Job applicants' online musings get hard look
By Diane E. Lewis, Globe Staff | March 30, 2006
Lis Riba says she learned about indiscreet blogging the hard way.
In October 2002, after an interview for a job at a nonprofit, she said, someone at the organization read her blog, where she had broadcast to the world that she wasn't actually all that interested in the job and didn't plan to stay for even a year if she were hired.
No offer was forthcoming.
On a routine check of her server logs, she found that somebody from the nonprofit's site read her blog after her interview. ''I really believe I lost that job offer because of careless blogging," said Riba, 35, of Melrose. ''It was something I hadn't considered, and it taught me a lesson about discretion."
AdvertisementRiba, who now designs and writes software requirements for a Massachusetts company, hasn't stopped blogging, but she's developed a personal blogging policy, with rules such as not identifying her employer in online postings, not identifying colleagues, and not revealing proprietary information.
Employers hoping to gain insight into the character and personalities of job applicants are increasingly likely to peruse blogs, Google, and social sites such as MySpace.com and Friendster for clues about the applicants' likes, dislikes, and habits.
''For potential employees, it is not uncommon for senior executives to have a media search conducted that would include all public statements the individual has made," said Tal Moise, chief executive of VerifiedPerson, which performs online background checks for US employers. ``What the public needs to understand is that whenever information is in the general domain, assume it is not private."
Aware of the trend, college counselors are also advising students to watch what they say on social websites or post in blogs. The message: A suggestive photo, an obscene comment, or unsavory postings about one's private life could nix a job offer.
Catherine Amory, interim director of career services at Northeastern University, says she sent an e-mail to members of the class of 2006 earlier this month. The title? ''Digital dirt may hurt."
''It is a tricky issue, though," she said. ''I'm not so sure that students shouldn't be free to be themselves. On the other hand, if they intend to work for a conservative institution, then they need to be more careful."
Bill Wright-Swadel, director of career services at Harvard, said the university sent messages to students last fall telling them to be careful about the information they reveal about themselves online.
''Part of the reason was our conversations with employers who said they were using the information," said Swadel. ''Once we knew that, we felt we certainly had to talk to students and let them know."
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a California-based digital-rights group, offers an online legal guide to students and employees who blog. Spokeswoman Rebecca Jeschke, pointed out that the First Amendment protects free speech, but some states go further. In Massachusetts, for example, there are laws that protect the speech of public school students, which includes all written expression.Continued...
But that doesn't mean bloggers should say whatever comes to mind under their real names. Instead, says Jeschke, they should protect themselves by using pseudonyms, posting anonymously, or requiring password protection to block unwanted visitors from their sites.
Many college students assume employers can't see their postings on Facebook.com because online profiles are available only to people with college or university e-mail accounts. But employers can work around that impediment. Rebecca Flynn, a senior at Northeastern, said she interned for a company that asked her to check out co-op applicants' profiles on Facebook.com.
''They would get resumes from a kid and I would go on Facebook.com for them," said Flynn, 22. ''I've been really careful about not putting anything inappropriate on that site."
Last year, Tina Mello, associate director of career services at Northeastern University, logged on to Facebook using her college e-mail address and checked the profiles of 17 of her 20 students.
''Some of them actually gave dorm information," she said. ''Most of them had benign pictures, nothing that raised red flags. But when I asked them, 'How many of you think this is private?' Almost half raised their hands. . . . They have the technical savvy, but they do not have work-world savvy."
Social networking sites could be immensely valuable to employers looking for the kind of detail they can't get from a resume or in an interview, said Bruce M. Sabin, director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness at Webber International University in Babson Park, Fla.
''The opportunity to glean the kind of information students willingly post on MySpace is a potential goldmine for employers," Sabin said in an online posting. ''Employers would probably not be impressed to find . . . students discussing their 'booty calls,' or posting self-portraits that could only be described as soft porn."
Michael Sciola, director of the Career Resource Center at Wesleyan University, said people who use social sites should understand that any information that appears online is there forever and cannot be deleted. Even material that is withdrawn from the Web is cached by search engines and Internet archives.
''These things have consequences," Sciola said. ''I don't know anyone who has not Googled their own name to see what comes back. Once you put stuff up, it is out there, and it is gone. You cannot get it back."
Natalie Gioella, a senior at Northeastern University, knows students who received offers for internships and co-op jobs, but were later turned down because of their postings on Facebook.com. So, Gioella, 23, doesn't post.
''Employers are looking," she said. ''They want to see what people do in their free time."
