This is disturbingly terrible advice. To summarize what the article suggests: “If your true personality might upset your employer, be certain to keep it a secret from them both off and online.” Is dishonesty really a great place to start when hunting for a job?

I wrote an essay on this topic months ago: “Truth in Unplanned Advertising”. See it at http://www.robbyslaughter.com/blog/?2008-09-26

This is a disturbingly terrible response. This article isn’t saying to keep your personality a secret because obviously that is part of what gets you a job, it is simply saying that putting a picture online where you are flashing the camera with a joint in your hand probably isn’t the best way to get taken seriously by an employer. I don’t wear suits every day of my life, but I sure as hell wear one to an interview. Does this make me dishonest? Does that suggest I am trying to be someone I’m not? Just like you should “dress the part” for the job you want, you should probably “act the part” as well. Now, I hate to imply that stuffiness is the key to a successful career. If you are employed by “Girls Gone Wild” then by all means, flash away.

This article is saying that you should make sure that what you say or do virally outside office walls doesn’t shed a poor light on you. It’s saying to use privacy settings and ensure that you only accept people to be your “friends” if you want them to have access to your personal life. It also says that if you are unhindered by what people think about you, then fine, but for the majority of the working world, making a racial slur and/or posting pics of Cinnamon’s private lap dance at your last run at PT’s, probably won’t go well with the bosses. I think you should read the article again to see what it really suggests.

I agree. I don’t think this is saying to totally shut off your personality just in case the bosses hit up your social networking page. But, the bottom line is that no boss wants to see their employee partaking in any “indiscretion”. Viral networking is the way of the world these days, so are we really suprised that employers would use our social networking pages as sort of an online resume? Hardly.

Here’s what the article says:

“What [hiring managers] encounter [online] could determine your fate before you get the chance to wow them with your charming personality and sterling credentials.”

In other words, employers could judge you negatively before they meet you based on your online presence. But do you really want to work for someone who disapproves of your personal life?

The article also advises: “It comes to down to monitoring your online presence.” This is a myth. You cannot really control what appears on Facebook. Anybody can take a photo of you out in the world and tag it with your name.

You can control who you are, and if you don’t want pictures of yourself drunk at a party finding their way into a potential employer’s Google search, the only way to do it is to confiscate cameras or drink alone at your own home. But I propose an alternate strategy: embrace who you are. Invite anyone to Google you. If they are offended by your digital legacy, you probably do not want that job anyway.

I don’t think that it is necessarily true to say that if they are offended by my digital legacy that I probably wouldn’t want the job anyway. I go on boating trips all summer, and I don’t want my boss to see my bikini clad body while I’m shot-gunning a beer, or twelve. Just because I don’t want my boss to see it doesn’t mean that I don’t want to work for him/her. I’m not offended by it, but it isn’t a situation that I want crossing over into my professional life. Plus, when you work for individuals who are older than you, they may get offended by things that you do. You are right in the fact that you can’t help what friends and others post, but I am sure that if you asked for things to be taken down, they would comply. I have to take down Party Crasher photos all the time because the person may be a teacher and not want their ass-grabbing photo on the web.

I just don’t think it’s as cut and dry to say that if my boss, who is married with kids, was offended that I enjoy laying on a boat with a beer bong in my hand for days at a time that I wouldn’t want to work for them.

I’m not saying it is “necessarily true” that you don’t want to work for someone who is offended by what they find under your name on Google. I’m just saying that if your future coworkers are intolerant of the person you truly are, that’s probably not a great omen for the job.

Your comment also brings up another fascinating point, one which was not covered by Mr. Gonzales or the rest of the discussion. You “don’t want your boss to see [photos] of your bikini-clad body while shot-gunning a beer” (although apparently you don’t mind him stumbling across this thread and forming a mental picture based on your statement). You have a right to privacy, and I applaud you for doing whatever you want with your own time. There is a line between your public and private life which no one has the right to cross without your permission.

The rise of the web, however, has sharply cast that line from a broad gray into increasing focus. What you do at a bar or a party or camping trip or a sorority meeting or with friends or with anyone else is no longer effectively private. The combined power of search engines and self-publication means that anything you do anywhere except in your own home is subject to public scruitiny.

