Hiring managers: would an applicant's lack of social media presence be a minus in your book?

[Doctor_Jackson]

@Omar_Little

What if you googled the prospective candidate and learned that they had served in the military; just had a birthday and turned 45; that they were originally from Pakistan; they belonged to a support group for the disability they have; or they were on the board of their local Christian denomination church; and after the interview you decided not to hire them. Could you prove that you didn’t use that knowledge to discriminate against the candidate?

For the same reason that interviewers are not supposed to ask certain questions during interviews that could highlight potentially discriminating topics, we have a policy of not searching social media sites about candidates.

^^^ This, a thousand time this.

Their are certain things you cannot ask in an interview even in the most indirect fashion - family status, religion, sexual orientation, to name just a few - that may well show up on a social media site. All it takes is one candidate who feels they were passed over for a job because of a protected status and you will be fighting a potentially very expensive lawsuit.

From a hiring perspective, there is very little to gain against potentially catastrophic loss.

[JohnT]

@Skald_the_Rhymer

I manage an inside sales call center. We’re preparing to start hiring account managers–the entry level positions. Some of my team leaders are also fairly new to their jobs, so I’ve been talking to them about the process. One of them–a fairly young woman–has mentioned that she always checks out applicants’ Twitter feeds, Facebook pages, LinkedIn accounts, and so forth before asking them back for a second interview. If she can’t find a social media presence with a Google search, she considers it a strike against them, as she wonders what they’re hiding and why. No visibility on social media = no callback for a second interview.

I advised her against the latter attitude, as it strikes me as … questionable. But then I am old. So I ask Dopers who are in hiring positions at their companies: if a job applicant has no social media presence, would you be dismayed? If so, why?

Not at all. Hell, it would kind of convince me of a candidates seriousness in their approach to life that they don’t have a SM presence.

[Johnny_Bravo]

@Skald_the_Rhymer

If she can’t find a social media presence with a Google search, she considers it a strike against them, as she wonders what they’re hiding and why. No visibility on social media = no callback for a second interview.

I advised her against the latter attitude, as it strikes me as … questionable.

This goes beyond questionable and way into creepy, in my book. She’s definitely projecting. Probably got burned in the past when somebody posted a picture of her passed out drunk with male genitalia sharpied onto her face.

What’s that? I’m making a completely unfounded assumption based on a single irrelevant data point? Yeah, I probably shouldn’t do that.

If I found out that I’d been turned down for a job because my relative stealth internet presence made me difficult to internet stalk, I’d be seriously insulted but also kind of glad that I wasn’t going to be working for a crazy person.

[even_sven]

@Novelty_Bobble

This seems a curious position to take. It is possible that someone understands social networks, knows how to use them and decides that there is no net benefit for them. Hardly a cause to be wary of them.

To me that actually shows a sensible head as it is perfectly possible understand your industry as an anonymous entity but to trash you and your companies reputation online without any effort at all one really needs a social media presence.

So I’d take the completely opposite view to you. Social media online presence = greater potential problem. Someone who goes to the trouble of getting the most out the online world while not exposing themselves or my company to undue risk sounds like a good catch to me.

And that line of thinking would make me wonder if they don’t trust their own judgment or something. I want to work with people who take smart risks, who are willing to stand behind what they say, and who don’t shy away from taking an active part in their professional community. At the very least, I’d expect to see a LinkedIn profile.

[Northern_Piper]

I take a very active part in my professional community, thanks, both locally and nationally - by personal contacts, conventions, membership in professional associations, seminars, and social activities. None of that has anything to do with LinkedIn. Sorry I don’t meet your idiosyncratic standards.

[DrDeth]

@JohnT

Not at all. Hell, it would kind of convince me of a candidates seriousness in their approach to life that they don’t have a SM presence.

To an extent. FB? Sure. But a serious professional could very well have a LinkedIn presence, with plenty of connections.

[gaffa]

@Voyager

I’d use my gmail address for a job search, because the name is better, but I wish that someday someone would tell me to ditch my Yahoo address for that reason. That I could tell him I was using email before he was probably born, and if he knew how to send email without DNS. Or what “bang” means.
It would be fun.

Yes! I know some hardcore computer security professionals, and it is a mark of distinction in their circles that their given names or personal e-mail addresses have little to no search visibility. I host a site on one’s server, and had to go through a bit of a process to get a secure e-mail communication method set up with him. I suspect it would be easier to hire a hit man.

I have no personal Facebook, and virtually all my on-line activity is via handles. I feel better, and I think it is far more professional. And like you, I go back to the days of bang addressing and can recall my first e-mail address with an at sign - it was on the very first commercial ISP - @world.std.com.

Maybe it’s a mark of my age, but I value discretion more than indiscretion. What does this bozo think she’s going to see on someone’s Facebook? Their love of child porn or what? The real danger of Facebook is not your own posts, but your idiot friends putting up embarrassing pictures and tagging you, like what happened to MSNBC host Krystal Ball (Note: If your parents tagged you with a name that sounds like one a stripper would choose, don’t let yourself be photographed drunk at parties.)

[Voyager]

@even_sven

And that line of thinking would make me wonder if they don’t trust their own judgment or something. I want to work with people who take smart risks, who are willing to stand behind what they say, and who don’t shy away from taking an active part in their professional community. At the very least, I’d expect to see a LinkedIn profile.

People managed to take an active part in their professional community long before there was a Facebook. In my community, writing and reviewing papers and being involved in journals and conferences count for more than a LinkedIn page and especially a Facebook page.
As for company, my rather large company does not want thousands of people sounding off about it on Facebook. The marketing group is in charge of that.

My wife is a writer, and makes money at it. She goes to local writers meetings where there are tons of people who think that their “platform” is far more important than actually writing, let alone writing something decent.