Diane E. Lewis can be reached at dlewis@globe.com.
Lis Riba says she learned about indiscreet blogging the hard way.
In October 2002, after an interview for a job at a nonprofit, she said, someone at the organization read her blog, where she had broadcast to the world that she wasn't actually all that interested in the job and didn't plan to stay for even a year if she were hired.
No offer was forthcoming.
On a routine check of her server logs, she found that somebody from the nonprofit's site read her blog after her interview. ''I really believe I lost that job offer because of careless blogging," said Riba, 35, of Melrose. ''It was something I hadn't considered, and it taught me a lesson about discretion."
AdvertisementRiba, who now designs and writes software requirements for a Massachusetts company, hasn't stopped blogging, but she's developed a personal blogging policy, with rules such as not identifying her employer in online postings, not identifying colleagues, and not revealing proprietary information.
Employers hoping to gain insight into the character and personalities of job applicants are increasingly likely to peruse blogs, Google, and social sites such as MySpace.com and Friendster for clues about the applicants' likes, dislikes, and habits.
''For potential employees, it is not uncommon for senior executives to have a media search conducted that would include all public statements the individual has made," said Tal Moise, chief executive of VerifiedPerson, which performs online background checks for US employers. ``What the public needs to understand is that whenever information is in the general domain, assume it is not private."
Aware of the trend, college counselors are also advising students to watch what they say on social websites or post in blogs. The message: A suggestive photo, an obscene comment, or unsavory postings about one's private life could nix a job offer.
Catherine Amory, interim director of career services at Northeastern University, says she sent an e-mail to members of the class of 2006 earlier this month. The title? ''Digital dirt may hurt."
''It is a tricky issue, though," she said. ''I'm not so sure that students shouldn't be free to be themselves. On the other hand, if they intend to work for a conservative institution, then they need to be more careful."
Bill Wright-Swadel, director of career services at Harvard, said the university sent messages to students last fall telling them to be careful about the information they reveal about themselves online.
''Part of the reason was our conversations with employers who said they were using the information," said Swadel. ''Once we knew that, we felt we certainly had to talk to students and let them know."
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a California-based digital-rights group, offers an online legal guide to students and employees who blog. Spokeswoman Rebecca Jeschke, pointed out that the First Amendment protects free speech, but some states go further. In Massachusetts, for example, there are laws that protect the speech of public school students, which includes all written expression.Continued...
But that doesn't mean bloggers should say whatever comes to mind under their real names. Instead, says Jeschke, they should protect themselves by using pseudonyms, posting anonymously, or requiring password protection to block unwanted visitors from their sites.
Many college students assume employers can't see their postings on Facebook.com because online profiles are available only to people with college or university e-mail accounts. But employers can work around that impediment. Rebecca Flynn, a senior at Northeastern, said she interned for a company that asked her to check out co-op applicants' profiles on Facebook.com.
''They would get resumes from a kid and I would go on Facebook.com for them," said Flynn, 22. ''I've been really careful about not putting anything inappropriate on that site."
Last year, Tina Mello, associate director of career services at Northeastern University, logged on to Facebook using her college e-mail address and checked the profiles of 17 of her 20 students.
''Some of them actually gave dorm information," she said. ''Most of them had benign pictures, nothing that raised red flags. But when I asked them, 'How many of you think this is private?' Almost half raised their hands. . . . They have the technical savvy, but they do not have work-world savvy."
Social networking sites could be immensely valuable to employers looking for the kind of detail they can't get from a resume or in an interview, said Bruce M. Sabin, director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness at Webber International University in Babson Park, Fla.
''The opportunity to glean the kind of information students willingly post on MySpace is a potential goldmine for employers," Sabin said in an online posting. ''Employers would probably not be impressed to find . . . students discussing their 'booty calls,' or posting self-portraits that could only be described as soft porn."
Michael Sciola, director of the Career Resource Center at Wesleyan University, said people who use social sites should understand that any information that appears online is there forever and cannot be deleted. Even material that is withdrawn from the Web is cached by search engines and Internet archives.
''These things have consequences," Sciola said. ''I don't know anyone who has not Googled their own name to see what comes back. Once you put stuff up, it is out there, and it is gone. You cannot get it back."
Natalie Gioella, a senior at Northeastern University, knows students who received offers for internships and co-op jobs, but were later turned down because of their postings on Facebook.com. So, Gioella, 23, doesn't post.
''Employers are looking," she said. ''They want to see what people do in their free time."
Diane E. Lewis can be reached at dlewis@globe.com.
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