Did you know a lot of companies now are looking up people's Myspace, Facebook, or whatever to do some background checking on prospective new hires. My wife is a manager and her work does it to see what kind of person you are outside of work.

I don't think it's right they should judge you on your behaviors outside of work. However people put some crazy stuff out on blog and community websites.

4/4/2007 12:59:48 PM

this shouldn't be news to anyone.

but then again, this is TWW.

4/4/2007 1:06:42 PM

Quote :

"I don't think it's right they should judge you on your behaviors outside of work."

why not? you're representing that company even when you arent working.

4/4/2007 1:07:31 PM

remember kids....

set your profile to private, and only accept friends that you already know....

4/4/2007 1:09:34 PM

are you new to the internet?

4/4/2007 1:09:39 PM

Quote :

"remember kids.... set your profile to private, and only accept friends that you already know.... "

or just dont post stupid things on it.

4/4/2007 1:11:08 PM

Or just don't have a MySpace or Facebook.

I did have facebook when I was in college, but as soon as I got out, I quit that shit. There was nothing on there to begin with, much less once I graduated.

4/4/2007 1:15:48 PM

i disagree. it wasnt around when i was in college, but i find it useful to get in contact with old high school freinds i havent spoken to in years. but thats all i use it for...i certainly dont have anything incriminating on it (i dont have anything incriminating anyway, but if i did, it wouldnt go on a place where everyone could see it.)

[Edited on April 4, 2007 at 1:22 PM. Reason : d]

4/4/2007 1:17:35 PM

anyone who has finished college and is looking for a job should know enough about the internet to not post illegal/dumb things that are directly linked to them as a person

4/4/2007 1:22:12 PM

i guess thats why you have pot all over your profile page?

4/4/2007 1:23:09 PM

Quote :

"directly linked to them as a person"

4/4/2007 1:23:50 PM

^ lmao @ his profile

[Edited on April 4, 2007 at 1:24 PM. Reason : ]

4/4/2007 1:24:11 PM

I've got pictures of me drinking on Facebook, and I've got the friends who have deleted everything that would incriminate them. But if you are the kind of company that cares if I have a drink when I get off work or goes to parties, as long as I'm doing nothing illegal, then you are not the company I want to work for.

My boss here even asked me about it once, and he agreed with that as well.

4/4/2007 1:24:35 PM

also my myspace page has nothing to do with anything relating to weed, beer, guns, etc

http://www.myspace.com/BornAgainChristian

4/4/2007 1:25:50 PM

why even take a chance? you've posted enough personal information on here that it could eventually come back to haunt you.

4/4/2007 1:27:10 PM

not really

i dont go around posting my real name and lots of pictures of my face like some people on here

also my jasmith4@unity.ncsu.edu address hasnt worked for years

[Edited on April 4, 2007 at 1:32 PM. Reason : .]

4/4/2007 1:27:36 PM

someome just has to post your username and real name beside each other a few times and you're google pwnt

4/4/2007 1:36:28 PM

so i guess jamie a smith is your name?

4/4/2007 1:37:31 PM

the grown folk use Friendster and Linkedin

4/4/2007 1:38:26 PM

^^^ that's what's happened to me

4/4/2007 1:40:55 PM

Quote :

"Or just don't have a MySpace or Facebook."

4/4/2007 1:43:24 PM

Quote :

"so i guess jamie a smith is your name?"

do you guess http://www.myspace.com/BornAgainChristian is my real myspace page also?

4/4/2007 2:01:42 PM

i have no idea, myspace is blocked at my work.

4/4/2007 2:02:35 PM

well i'll give you a hint...thats not my myspace page and that wasnt my email address


it was actually jlpinks8@eos.ncsu.edu

my real myspace page is http://www.myspace.com/12345678

i mean im not gonna have it as http://www.myspace.com/treetwista10 or something dumb and obvious like that

ill give you a hint of my real myspace though...im in your extended network...so that narrows it down

also i see that jackleg has ghostface as one of his friends...ghostface is also on my friend list...ghost only has about 100,000+ friends and im one of them if you wanna narrow it down

btw hope your employer doesnt get offended by one of your top friends' drug-related name!

[Edited on April 4, 2007 at 2:20 PM. Reason : .]

4/4/2007 2:06:45 PM

i think it's a fair and smart practice on the employers' part.

