

You Didn't Blow the Interview, Your College Facebook Profile Kept You From Getting the Job - nickb
http://education-portal.com/articles/Employers_are_Viewing_Your_Profile_on_Social_Networking_Sites.html

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german
I've read the article and I really think, that's stupid to check the
candidates social network profiles.

Whats the matter if someone drinks beer with friends, or likes any kind of
music? If someone hires you or not because of your social network profile,
then that person has no sense of business.

If someone think that is important to have a nice-safe profile, maybe we
should all suit up, and start taking pictures of us reading some really hard
books, or using the product of the hiring company.

Or even better, we can wear a t-shirt with the company logo! Maybe the Y
Combinator logo in your profile?

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chmac
This only applies if you leave your profile public to anyone. Otherwise,
they'd have to friend request you first!

It's the same as publishing anything publicly, people can run background
checks on you and find it. That's life.

As an employer, I'd be suspicious if somebody's online profile presented a
completely different (beer swilling, rock partying) image than their resume.
You can't be two people after all.

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german
I see your point, but I think people just don't put those things in their
resumes. Have you ever seen a resume with: I like to spend my weekends
drinking beer in a rock party or in the other case: I spend all my weekends in
church.

Of course that no one would go drunk to a job interview, but that doesn't mean
that he/she doesn't drink at all.

Sure, you can't be two people, but many people have separate lives between
work and home.

~~~
nickb
I agree with your view as well. I am an employer and if i had an option about
learning more about the candidate, I think I would take an option to learn
more. Since you're constrained by law about what you can and cannot ask during
an interview, learning more about the candidate would be a great way to see
how she/he'd fit into the organization. If you're proud of your MySpace and
Facebook and you want everyone to be able to see it, I don't see why you
shouldn't look for the person on FB/MS.

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german
I really don't get your point, your telling me that you would look for
something in MS/FB that you can't legally ask in a job interview? There's
another factor there, it is that FB/MS profiles can be configured to suit in a
determined job, so you may be hiring someone that tricked you.

~~~
nickb
Sure, why not? Can you ask whether someone's an alcoholic or a drug user
during an interview? Of course not. Can you ask whether they're married? No.

Well, you can bullshit only so much in FB before your friends call you on it.
And who knows you better than your friends?! So I'd be more worried about
being fed bullshit during an interview than looking at a social site.

~~~
german
You got a point there. We still have different opinions about that issue, but
you're right, FB could be a tool, some people use it, some don't. One last
question: Do you think is important having a FB profile? What about 2
candidates for a job, but only one has a FB profile. Will that affect your
decision?

~~~
nickb
I don't think that having a FB profile is important. I don't have one myself
(for many reasons, privacy being the first one) but I see why so many people
have one and I would never fault anyone for using FB. As for your second
question, I think it really depends. If both of the candidates are "equal" in
your mind (and I have to admit that I've never had that problem), FB can both
help and harm. It all depends on who you are and what you have in there :).

