People can be turned down for jobs because of "unacceptable" Facebook profiles

[BuelahWitch]

The rest of us have to submit to criminal background checks, credit checks, and pee in cup all for the "honor" of becoming a wage slave.
Why should someone convicted of a violent crime get to go back to their million dollar salaries?
Not just Michael Vick, any sports star or celebrity. Football players are a dime a dozen. Recruit somebody else.
If xx firm is unwilling to hire someone with a MySpace profile called "Hung Honey," no matter how qualified, why does the sports world feel that violent thugs fit into theirs?
Sorry, I'm not willing to give someone a "second chance" when others with far less of a black mark against them are never given a first chance.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. Football players are a dime a dozen?

Right, it's a very non-competitive profession.

[Fumesucker]

2. One of the many reasons I'm not on Facebook..

I hear bill collectors are going after people through Facebook also..

[Posteritatis]

18. Beats their threatening me at all hours because of the last people who lived here.. (nt)

[Fumesucker]

22. Eh, what if you have the same name as someone else who owes money?

And they track you down through Facebook and *then* threaten you?

That would bite just as badly I think.

[Posteritatis]

23. Still annoying, but it's nothing more than annoying if I'm not the debtor. (nt)

[GiveMeFreedom]

26. Yea, I have been looking for you!

Now I got you right where you want me. :yoiks:

[Fumesucker]

28. I'm so broke I can't pay attention..

So go ahead and sue me..

:evilgrin:

[GiveMeFreedom]

29. Naw..

I am so broke I was hoping you were my long lost rich dead uncle. :)

[Fumesucker]

30. I'm rich alright..

Just not in money.. :)

My grandkids think I'm a total whackaloon and they love me for it, I'm the only adult that swims and bikes with them like another kid.

[blueamy66]

48. They still can't squeeze...

blood from a turnip.

[tj2001]

3. And the Internets have a very, very long memory

thanks to who knows how many caching servers

[Jennicut]

4. I refuse to start a Facebook despite pressure from family and friends

I have no pics of myself I really want to "share". I am too boring for a Twitter account ("I went to the grocery store and got kitty litter."). MySpace is way annoying. I think sticking to DU is best. :)

[HCE SuiGeneris]

16. OMG!

You got kitty litter too!? My litr has green absorbing pellets with the ever-fresh scent. Wat kind did u get!?


:hide:

[Jennicut]

19. LOL...the kind that clumps. Daisy likes it, anything for my kitty.

Seriously, my days are totally boring. I stay at home with my kids and do errands and chores. Who wants to follow that?

[BuelahWitch]

17. Personally, I like MySpace

I'm close enough to the end of my life that I'm not all that concerned if employers don't like the fact that I'm into classic film and television. I've already got a resume, I use MySpace to be creative. I don't see the need for Twitter, although I do have an account with "followers."

[Jennicut]

21. I tried MySpace. My husband put up a fake pic of someone and said it was me.

I still never forgave him for that.
But you can check out his band at MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/bigfloppydisk. He is That Guy. By day, he works at Northeast Utilities and as a church organist. I don't think he cares who sees that website!

[aikoaiko]

44. When we hire faculty, I check out their ratemyprofessors ratings.

Its amazing what you learn from them.

Of course its different than the self-presentation on facebook.

[BlooInBloo]

5. *yawn*

[BuelahWitch]

8. excuse me, Mr. I Have No Life,

I didn't get to post on the other 500 Michael Vick posts because I'm not on DU all day long.
This is in response to another which was already very large. If it bores you that much why don't you go play somewhere else?

[Naturyl]

6. It's unbelievable, isn' it?

Forget Vick for a minute. I think your post makes a very important point in the first sentence. Employers in this country are getting to the point where they want total control of a person's life on and OFF the clock. Someone explain to me exactly how this is the "land of the free and the home of the brave" when people have to submit to this kind of control in order to scratch together a living?

[BuelahWitch]

10. Totally unbelievable

I'm pretty sure that the time will come when everyone is going to be paranoid to share anything. Not that I think a profile called "Hung Honey" is a smart move. But why should that prohibit a person from getting a low level position?

