don't bother to do that.
@againstnosyemployers,
Here's the point though. You feel Facebook is private and you've taken initiative to block everything. I feel Facebook is public and I've taken initiative to make everything public. I'm not talking about people like you. I'm talking about people that complain about privacy violations & they don't do a thing to block their information. You would have a right to complain but the vast majority of people out there don't. So making a blanket statement that FB profiles are nobodies business is narrow-minded. It is ONLY no one elses business if you make it that way just as it's everyones business if you make it that way.
Everyone needs to realize the Internet has changed EVERYTHING! Including the way companies hire individuals. Anyone's online presence is an expanded, digital resume that can be used to reject or pursue candidates. If you don't like it than make everything private.
The point of my post is that A) those who don't make it private have no right complaining and B) to show a way to use it to your advantage.
If you put it on the Internet and don't take proper security measures as to who sees it, it's fair game to be Googled by anyone, including your employers or potential employers.
Scott McNealy was right. And that was 10 years ago.
I agree with the post in that my personal philosophy is safety in numbers. I have several professional online profiles as my blog is picked up in several places, as well as a LinkedIn profile. I also make good use of the privacy controls on Facebook - not really because I am afraid of my employer (half the people I work with including my superiors are also on FB) but because I talk about my family and my children and I'd rather the world not see ALL my private family photos that are intended for friends and family.
This whole debate reminds me of what I went through to get my employer to utilize YouTube. They were afraid of those "related" videos that pop up and the fact that there is no real way to control what YouTube considers related content. ( I work for a wildlife agency so you can imagine the types of things it often brings up). I was able to convince them using my FB/social media reasoning. The more we have on our site, the more likely it will pull up our own videos as related rather than animal porn (yes it does exist).
If it is on the internet it is out there...there is no getting around it, but as the author states, if you have so much good stuff then any current or potential employer will be so busy looking at the good to notice that one drunken photo posted 5 years ago in college.
great post.
I think this fear is largely over-exaggerated. If the person hiring you has nothing better to do than cruise around Facebook, you're probably not going to learn much from your job. 90% of the time they probably won't even look at your resume before an interview. I enjoy interviewing people, and even so more often than not I have to begrudgingly fit half an hour into my day to interview someone I don't know a thing about until I get there (tip for interviews, say your name clearly at the beginning and bring multiple copies of your resume).
I have to agree with the blog author and disagree with Brian. I interviewed the head of HR at a major consumer goods company yesterday and she specifically said that she does look at LinkedIN and Facebook when considering a candidate. Instead of shrinking away from this reality, face it with full force and flood your profiles with positive reinforcement. Be smart about your digital footprint and it will help you along the way.
Wow, these comments were interesting to read - I love hearing from both sides of an issue! That said, I must admit that I side with the blog author; why not flood the bad with the good? And if you're choosing to be involed with ANY site that has the potential of broadcasting information/content that you post, you SHOULD become very familiar with said site's privacy policies.
I will admit that I was one of those people were feared what could be found about me through a simple Google search, but I decided to become proactive. I untagged myself, I learned (and utilized) privacy policies AND I became more active on sites that I wanted to be seen on. Even if there is "bad" content relating to your name in a Google search, how many potential employers are going to look past the first few pages of those search results? If you make sure there is a lot of "good" content related to your name, this content will fill the first few pages of the search and make you look good!
I am one of those people that has been reprimanded for posting work activities in my personal blog. I had made a post talking about my new job, responsibilities and briefly the project I was working for. I gave away the identity of where I work in the post, but not enough details of the project for people to identify the client I was working for. I was told not to blog about anything that happens at work, and to remove more details from the post so that people could not link the company with my personal blog.
I understand both sides of the issue. If I were to start posting negetive things about my employer, it would be bad press for them, and possibly lead to loss business. This is counter-productive to what an employee should be doing and I can easily see how this can be construed as violation of privacy policy. I also understand that I shouldn't be releasing too many details about the clients I'm working with because of the sensitivity of what I do.
On the flip side I believe that we're moving towards lives, or at least should be moving towards lives, that are more transparent. If "whistle blowers" never breach their company privacy policies then big issues would never be brought to the attention of the public and changed.
I also think that remaining anonymous online, or always posting under an online name goes against the underlining principles of social networking. The idea is not to be faceless amongst our peers, but to be open and real for everyone to share ideas, learn and synergize under. If we only write about what we believe to be safe, politically correct and what would reflect the best on us, we're destroying the construct of social networking.
I'm really surprised to read a lot of the comments posted here on this blog post. I was going to say right off the bat that I agree in many respects with Steve's post.
I think something that hasn't really been brought up in this discussion that is important to note, is that social media is not going to go away. The sites we use, the privacy features, particular methods of communication and levels of interaction will change, but the overarching concepts are here to stay. In fact, they will only continue to be further integrated into our daily lives, professionally and socially.
So while the concerns of privacy and how to manage your online profile will probably only continue to escalate, I think we should be working to embrace positive thinking like what Steve is saying in this blog entry.
Travis also mentioned a lot of important parts of this discussion. We can't fight the fact that the majority of consumers are asking for transparency from companies, brands and each other, both online and off. I for one find it exciting, and I hope that with proper education, governance and security, that we will continue to see opportunities for enhanced productivity and social acceptance throughout the further evolution of the social web and its integration into our daily lives.
Stop using your companies pre-printed thank you notes. Hand write a thank you note! Hand writing is much more personal and it shows you care. More...
Josh Swindle to All Fans
7 people have recommended this.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Email
Print