4/4/2007 2:14:33 PM

Well, I don't have a myspace page and my facebook account it private, so I think I'm cool. Besides, I'm not crazy.

4/4/2007 2:22:21 PM

yeah i know at Cisco Systems whenever we had an interview with a new kid for a co-op position we would always try to find his profile on facebook.

4/4/2007 3:18:07 PM

they tell you this at freshman orientation

4/4/2007 3:31:54 PM

man i'm fucking old then

they didnt have facebook til my sophmore year...def. didnt say anything about this at orientation

4/4/2007 3:33:12 PM

Yeah my freshman year we were still talking about 1.0 ghz computers and how fast that must be.

4/4/2007 3:35:12 PM

haha...i had a 500MHz my freshman year.

4/4/2007 3:35:45 PM

I think LinkedIn is freakin' worthless...

And I too agree, that it's just a bit much to look up people on MySpace when making a hiring decision. As a recruiter I have never once thought of going that route. Because everything on the internet is how it is in real life...

4/4/2007 3:57:40 PM

^ Yes, but if you google my name you'll see around the 3rd page down the infamous "way to go sports talk posters" thread. I really wish people hadn't used my name in that thread. It's fine to call me out for it and say "hey man, watch what you say and don't be a douchebag" but is it really necessary to ruin my upcoming job prospects? I mean, who benefits from that at all?

4/4/2007 4:02:43 PM

We just did this for our new interns

4/4/2007 4:04:03 PM

MySpace, Google, FaceBook... whathaveyou... all you need are resumes, references, and background checks. All I'm gonna find out on MySpace is if you like ballroom dancing and if you're into S&M. Either way, that does not affect you at work in any way.

If you are a convicted child molestor/rapist that never showed up on time to work, then I might think twice about hiring you. Those things can be found out in conventional hiring methods.

4/4/2007 4:20:27 PM

What about somebody like me who doesn't have a myspace account? In fact, I don't really have any accounts like that at all. How does that affect me?

4/4/2007 4:47:21 PM

^they'll be like "well this guy certainly has trouble keeping up with current technology trends"

4/4/2007 4:48:16 PM

It's impossible to find my myspace account from knowing anything about me.

4/4/2007 4:56:55 PM

i think myspace is a conspiracy started by girls so they can see if there guys are hanging out w/ other girls and cheating on them

[Edited on April 4, 2007 at 4:57 PM. Reason : l]

4/4/2007 4:57:06 PM

Graham1, hire me please.

4/4/2007 5:01:41 PM

Quote :

"i think it's a fair and smart practice on the employers' part."

What is to stop me from finding pictures of someone, opening a myspace account in their name, and posting incriminating messages/blogs?

Its neither fair nor smart to base decisions on unauthenticated information.


[Edited on April 4, 2007 at 7:46 PM. Reason : \/ exactly]

4/4/2007 7:38:14 PM

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/112/story/68320.html

4/4/2007 7:39:26 PM

why is this news? it's publicly available data.... it's your own damn fault for being a dumbass and then having it recorded and then put online...

4/4/2007 8:56:24 PM

of course everyone knows this

i dont give a fuck...if a company wants to troll around the internet to find dirt on me, so be it, i dont want to work for a piece of shit company like that anyway

4/4/2007 11:34:00 PM

It can't hurt my job hunting.. Because I don't have myspace/facebook, etc. Back in my days we had to make friends the old fashion way.

4/4/2007 11:35:17 PM

Quote :

"Did you know a lot of companies now are looking up people's Myspace, Facebook, or whatever to do some background checking"

well, no fucking shit. welcome to the late 20th century.

Quote :

"I don't think it's right "

why should I anyone care whether or not you think its "right" or not for a private business to screen potential employees.

4/4/2007 11:52:24 PM

all set to private. have to request to add me and then I have to add you. if i dont know you its a no.

4/5/2007 12:03:39 AM

Quote :

"this shouldn't be news to anyone."

4/5/2007 12:05:54 AM

Quote :

"the grown folk use Friendster and Linkedin"

i recently got on linkedin after being badgered by a few ppl over and over again

4/5/2007 12:07:42 AM

i got an email for linkedin but havent opened it yet

and i just untagged anything unflattering on my myspace and facebook and threw up lots of really flattering pics of my volunteering and stuff and then made my profiles visible to everyone. i hope they look at my profiles, they make me look like such an awesome person.

4/5/2007 12:10:38 AM