[Naturyl]

11. I knew which way it was going when employers started checking credit scores years ago.

The idea that people with bad credit are thieves and/or undesirable employees always bothered me. Although I'd better not say too much, because my spidey-sense tells me there will be some on DU who agree with that view.

[Lucky Luciano]

13. For the job I started 3 weeks ago, I had a crazy background check!

All places I lived in the last ten years, several references, credit checks, all jobs, all gaps in the resume fully explained if over a month. Oh yea - and the fingerprints. I didn't have to pee in a cup though. Mostly they wanted to make sure I have not stolen any money or committed any financial crimes.

[BuelahWitch]

15. Yep! Been there, done that! All for a big $10 an hour!

They were a gov't contractor. Funny, I worked for a gov't agency as a temp a few years back and there wasn't near the crap that the contractor required.

[noamnety]

24. I don't necessarily have a problem with checking facebook profiles

If the cop with the racist rant had it on his personal facebook page for the whole world to see and the department hired him AFTER that, I'd have a problem with the hiring decision.

If someone has a facebook page where they are spewing racist/sexist/homophobic crap, I don't want them poisoning my workplace and as an employer I would be concerned that their presence would create a hostile work environment for my other employees. I know of one situation where kids reported that their teacher had a personal web page where she complained about the students - in detail. What are we supposed to tell the students - yeah, your teacher despises you and gossips about you behind your back, but it's on her own time, don't worry about it?

People forget that when they put something online under their own name, it's not private correspondence; it's the equivalent of publishing it - and most of us wouldn't hire someone who published a book that was openly racist, or a book about getting underaged girls drunk and date-raping them. If you don't want something published - don't publish it. If you do publish it, expect that a potential employer will look at your published body of work. It's ridiculous nowadays to assume that won't happen.

[SoCalDem]

7. File that one under "D".... for Duh!

People (especially young ones) need to know that their online persona will be with them FOREVER, so they better watch what they post.

Sports figures are usually given not only a second chance, but a third and a fourth, etc.

I think the Vick angle will be different though, because those dogs did not have a chance to "leave". and people do love their pets, so his vile actions cannot be written off, even if he served his time.

Most people draw a line somewhere, and torturing helpless animals is a line most people will not negotiate

[Occulus]

25. And if they get fired for something they say/do when OFF the clock,

then employers who engage in such practices need to be sued for back pay.

If you're going to fire me for what I do off your clock, or for what I post to the internet when off the clock, or for whom I choose to associate with off the clock, then I will sue you for back pay based on a 24/7/365 pay scale, including overtime, from the date of my hiring.

If you're going to hold me to your employment standards when "off the clock", then I'm not really off the clock, and I deserve to be paid for that.

[imdjh]

9. I have nothing to threaten with . I think football is a waste of time and money.

[left coaster]

12. Agreed..

I'm reminded of a great quote from The Simpsons:

"The road to the Superbowl is long and pointless.."

[Lucky Luciano]

14. Definitely not a dime a dozen. Michael Vick was a

truly exceptional player - probably top 5 in the world. That is probably better than any DUer is at their profession (probably). That said, as a dog lover (and in particular, a pit bull lover), I hope that instead of coming out of "retirement," I hope he gets what his dogs got.

[kirby]

20. Perhaps the difference...

is that when someone is convicted and serves their sentence, they have been punished for that crime. But I hear you on the hypocrisy.

[TheKentuckian]

27. ummm...Probably because "hung honey" won't bring in millions

Rather than making sauce for the goose, shouldn't our ENTIRE focus be on hobbling corporations ability to discriminate and control us as property 24/7? Punishing Vick extra-legally isn't any boon to the American worker and probably reaffirms the precedent of screwing people over on the job over stuff that has nothing to do with performance in the workplace.

Pettiness and vindictiveness have a high boomerang effect. Energy is best spent on raising all ships versus poking holes in one to bring it back to the pack. Too many arguments are made on tearing down rather than building up on our side of late. Building up is why we get elected and as soon as we lose track of that we are humbled.

Also, claiming pro quality football players are a dime a dozen (ESPECIALLY QUARTERBACKS!!!!) is a clear demonstrations of being totally unaware of what is going on. Hell, every team doesn't have a quality starter much less three deep in superstars like you pretend. Sounds like you need to do a fantasy draft.