Mr. Gonzales’ article implies this reality is a call to censorship, rallying us to “clean up our digital dirt.” I believe otherwise. The inescapble assimilation of the Internet into our lives means that we shall be forced to embrace our true selves, not hide behind masks like “professional”, “student”, “parent”, “teacher” or “friend”. You deserve better than associating with people who only want to see one side of your personality. Let’s all take the ‘be yourself’ platitude to heart.

Well the great thing about my boss is that he would approve of any and all vices I partake in as long as I post them as a gallery on Party Crashers :)

I think all your points are valid, and I wish that we didn’t have to worry about cleaning up our digital profile because it is personal. I wish we could all sit in front of superiors and say that what I do outside of work is “none of your damn business”. Unfortunately we have to be careful of everything we put out there because that one nasty photo or joke that went to far could be the deciding factor between you and another candidate. Furthermore, a supervisor might think that your actions, though personal, don’t reflect well on the company. If this wasn’t the case, why do all these politicians have to resign because they have affairs? Who are we to say that they can’t go outside their marriage and hook up with another man?

Bottom line…privacy settings are your friend.

Robby, that doesn’t change the fact that such information and images online can hurt your chances of getting a job. Like it or not, work often requires you to project a professional image. There’s a reason we don’t do certain things at work that we do or say on our own time. However, I do think it’s pretty crappy that employers can use the ‘net to look into your personal time and make a business call based on that — granted, you DID put it online, but I’d like my employer to realize that everyone’s allowed to do whatever they want on their own time.

Factual information about you which is freely available online can definitely hurt your chances of getting a job. My point is this: you probably don’t want that job.

This is not to say employment does not come without compromises. However, I do not feel that hiding parts of your public life is a wide trade-off. You can’t win anyway (Google is indexing faster than you are cleaning) and part of you will be miserable as you keep the secret.

You make a point, but considering the state of the job market now, I can see how many would feel more comfortable removing a few drunken pics from their profile.

You mention that one wouldn’t want to work for an employer that criticized their personal life. If you’re willing to possibly restrict the number of employers willing to hire you, then sure, don’t worry about removing anything. But keep in mind, it’s TOUGH getting a new job these days and the opinion one employer has doesn’t necessarily reflect what everyone that works there thinks. The article is just suggesting you be careful and play it safe to increase your chances at getting a job.

Finally, you’re not completely destroying an indication of your personality online by removing a few pics. The article just says to watch out for: “drinking and drug use, provocative photos, discriminatory remarks about race, gender and sexual orientation and unprofessional screen names”

Take the blog of author Matt Gonzales: http://consumat.wordpress.com
You can certainly read into Matt’s personality from the blog without any “self-incriminating online activity.”

Ben, of course you’re right. I’m not trying to give practical advice about how to get a job in this market, I’m just trying to remind people that (a) reigning in your personal life is a slippery slope and (b) you can’t out-index Google anyway.

As far as Mr. Gonzales, I am sure there are some employers who would not hire him based on his choice of words in the title of this article (click through):

Kudos to Mr. Gonzales for using language that appeals to him, instead of carefully avoiding slang that might prevent him from a future job at an uptight employer.

Right on, and you make good points too. If an employer ran into political thoughts of mine online and refused to hire me because of them, that likely is not a place I’d want to work. I think it was mainly the “disturbingly terrible advice” part of your post that put people on Matt’s defense.

No matter what, I think that we’d all agree that at least thinking about and checking on what pics and info there is about you online is a good idea before doing some hardcore job hunting.

You’re right “disturbingly terrible” was a rather harsh choice of words. My intent was not to attack Mr. Gonzales as a journalist, but to tear down the logic of what I feel is an impossible and ill-advised suggestion.

I agree that you should Google yourself before searching for a job. However, I would not do so with the intent of cleaning up your online image, but rather, being prepared to discuss in your interview what the search engines (and therefore everyone) knows about you.

I just don’t want my future employers to know that I like to butter up and roll around in breadcrumbs.

Me too! omg, isn’t that the best thing ever?!