Bay 12 Games Forum
Finally... => General Discussion => Topic started by: Lord Shonus on May 03, 2010, 03:04:30 am
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Here's a potentially amusing subject to discuss.
Basically, I 'd like to discuss the appropriateness of using information gained by Googling an prospective employee in the hiring process, something which employment coaches frequently warn about. Do you think that it is a sound business practice, and do you think it morally justifiable?
Personally, I'm divided on the subject. While character is important in a prospective employee, it is hardly fair to judge someone, for example, based on the party pictures posted on their Myspace/Facebook page, as the fact that the pictures were posted in no way implies that the person parties harder or more reclessly than an average prospect. On the other hand, it could be argued that posting the pictures implies a lack of judgement.
The chief moral dilemma is that there is no real way to verify the veracity of the information obtained. I know from personal experience that Myspace accounts can be and often are faked.
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There's another issue - Same name, different person.
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An excellent point.
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But you also have things like Facebook and stuff where they'll most likely contain photos of the person you just interviewed. So you'd have to be a pretty stupid employer to mistake someone for someone else.
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The kind of employer thats going to scour the internet looking through all my activities and then decide to not hire me based on them is the kind of employer I'm going to hate working for.
Saying that, if you're worried about this kind of thing, just dont use yourr real name on the internet. Thats what screen names are for.
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I googled my name once, a gay porn site was first on the list. I stopped caring after that.
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I googled my name once, a gay porn site was first on the list. I stopped caring after that.
Once you're on one gay porn site it's all downhill from there.
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If you put it on the internet for all to see, then you can't complain if they use it against you.
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Generally what I find wrong about that particular practice, is that what you're really finding out by looking to see if someone has any unflattering photos online is not whether or not they do that kind of thing (though that does come into play), but more whether or not they were stupid or unlucky enough to end up with it in picture form online.
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A good example of this is that quite a few of my friends are drug users, and they quite often post very funny pictures of themselves while high. This is not good, though, for how you appear to employers, especially if that employers going to be the military...
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(http://i.imgur.com/6zjNO.jpg)
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When I first saw that image, I thought it was kinda of funny.
Though now view in this context. I don't know...
The employee was blowing off steam about work in a semi public forum. I should be allowed as an employee to talk shit about my employer when not at work or on the clock, no?
The boss didn't seem to satisfied with her work output or quality. So he not solely using this post as his reason for termination. She doesn't do a good job and she doesnt like to work there, so as an employer I can see where firing her is a good option.
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Or it could just be retribution.
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-snip-
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When did we forget our dreams? The infinite possibilities each day holds should stagger the mind. The sheer number of experiences I could have is uncountable, breathtaking, and I'm sitting here refreshing my inbox. We live trapped in loops, reliving a few days over and over, and we envision only a few paths laid out ahead of us. We see the same things each day, respond the same way, we think the same thoughts, every day a slight variation on the last, every moment smoothly following the gentle curves of societal norms. We act like if we just get through today, tomorrow our dreams will come back to us.
And no, I don't have all the answers. I don't know how to jolt myself into seeing what each moment could become. But I do know one thing: The solution doesn't involve watering down my every little idea and creative impulse for the sake of someday easing my fit into a mould. It doesn't involve tempering my life to better fit someone's expectations. It doesn't involve constantly holding back for fear of shaking things up.
This is very important, so I want to say it as clearly as I can: FUCK. THAT. SHIT.
http://xkcd.com/137/
Facebook solution is simple: Split people into groups on facebook so bosses can't see photos and most status updates ^^
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I've received emails from people down in Georgia over how controversial my sermons are. You see, my email address is listed with my name on my schools website since I run a club. I am also of the perfectly similar, even middle name, name as a black Baptist minister down in Georgia. People link one and the other wrongly, and send me hate-mail very occasionally. I find it hilarious, but what if an employment office googled me and hired me based on the other guys credentials? I wouldn't want to waste time losing a job that I was mistakenly hired for.
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I'd hesitate to use google as a casual method of determing info about someone. Lots of people have the same name. Google my name and you get a photographer as the number 1 hit and a pretty racial diverse crowd of people as the others.
