Digital Footprint continued. . .

I posted last week about our digital footprint and I would like to talk some more today about it.  I was reading an excerpt from an article for my online class this weekend about this very thing.  I will have to share their statistics on how many employers actually look at social media sites of prospective employees.  These statistics are very interesting.  The employers surveyed for this article used Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter to investigate potential employees.  When looking at these sites employers are looking for potential behavior or attitude problems.  This article reports that 91% of employers it surveyed used social media to scope out prospective employees and 69% reported they had rejected prospects based on their social media sites.   There were a few employers that had requested Facebook log in and password information for prospects.   Just remember that is only the ones we know of, I am sure there are many more.   If you really think about it I would bet if the company really wanted to see your private Facebook information they could find a hacker to get it for a nominal fee.  I hate to say all of this but, it is our reality of a technology crazed world.
Here are my tips for surviving  a job search or even a college entry in our techno savvy society.
  1.  Do not post questionable content (lewd pictures, pictures of you drunk or passed out etc.)
  2.  Do not criticize past employers or colleagues
  3.  Do not use foul language in your posts.
  4.  If you think something is questionable ask someone 20 years older than you, if you are embarrassed to do that do not post it.
  5.  Use strong passwords for your accounts and do not use the same password for multiple accounts.
  6.  If you have posted something that may be questionable go in and delete it and clean up that profile.

According to this article these employers said they had hired employees for something they had posted and they had also rejected someone for something they had posted on their social media sites.

Parents, please be proactive with your kids accounts.  As a parent you should have all of their passwords and log in information for each account they have.  It is our job as parents to make sure they do not ruin their reputation before they are old enough to even have a reputation.  Stay vigilant.

Techno Tuesday. . .

People are losing jobs, being arrested and getting divorced all because of some type of technology.  A woman posts something nasty about her job and she gets fired.   A man posts a picture of himself with another woman and ends up divorced.  Two girls post pictures of themselves in dresses that they had shoplifted earlier that day.   They are later arrested.  These are just a few of the headlines I have seen just this year.
Anyone looking for a job these days better clean up their online fingerprints if they expect to be taken seriously.   My brother in-law had a job interview more than 10 years ago and his prospective employer looked him up.  Funny thing was the employer could not find anything on him.  He has no profiles on any social media. The employer asked him about it the day of the interview,  my brother in-law replied simply that he did not have time for things like that. 
I share this story just to show you that this does happen and more frequently than you think.  I am shocked at the teens and young adults that post pictures of themselves and others intoxicated and passed out.  These do not say I am a reliable employee.   I would not be surprised if colleges do not look into prospective students' online fingerprints.  They may not advertise that they do this but you can bet they are.  
I am thankful I grew up and did all my stupid things before the internet.