At a networking event I attended recently with some of my industry peers this topic came up, and everyone had the opportunity to weigh in with their opinions. Not surprisingly, the room was somewhat divided as to whether or not it is appropriate and/or helpful to run an internet search on a prospective job applicant as a way to learn more about them prior to making a hiring decision.
Some felt that doing so could result in revealing information about the candidate that not only has nothing to do with their ability to do the job in question, but could taint your view of the applicant before even meeting them. An example might be coming across their Facebook page and finding questionable photos of their last vacation at a lively singles resort. Others felt that it was up to the candidates to keep their online presence professional as possible in anticipation that their cyber world would be under investigation at any time during the job seeking phase.
I put the suggestion to the crowd that everyone should go home after the event and Google themselves to see how their online persona might appear to a prospective employer and take steps immediately to repair any potential damage. If you haven’t done so yourself, dear reader, I urge you to do so sooner rather than later, especially if you are working in a field such as Marketing or Communications where the impression you give of yourself on the internet is likely to be very important to how you are perceived as a job seeker, or incumbent employee looking to be taken seriously in consideration for a promotion.
We all want to avoid this dreaded social media snafu. An extreme case perhaps, (possibly even a planned publicity stunt), but still a good example of how a simple error online can go viral and ruin your reputation permanently.
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