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Is it fair for a job to discriminate for having fun in college? (facebook/myspace)
amateurhour
One day I'll be professionalhourThe woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered User regular
One day I'll be professionalhourThe woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered User regular
This actually started in the help advice thread when a kid had a question about facebook
I had a friend get turned down by a job, he had a decent GPA, a good resume, and a myspace that had photos of him getting hammered, and he was in clubs like "beer pong 4-evA!" Myspace was stil relatively (within 10 million people) new when we got on it our senior year, but even then our professors were saying, "I know shit like that is fun now guys, but either make it a legitimate, "about me" webpage, or don't make it, because every major employer checks myspace (and facebook) now, and while they don't tell you about it, they will descriminate against you based on that online profile."
Is this right? I know the company can basically do what it wants behind closed doors, but any company that hires kids right out of college you think would expect a little craziness. ::shrug::
ViolentChemistry wrote: »On the second day of my criminal justice class the professor informed us that she knew which ones of us smoked and which ones drank underage because she too has a school e-mail address and checked out everyone's facebook. She then told the class not to publish photographs of themselves committing crimes, as employers and teachers will totally look and see.
Edit: She didn't catch me though because I didn't have facebook. :^:
I had a friend get turned down by a job, he had a decent GPA, a good resume, and a myspace that had photos of him getting hammered, and he was in clubs like "beer pong 4-evA!" Myspace was stil relatively (within 10 million people) new when we got on it our senior year, but even then our professors were saying, "I know shit like that is fun now guys, but either make it a legitimate, "about me" webpage, or don't make it, because every major employer checks myspace (and facebook) now, and while they don't tell you about it, they will descriminate against you based on that online profile."
Is this right? I know the company can basically do what it wants behind closed doors, but any company that hires kids right out of college you think would expect a little craziness. ::shrug::
are YOU on the beer list?
amateurhour on
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B.net: Kusanku
Jobs aren't 'discriminating' at all for doing this -- if I was an employer I would totally look, and if the potential employee was dumb enough to put inappropriate pictures in a public place AND leave the profile available for anyone to look at, then I'm not about to hire them.
privacy -> photos -> only friends can see = win
thanks. didn't know that was available.
B.net: Kusanku
Now you just have to watch out for your friends tagging you, although if you actually make your PROFILE 'only friends can see' you're mostly set.
and you can untag yourself from other photos, too.
Hence the best plan being to simply not allow such photos to exist in the first place.
"I am a hard-working, dedicated individual who treats both quality and deadlines with equal diligence. I work well both as a member of a team and an individual, and take on any role assigned to me with enthusiasm and attention to detail. I consider it a priority to keep up with current events in business, such as the report that said many employers are looking at prospective employees' Facebook profiles as part of their selection process. Hello sir/madam, what a lovely shirt/blouse you have on."
This isn't much of an option for people with active social lives in college. Ive got like 150 pictures of me tagged on facebook, and I'm drunk or stoned in like 85% of them. I just made my profile private, and had no problem getting a job at JP Morgan.
I expect anyone wanting to deal with me to first look me up on google/myspace/facebook, why wouldn't they? It's an anonymous way to find out what I'm into and what (stupid/awesome) things I have done.
You didn't know you were in any of those pictures?
Not to mention you can "untag" yourself from them.
No. I know/knew they're there.
Now that my last name is much more uncommon, it's become relatively easier to find me online. And I don't get as many wannbe Goth kids in college kissing my ass in hopes that I will do their homework for them.
Pft, that's nothing. I'm an Astronaut, poker player, actor, comedian, on a no fly list and wanted in a few states. Go Me!
Seriously though, I predict these Facebook type sites backfiring on alot of people. The CBC had a small piece a week or so ago about them selling their database to advertising agencies. The worst part? It was voluntary. Apparently a large percentage of the people said "Sure", like they didn't care where their personal information was going.
Anyways, it makes perfect sense for employers to check out facebook and the such. If only because the smart people realize that they check it out and will thus not publish anything embarrassing and or anything at all. I'm the latter, I don't want some random websurfing stranger to see personal information about me.
I even think it would be a potentially good thing for law enforcement to start doing. I mean if your stupid to post illegal activities on the web for everyone to see, you deserve to get caught.