After all, the most secure Facebook page is no Facebook page.

[Voyager]

@DrDeth

To an extent. FB? Sure. But a serious professional could very well have a LinkedIn presence, with plenty of connections.

I accept requests for connections, and I can have a lot more if I wanted to. But my real network is knowing most people in my field, and, more importantly, them knowing me.

My father taught me to always be favor positive, that is have more people owe you favors than you owe them. That’s serve me well. Blathering about what you had for dinner don’t cut it.

[Freddy_the_Pig]

@Voyager

As for company, my rather large company does not want thousands of people sounding off about it on Facebook. The marketing group is in charge of that.

Same here. We regularly get warned about posting anything work-related on social media, even positive stuff. It’s super-easy to disclose inside information, to violate customer confidentiality, or to go off-message.

[Karen_Lingel]

@even_sven

I want to work with people … who are willing to stand behind what they say

You mean, like people who use pseudonyms on the SDMB?

[etv78]

@Chronos

The advice I’ve heard on e-mail addresses is just to keep it professional-looking. So firstnamelastname@yahoo.com is fine, but fluffybunny69@gmail.com isn’t.

same here. mine is initialslast2digitsofbirthyear@domain

[even_sven]

@Karen_Lingel

You mean, like people who use pseudonyms on the SDMB?

Not everything, of course. But most people I work around have professionally oriented social media accounts where they repost major reports from key players, weigh in smartly on industry news and development, and make announcements that may be of interest to their professional network. I do work with a lot of super geeks though, so I recognize your mileage/industry/area may vary. And yeah, I don’t think any company wants uncontrolled messages going out by their employees.

If someone didn’t have an account, I wouldn’t think much of it. But if they let it be known that they didn’t have an account because they are afraid the Facebook is going to ruin their life, I’d wonder if they don’t actually know what social media is, or if they can’t even trust themselves not to make their linked in photo a drunken selfie or something.

[Winston_Smith]

On the other hand, I’d see a big social media footprint as a drawback, too. I’m a hiring manager in the IT industry, and what I want to see is pretty much what I have out there - a basic LinkedIn profile that tells a little, but not all, and a facebook profile that doesn’t share much (if any) personal info with the Public Domain. I want discretion and restraint in the folks I hire. A background check and 30 minutes with a search engine is likely to turn up any dirty laundry that might be out there.

[gaffa]

@Karen_Lingel

You mean, like people who use pseudonyms on the SDMB?

I love that the Dope is pseudonym-friendly. Even some of the most benign and positive aspects of one’s life can be a pain to explain in a job interview. For instance, I shoot videos of performances by kids in the School of Rock program. I put up on YouTube the ones that I think are the best performances from a particular show. Recently, I got this in my e-mail:

Hey this is ****** ***********, I used to go to the ************ School of Rock and there are a few videos of me on your channel.

I have recently started job searching and have gone through a few interviews and a few of my interviewers have mentioned the School of Rock videos after googling their possible employees. I know these don’t really hurt my chances of getting hired anywhere, but it is getting tiring explaining that I prefer not to go into detail about School of Rock. I was wondering if there were any chance of you taking those videos down?

I didn’t take them down, as there were plenty of other kids in the same videos. But I did obscure her name so it would no longer show up in a Google search. So, even though she did a fine job and was and should be proud of her performance, it was taking up time that should have been spent talking about her college career and what she could do for the company.

For instance, a while back, there was a trend of people taking over old “joke” newsgroups for social discussion completely unrelated the original joke. Do you necessarily want to explain all this about why you were hanging out on alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.bestiality.hamster.duct-tape.d?

ETA: I checked her visibility, and now her highest rated Google search result is her account on DeviantArt.com. Winning!

[HMS_Irruncible]

@Skald_the_Rhymer

I manage an inside sales call center. We’re preparing to start hiring account managers–the entry level positions. Some of my team leaders are also fairly new to their jobs, so I’ve been talking to them about the process. One of them–a fairly young woman–has mentioned that she always checks out applicants’ Twitter feeds, Facebook pages, LinkedIn accounts, and so forth before asking them back for a second interview. If she can’t find a social media presence with a Google search, she considers it a strike against them, as she wonders what they’re hiding and why. No visibility on social media = no callback for a second interview.

If someone said this to me, I’d take them into a private room and pull up their social media accounts. Then I’d point at some random thing and say “I’m sorry, but the company just doesn’t need someone like this.” When she wails “THAT’S NOT FAIRRRRR”… bam. Teachable moment. She could learn a valuable lesson about being judgmental. Naturally, I’d still fire her for being an entitled idiot.

[buckgully]

I only ever post pictures of my penis on Facebook. That way, when people like the woman in the OP google my name and find that, they’ll say “Damn, we need to hire this guy, like right now!” while nodding appreciatively.

And no living human being has typed out a twitter message since June, 17th 2010. After that it’s all markov-chain bots, RSS feeds, and marketing consultants.

[Voyager]

@even_sven

If someone didn’t have an account, I wouldn’t think much of it. But if they let it be known that they didn’t have an account because they are afraid the Facebook is going to ruin their life, I’d wonder if they don’t actually know what social media is, or if they can’t even trust themselves not to make their linked in photo a drunken selfie or something.

Kind of like if they said they didn’t want to go out to lunch in a place that serves alcohol because they can’t trust themselves not to drink too much and make a mess? Yeah, such a person has too problems - lack of control and a big mouth during an interview.

[Leaper]

Hm, I just checked Google. Most of the results for my (ethnic-sounding) name are me, but the top Facebook, Google Plus, and Twitter results are NOT (I don’t even have two of those).

Double hm. There’s also two old addresses and phone numbers listed on a website called People By Name. Brrr.

[Dereknocue67]

No, it would be a plus.