[BuelahWitch]

36. Sorry, none of my "fantasies" involve football in any way

But I do agree that corporations should not be allowed to control us as much as they do.

[Zomby Woof]

31. Unless you allow everyone to see your profile

How the hell would an employer know what's in it? If you aren't smart enough to block general access to your profile, then maybe you shouldn't get the job.

Lots of anecdotal crap in this thread. Bill collectors coming after you? Being rejected for jobs?

Some people on DU are no better than the birthers - citing shit without evidence because it fulfills their paranoid fantasies.

[TheKentuckian]

32. Maybe the corparate master should be disallowed from being so "involved".

[Echo In Light]

39. Agreed. Rule crazy ego maniacs tend to lean in that direction n/t

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

45. Maybe people should be careful about what information they put on the net.

[PVnRT]

35. While you're right

Facebook defaults pretty much everything to be viewed by everyone instead of only friends, which makes no sense to me. Unless you carefully go through EVERYTHING on your profile and makr it, some stuff is bound to slip through. Even if you do go through carefully you could miss something, or they could change something which screws your settings.

I have no idea why Facebook doesn't have their privacy defaults such that only your friends can see things unless you say otherwise.

[Zomby Woof]

42. I hate that part too

I make sure I go through every drag down menu I can to check the "Friends Only" option. It SHOULD be the default. And yes, something could always slip.

And for the others in here thinking I am okay with "our corporate masters" combing through our profiles: bullshit. I think NO such thing. I am completely against such an invasion of privacy. I think "you shouldn't get the job" if you aren't smart enough to block your profile, even as I agree with PVnRT that these sites make it more difficult than it needs to be. But I don't think "you shouldn't get the job" because these corporations nose around in our private affairs. I am questioning one's raw intelligence and common sense, not whether or not corporations are justified (they aren't).

Until there is a way to prevent corporations from such invasions of privacy, at least take control of you what you CAN take control of, and block your profile from outsiders.

[BuelahWitch]

40. Employers checking out social networking sites is very much a reality

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/jan/26/16web-Facebook/

http://hr.cch.com/news/hrm/022309a.asp

http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2008/03/employers_get_o.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/JobClub/Story?id=7879939&page=2

In my case I keep the MySpace profiles I have "open" because I want to attract others who are interested in nostalgia. I monitor the comments my friends send me and deny the ones that might be questionable. Of course, nothing on my pages could be called objectionable. Maybe the fact that I think football players are a dime a dozen, but I don't really broadcast that. ;-)

[pipi_k]

43. Exactly...

People with exhibitionist tendencies don't care what they put out there and who sees it.

There are ways of limiting access to one's FB page.

Unfortunately, a lot of people are not only exhibitionists, but pretty damned shallow as well. They just have to let a couple hundred of their "best friends" have access to some pretty personal information so they show up as "friends" and make them look popular as hell.

Nobody needs that many people reading the most intimate (or, in some cases, boring) details of their daily lives.


Life isn't fair. Employers...especially these days...can be very picky about whom they hire. People who don't know or understand should be very nicely taken aside and told. If they choose to spew out stuff they know could keep them from getting a job, then it's their problem and I don't feel horrendously sorry for them. What it all boils down to is, if it's stupid and if it's going to hold a person back or get them in trouble, then don't do it. Simple as that.

[Quantess]

33. What if you have no Facebook profile, no MySpace profile?

Will you be tagged as an antisocial nerd?

[MindPilot]

34. Yes, that is exactly what will happen.

I'm currently looking for a job, and just finished a two-day job-seeking-skills class.

These days it is all about the social networking, gotta know somebody, gotta make contacts, gotta be on LinkedIn. Re-invent yourself and make them want you.

Pretty much a guaranteed fail for us anti-social nerds.

[EOTE]

37. You'd think that a XX firm would want to hire someone with a profile named "Hung Honey"

Or maybe that's just a XXX firm.

[dysfunctional press]

38. i guess that you should have chosen to go into football...

:shrug:

[BuelahWitch]

41. Nope, I wasn't born with the right parts

And I throw like a girl. ;-)

[seabeyond]

46. life is just sooo unfair. rollin eyes. nt

[marmar]

47. They want to weed out everybody.....

Then they can use "No Americans Passed Background Checks" as an excuse for outsourcing.