The MySpace Cast - Part 2 of 2
July 19th, 2008In today’s cast, we conclude our conversation on Myspace and social networks. As always, if you’re new to Manager Tools and haven’t listened to the first part, you may wish to go back and listen to that first.
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July 19th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Also, there is a lot more information on the web than just myspace. zoominfo, etc. You should check to make sure it is correct.
Also, don’t think people don’t look at your address on googlemaps. On one occasion, there was a guy who said was very flexible with salary, location, etc. Then he kept on giving us reason for the delay in accepting the offer and start date. There was no way he was going to relocate. On googlemaps, he had a plane in his backyard. I am convinced that he was just hold on to us trying to get another offer in the area.
-Edwin
July 20th, 2008 at 6:26 am
Frightening … It seems again that you read minds.
I have just been contacted via a “my space”-type site by one of the candidates I had last week in interviews!
July 21st, 2008 at 9:12 am
Are you recommending against ever writing anything political in public, for fear that people who disagree strongly with your position will question your judgment? For example, if you write something either supporting or condemning the United States’ policies in the Middle East, even in the mildest terms, there are a host of people out there who will find what you write offensive. Will managers consider it to be poor judgment to have written this in public?
Also, do you differentiate in this matter between posts on your MySpace home page (for example) and signed material in other public media, such as blog posts, blog comments, and letters to the editor? After all, anything you sign with your name in public will show up if someone googles you.
July 21st, 2008 at 10:03 am
With regards to free speech- sorry Americans, the First Amendment limits only what the federal government can prohibit you from saying. In no case does it provide any protection from consequences of what you say; the first amendment is not carte blanche to say what you like and not suffer any ramifications. Your employer, religious affiliates, school and friends are all perfectly within their rights to observe your behavior and draw conclusions from it.
Just like the podcast on how to give feedback about dress- your choice to participate in drunken debauchery is fine. It’s the behavior of advertising it that can result in corrective action.
July 21st, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Management in the government agency I work for cannot access any of the social networking sites. When I requested access through our firewall, the matter was referred to Legal, whose response was (edited to protect the innocent):
“Thank you, Susan. The problem with using social networking sites like “My Space” or its competitors is that the practice on a routine basis yields information that would never ever be asked of an applicant, such as photographs (race), national origin, religious belief, political affiliation, disability, and age. Once we acquire this information, it leaves the agency open to charges of discrimination and puts upon the agency the burden of establishing that these factors did not influence the recruitment decision. The question is whether the information on the social networking site is relevant to the position and whether the remote chance of collecting information that would disqualify the candidate (such as admission of current drug use or admission of misconduct with a prior employer) would outweigh the known risk of routinely collecting information that would not be proper under EEOC guidance. Once we acquire the information, it would become a record that must be retained, although it would not be available for public inspection unless the candidate was selected. Our selection files are reviewed on occasion by EEOC, . Content which would indicate a closeted discriminatory practice would be highly dangerous to the agency, exposing the agency to a broader pattern and practice investigation, something the agency seeks strongly to avoid.
A review of most scholarly legal publications and all reported and many unreported cases in the federal and states courts in this country, which I conducted through Westlaw prior to writing this e-mail, disclosed no legal authority on this question. After 25 years in this field in both private and public practice, however, I am completely comfortable in saying that litigation upon the very recent practice of some recruiters of using social networking sites as part of the vetting process will come. It is simply too new a practice for the undesirable second-order consequences to have shown up.
I think that such sites can be searched when the agency faces litigation or an unemployment claim or is conducting a personnel investigation of alleged misconduct. As a routine practice of vetting applicants, I believe the obvious risks of collecting forbidden information far outweighs the remote possibility of turning up material that would disqualify the applicant. ”
End of issue for my purposes, I guess.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:52 am
#1_Don,
Thank you. Very interesting point.
John
July 24th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
In the middle of the cast when he was talking about doubt and, if it causes one to pause, whether something should be on a MySpace page, Mark missed a golden opportunity to use one of my favorite movie quotes. It comes from the movie “Ronin”:
“Whenever there is doubt, there is no doubt.”
July 25th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Dear MTer’s,
Just read this on MSN.
LONDON - A businessman won damages Thursday against an old friend who put libelous and unauthorised information about him on the social networking Web site Facebook.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25840728/wid/11915829?GT1=40006
So not only do you have to clean up your page, but pages that might exist about you that you did not put up.
Technology is wonderful
July 29th, 2008 at 12:55 am
Great timing on this podcast. I am in hiring mode, hiring engineers and surveyors. I always check Myspace, Facebook, Linkin and Google. It is amazing what I find, even with engineers. It is not the behavior that I am so critical, hey I grew up in the 60’s! It is the stupidity of publishing the behavior.
The other amazing lack of judgement is in the use of email addresses. I had one person use their email as eucaine@——.com on the resume. Well, eucaine is synthetic cocaine. Duh. Don’t mess with a tech savy boomer…We will see right through you and toss your resume in the recycling bin.
July 29th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
You have to be so careful about publishing sensitive material. Don’t do it. This could really hurt your chances to succeed in business. www.readtheanswer.com/index.php?RTA=web2
July 31st, 2008 at 2:13 am
I removed my profiles from MySpace and FaceBook a couple of months ago when a friend was “harassed” by his boss concerning his personal MySpace page. The incident made me consider removing the current page - although there was nothing “harmful” to my career on those social networks.
However, I would rather err on the side of caution. I have little reason to place any doubt in my Directors mind about my personal life for the world to see.
August 12th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
In addition to the social networking pages, we also need to be wary of using chat clients like msn, yahoo or aim. They all have settings to record your chats. Even if you turn yours off, the person at the other end can be logging everything you say.
So that innocent little comment or sexist/racist remark you said just in fun is now carved in stone, just like many of those voicemails etc. Cached and stored.
*RNTT
August 12th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
RNTT-
One we missed! Well done sir.
Mark
August 13th, 2008 at 1:40 am
Thanks Mark
September 4th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
I just came across the following story, the original can be found at: http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/09/04/facebook-privacy.html
Basically, the article says: “A digital divide exits between how youth perceive network privacy and how the older generation of managers and executives perceive it,” Levin said.
I believe that this reinforces your message, and might open the topic up to the next generation. Thanks guys, I look forward to your casts every week.
[This post has been edited by Mark to respect copyrights elsewhere on the web - please see the link to read the whole article, which is quite good. - H]