I guess I just don't see how it's not an option. I'm in plenty of pictures, but none of them are at all incriminating. A picture of me being at a party isn't incriminating, a picture of me hitting a bong would be, as would a picture of me that effectively illustrates wastedness, but it's not hard to avoid being in pictures doing that shit.
If I'm hiring for an investment bank, I'll be most suspicious of the guy who has nothing at all incriminating in his profile. If your hobbies are "bank manager helping" and "spontaneous puppy generation", I'm gonna assume you're hiding something.
Yes, companies realize that kids fresh out of college probably engaged in some questionable activities at the least, if not downright illegal ones. They want to be hiring the kids who are smart enough not to ADVERTISE their actions, though.
If you are personally putting incriminating informationout in the public domain, or are careless enough to allow other people to put out incriminating information about you, then you deserve whatever discrimination might befall you. If you want something to remain private, then don't announce it to the world.
most people are smart enough to set these things private and to friends only.
I expect any prospective employers to just get bored if they look up this stuff. It's all parts of my real life, but I just make sure that nothing incriminating gets out there, mostly by not doing incriminating stuff.
pleasepaypreacher.net
Employers will use any and all methods to winnow out the best possible employee. And the one with enough common sense not to post questionable pictures of themselves on Facebook is a more desirable employee.
It was an attempt to play off of the fact that Auschwitz II esentiallyhad a subtitle, by creating a "sequel" in the style of a movie title.
The problem is that I had momentarily forgotten that there WAS actually both an Auschwitz III and an Auschwitz IV as well.
And, as I stated in that particular entry, it just isn't funny when you get to Auschwitz V, and still try to make the joke.
And anyone with any common sense knows most people are perfectly capable of seperating their private and professional lives
(just to clarify, this has never happened to me, and I'm sure its a lot more rare of a case than I'm making it out to be, but pretty soon our whole lives are going to be online, so where do we draw the new line of privacy?)
Ahh I see, well I could see the failure of a joke there.
pleasepaypreacher.net
Yes, technically a job can't discriminate based on your age, race, sex, etc, but they sure as hell can and will discriminate based on how you publicly present yourself. Thats sort of what the whole job interview concept is about.
This isn't private data or information the employer is nefariously acquiring. Its information that people freely choose to have available about themselves.
I dunno about where you live, but in America a job sure as hell can judge you based on first impressions. Show up sloppy looking and see how many jobs you'll get.
pleasepaypreacher.net
First off, just because you get sued for something doesn't mean you were actually wrong to do it. Sometimes the defendant does win in civil suits, you know.
Regardless, pretending that your original premise is right, the difference is that if they have already hired you, then they have made an agreement with you, and should hold up their end of whatthey agreed to give you.
If theyhaven't hired you yet, though, then they don't owe you anything. Yes, it is illegal to discriminated based on race and gender, etc., but its not illegal to say "I just don't like the guy." Employers have rights too, you know. Canyou imagine how wrong it would be if an employer was FORCED to hire a particular individual that they simply did not feel was good for the job? IMagine if the government forced you to work a job you didn't want.
And yeah, it's not spying if you are putting the information out in public. It is kind of like if you show up to your interview with a shirt that says "I *heart* smoking pot". You can't claimthat they aren't allowed to judge you based on your shirt.
I have some hideous photos of me on facebook. Not taken by me, not authorised by me, I'm holding a drink in one and looking a little flushed but I'm of a legal age. I hate them but although I've asked my friend she refuses to take them down. She thinks I'm being a spoil sport.
She has set her photos to friends-only but we have several mutual friends and I'm fearful of someone I don't want to see them friending her. If I wasn't such good friends with her I wouldn't even know they existed. You can't ignore every camera around you.
If I were hiring for a company with fairly draconian policies about conduct, drug use, etc., I might be less likely to consider someone who has posted pot pix (or whatnot) of themselves and friends. Why waste the company's money on a drug test and the rest of the personality tests involved in hiring, if the guy has demonstrated that he's publically acted in a way that would violate company policy? Even if all the photos or entries are from ten years ago, it's still something that might give that HR person pause.
Which goes back to the point made about not being stupid enough to post that sort of thing where just anyone has access to it. If I were hiring for the aforementioned company, and I saw that someone's profile was squeeky clean, I wouldn't think "What does this guy have to hide" I'd think "Cool, this is someone who's discreet."