Employers checking your social network/Bebo/Facebook- does this actually happen?

LuckyStar

Or is this just more newspaper "fact"??

zAbbo

Yes, definitely happens, I turned down an applicant last year for what I would deem inappropriate pictures on his bebo page.

Similarly if I was an interviewer I would expect to be googled, so it works both ways.

giddyup

I've googled people I've interviewed and if it was the other way around and I was being interviewed and I knew by whom I'd have a look also. I'm sure plenty of people wouldn't be bothered or know where to look but it's something that will become more and more commonplace. A lot of stuff would be harmless and might even demonstrate some positives about you but there's plenty of people hanging themselves with the rubbish they post online in their own name.

I think in the IT game you should expect that people would have a look for an online profile. All speculation of course on my part but food for thought.

MrVostro

Your best bet is to not come up in a google search at all.
I know we have not given people jobs over what searches turn up, but we have never actually hired someone who has positive search results. Thats down to the interview.

SW81

Yeah I've put my Bebo on private lately, you never know! Awkward!

TJJP

LuckyStar wrote: »

Or is this just more newspaper "fact"??

For sure it happens. Doubt it would be admitted or offered as a reason for job refusal in feedback, but employers do it all the same.

the_syco

Meh. You're asking for it if you put your name in bebo, though.

Random

They could check it intentionally, stumble across it or other things might lead them toward it. Bottom line is don't put stuff on the internet that you're not happy to talk to everyone about.

eth0_

Definitely happens. Some companies use an app that searches for a candidate on all the major social networking sites. I think this is a good think from an employer POV, you get more of an insight into what sort of a person this candidate is.

leeroybrown

There was a post on this forum about someone turning up to an interview with a bank, saying that they enjoyed socialising with friends and being told by the interviewer that 'we can all see that from your Bebo'...

trellheim

Yes, we do look at these sites for people. If you put yourself up there, why be shocked when we come to invest a lot of money and responsibility in someone that we check them out first ?

there is no secret "Privacy Mode On" switch for the Internet. Anything you put your name to has it there more or less forever which a lot of people fail to realize...

SW81

eth0_ wrote: »

Definitely happens. Some companies use an app that searches for a candidate on all the major social networking sites. I think this is a good think from an employer POV, you get more of an insight into what sort of a person this candidate is.

What if your page is private though? Or are there ways they can get around that?

aphex™

I went for an interview with a recruitment agency the other week. It went really well, there were two girls interviewing me. Got on well, smiled and laughed a lot.

Anyway I went home and googled one of them and lo and behold shes on bebo dressed as a cop for halloween wearing short shorts & handcuffs!

So it works both ways..

eth0_

SW81 wrote: »

What if your page is private though? Or are there ways they can get around that?

No, unless you count using archive.org or the google cache of your bebo/facebook etc page.

Mr. Presentable

aphex™ wrote: »

Anyway I went home and googled one of them and lo and behold shes on bebo dressed as a cop for halloween wearing short shorts & handcuffs!

Link? To "prove" your story, of course

Zaph

Why would you even consider putting your real name on one of those sites in the first place? Forget about prospective employers, there are plenty of weirdos out there so why make things easier for them?

mick.fr

I never put my name on online sites, even on Linkedin I have only my first name.
and if somebody wants to check my name online anyway, I have the same as a very famous Hollywood Production Designer. Even myself I can't dig enough in the google pages to find myself :-)

Raskolnikov

A colleague on mine actually got a job because of his bebo profile. The bossman saw that he was a well-balanced chap and that they shared common interests.

ixoy

Those people who've used Bebo,etc to look up a potential employee - how do you know you're looking up the right profile? People can obviously share your name - a quick look for my full name, for example, reveals hits on me (all of which are innocent) but also reveals the Bebo account of some one else, same age and from North Dublin and I'd hate to be mistaken for them.

SMERSH

ixoy wrote: »

Those people who've used Bebo,etc to look up a potential employee - how do you know you're looking up the right profile? People can obviously share your name - a quick look for my full name, for example, reveals hits on me (all of which are innocent) but also reveals the Bebo account of some one else, same age and from North Dublin and I'd hate to be mistaken for them.

Indeed, It is a court case waiting to happen.

eth0_

Where i've seen it done it has been after the candidate has had a face to face interview, so it is unlikely they'd have the wrong person.

dame

Exactly, an interviewer won't waste time searching online for every candidate (unless they have way too much time on their hands), only the ones who are in the final running.

SMERSH

I still think the employers are on shaky legal ground. Could cost them dearly in a defamation action. How can they prove it is who they think it is?

leeroybrown

SMERSH wrote: »

I still think the employers are on shaky legal ground. Could cost them dearly in a defamation action. How can they prove it is who they think it is?

I can't see what defamation has got to do with this. It's a private conducted internal check which is not communicated to any third party and will probably not be communicated to the applicant. The only situation where I could realistically see a check like this affecting an employer is in a case where someone made a request for documentation regarding screening for a public job and someone else had been gratuitously stupid enough to put 'looked drunk on Bebo' on the scoring form, and it would just be a complaint about breach of procedure or possibly discrimination. If someone involved in interviews for an employer is stupid enough to discuss the personal details of an applicant in a situation where defamation comes into play they deserve a swift issuing of their P45.

If someone does turn up to an interview and they look cunningly like the drunken fool with the same personal details on Bebo then I don't see what they can do. That said, I certainly wouldn't bring something like this up directly in an interview and wouldn't advise anyone else to do it.

Eoin

mick.fr wrote:

I never put my name on online sites, even on Linkedin I have only my first name.

If you're putting stuff on LinkedIn that you don't want potential colleagues / customers / employers to see, then I'm not sure if you've grasped the concept of the site?

seamus

mick.fr wrote: »

and if somebody wants to check my name online anyway, I have the same as a very famous Hollywood Production Designer.

I share my name with a guy who has a very similar (scary similar in fact) CV to mine, except that he's about ten years older. So there's tonnes of stuff on the web - work he's done, groups and projects he's given his time free for. He has an extensive amount of open source Perl and discussions up on the web. I think he works in Google now. If someone googled me and checked out his stuff, it would make me look very good

Mrs. MacGyver

Same here my counterpart is head of a county council in England so that would look really good. I've an interview for promotion on Wednesday, my profile on bebo.facebook is restricted but incredibly boring.