PSA for those seeking (and who might ever be seeking) employment

[zpdiduda]

NPR reported today that surveys show that 1 out of 5 employers look up job applicants on Facebook. Most common reason given: "to see if the potential employee will fit in well with the company".

Friends-lock your posts. And if your public Facebook profile (or LJ profile, for that matter) says that you worship Satan and SpongeBob Squarepants and that you are proud of your vast collection of bunny floggers, you might want to consider changing it.

Comments

[maestrodog.livejournal.com]

I've stayed away from facebook and myspace and have no intentions of setting up profiles there...one blog is more than enough for me.

[weirdodragoncat.livejournal.com]

My profile didn't have anything *dramatically* out-there that I'd be worried about potential employers finding but I did make a few adjustments that make the profile less likely to raise an eyebrow.

Thanks for the heads up!

[gira.livejournal.com]

I have one professional profile on a professional website. I have one myspace account that is "real", but it is under my childhood name and the info on it is extremely limited because it's for my childhood friends.

Other than that, none of my profiles have anything to do with my legal name.

[zpdiduda.livejournal.com]

I have similar visibility for my real name. I've been using zpdiduda as a screenname for 20 years, though, and some of this usage was long before I really grokked the power of the intarwebs. If one does a thorough google search, it probably would be easy enough to link my "snail" name with zpdiduda.

[chipuni.livejournal.com]

Eh.

My username here also matches my home email address. Who I am is not a secret.

I expect that future employers DO read the public postings of my LiveJournal. I'm used to that. And it helped to get my current job.

[juanatango.livejournal.com]

what 1984 has reached the age of internet????
Employers violating prospective job seeker's privacy ????
huh who woulda thunk it in an age where the president can read our mail.........

thanks for the heads up - hopefully my snail name is difficult to link to this name

[ex-serenejo.livejournal.com]

Friends-lock your posts. And if your public Facebook profile (or LJ profile, for that matter) says that you worship Satan and SpongeBob Squarepants and that you are proud of your vast collection of bunny floggers, you might want to consider changing it.

No, thanks. I've lived my life openly and outly (is TOO a word) for as long as I've been breathing, and don't intend to change that. If employers don't like it, fuck'em. I don't want to work with anyone who thinks my bi/poly/atheist self isn't good enough for them.