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Your employer is going to check up on what kind of employee you are. He can't just go by your own statements, as many people outright lie. So he might call your references, look you up online, and generally dig a little bit.
If the job is one where security or money is an issue, he might go so far as to get a private investigator to do a background check. Look up your prison records. Your school records. Anything written about you.
In general, I expect that a bank should not hire you if they see that your Facebook is all about you and your gambling problem. A police department should not hire you if your Facebook is all about your collection of explosives and drugs.
That said, you should do the same thing. Check up on your employer as a company for workers' rights abuses and complaints. Check the Better Business Bureau. If the dude is the business owner, like for a franchise or a small business, check out his background online. Prior business activities may show him to be an awful person. Maybe he has a criminal record that you're not morally comfortable with.
But in this economic climate, the supply of jobs (especially decent jobs) is limited, and so you're lucky to get anything. And in general we think of the employer as being the one who can afford to be picky even when there isn't a depression.
For these reasons, it's important to leave your real name, phone number, email, etc off your profile. Without that it's difficult for the employer to find your Facebook profile, but it's also more difficult for long-lost friends to find you. And that's part of the point of social networking sites for some people.
If you decide to put up your name in your profile, then don't put embarrassing bare-ass pictures on it. Or if you do, you have no reason to be upset when someone looks at them and judges you for it. On one hand, your employer has your word that you're a good employee. On the other hand, he has proof that you're a vodka-swilling exhibitionist. In the balance it comes out to a negative for you and he might choose someone else.
In general, I hate the idea tht anyone knows anything about me except what I tell them. I don't want a credit score, or a tax history, or a driving record, or whatever. I want my school to record only that I attended from this month to this month and that I graduated with this degree. If someone wants to know something, they just have to trust that I'm telling the truth. Just for me though, society wouldn't work smoothly if everyone had the luxury of that anonymity. But as an American I'm used to demanding luxuries that I categorically deny anyone else. ;P
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Thats if you want to be found. You can always have 2 separate profiles.
The 'front' with the real name and stuff for the public and the real one without the real name and stuff.
But then, I don't know how much information these social networking track these days... and yea, I just don't use them.
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I just googled my name and apparently there is a pastor with my name in Orange County California
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Yeah. I just googled my name and didn't recognize anybody on the first four pages. I wonder what would come up if I googled my Social Security number...
2 results, both lists of SSN's from Massachusetts people.
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Googling my name just gives a ton of hits on a body language expert, anything actually about me is lost under all the stuff about him.
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Googling my name doesn't bring up anything.
Googling my email brings up Google Wave, deviantArt and the society bowling page I used to maintain.
If I were hiring I'd probably google people out of curiosity, though. And then judge them based on the weird, weird things I found. Hell, there's a FanFictionWiki entry about me about some abysmal stuff I did back in 2002.
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Maybe this is why I can't get a job.
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Lol, I just googled myself. Top was my facebook account. Second was some game I entered in a competition. Third and fourth were some forums and school stuff, but with me giving a polite, witty comment. Big difference from 2 years ago one some girl blogged about how I was a pervert back in school or something :P
Worst thing I found my name on now was on some bug report about companionship, where I foolishly put my real name. Oh, and on some thing about making dating bots.
Anyway, I think it's forgivable. Smart employers all know that the smartest people in the world are fucked up in a way - you'll find some really weird personalities in the top positions. Some party pics are sort of like a badge of honor. And if my employers don't like me the way I am out of work, I don't think they'll like me when they figure out who I am.
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The trick is, they never need to figure out who you really are. They're entitled to nothing more than your labor.
See, your employer pays you some chump change in exchange for a significant portion of YOUR LIFE. Unless he's paying you enough for you to live in luxury and sin during the other 8 hours you're awake every day, it's hardly an even trade. After all, the value of your life, to you, is effectively infinite because you would trade anything for it.
Or maybe I'm just a selfish ass?
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Ah, the magic of a "private profile..."
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To argue that....if your work was unconscious, would it pay less?