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Permalink Reply by Dave on September 15, 2008 at 5:51pm

As a twenty-something-year-old who regulary uses facebook... the only answer to the question is YES.

Yes - your facebook can help determine your potential hiring... or to be fired...

The real question is why only 20% of companies are looking at facebook... wouldn't you want to have a bio on your your potential hire - a bio created by the potential employee themselves?

It goes both ways... facebook can help you or hurt you - depending upon the content...

Facebook helps to outline the different positions and causes a person deams important. But if a person lashes out at someone unprofessionally... it gets posted there for all to see...

... and it really doesn't end with facebook... all social networking sites are becoming a standard go to before hiring someone...

Today... all you need to do is google someone... to find out out who they are and what they do.

A wise man once told me - you can't fix a bad hire...

But with facebook - you can get a better insight as to wether somone is potentially a bad hire or not.

So a word to the wise... keep your future employement in mind everytime you post something on Facebook! You never know who might take a look someday...

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Permalink Reply by Gregory Hyman on December 18, 2008 at 9:28am

The internet is a public forum so anything is fair game. One needs to be wise to everything that they post which can potentially be traced back to them (including sites where you use aliases as they do record IP addresses). Just don't post anything online that you are afraid may be used to haunt you, even if it's an opinion. My motto is not to post anything about anyone that I wouldn't say to their face. Just expand that to organizations where because you work for company ABC, you can be seen as a representative of said company.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Stevens on June 19, 2009 at 2:05pm

This is still my favorite subject on this forum....I keep coming back to it again and again. Now it seems the city of Bozeman Montana USA has the gall to ask you for your usernames _AND PASSWORDS_ for social networking sites when you apply for a job. Absolutely unbelievable. Check out the story

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Permalink Reply by Mark Stevens on September 16, 2008 at 3:53pm

Right or wrong, it is happening and can't be stopped. What do you expect...you are putting personal info and personal thoughts out in a public space. It's not just about employment, it's about your personal security and identity.

They key is to pay careful attention to what and to whom you make public in your privacy settings. I participate in Facebook, but I only let friends see my significant information, such as wall posts, status updates, and personal/contact info. The controls are quite granular.

I just hope the security infrastructure behind the scenes prevents hacking. Then I'd be in trouble.

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Permalink Reply by Certmag Editor on September 22, 2008 at 9:17am

Anyone strongly disagree with this emerging trend? What's your argument?

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Permalink Reply by OParada on September 25, 2008 at 8:02am

I don't disagree...

As a matter of fact...a good friend of mine, who is an IT trainer, lost her job because she posted some photos of her and friends having a REALLY good time at a bar during her vacation in the Bahamas. Someone within the company found the pictures (I guess they have a MySpace account also), notified HR about it, and next thing you know she was let go.

I agree with Dave...there's just too much personal information that is available to the general public. It stinks but it's an unfortunate reality. That is why I don't waste any of my precious time with those websites.

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Permalink Reply by Certmag Editor on October 1, 2008 at 4:49pm

Do you think companies have the right to regulate what content their current employees post on their Facebook pages?

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Permalink Reply by Mark Stevens on October 2, 2008 at 10:01am

I do, for work related items, but not for personal content.

Companies are beginning to write policies for their employee's participation in social networking sites when commenting on company related items. Polices focus on intellectual property, disclaimers to separate your own opinion from the corporations, and representing to company poorly. I feel a company can take action against an employee who speaks negatively about their own employer in a public space. If you cannot represent your company positively (while maintaining personal integrity), why should you be allowed to stay there?

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Permalink Reply by Certmag Editor on October 6, 2008 at 12:03pm

Good point; does anyone disagree? Are people more defensive when they are held accountable by their employers for what is deemed as inappropriate personal content?

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Permalink Reply by Mark Stevens on November 12, 2008 at 10:01am

Here is a case of teachers posting content to facebook deemed inappropriate by the Sc... including statements such as "I hate my students!"

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Permalink Reply by OParada on November 25, 2008 at 7:36am

Hey Mark!

I just read the article you posted and it's amazing that one can't even voice their opinions anymore. My wife is a teacher and after reading that I'm going to let her know to be very careful about what she writes on these social sites. She has a MySpace and a Facebook account (why do we need to have more than 1 social site accounts?) and she spends a decent amount of time on there.

Again...I can't see myself doing the "Social Site" thing.

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Permalink Reply by Certmag Editor on December 1, 2008 at 1:16pm

Do you think it's just a simple matter of changing your privacy settings on social networking sites?

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