Do you google prospective employees?

[The Captain]

The cheating thread got me thinking...I routinely do a web search on any applicant I'm considering for an interview.

Most of the time the stuff I find in pretty benign. However one time I discovered the total *wreck*. Candidate was originally sold to me by a recruiter as a "Recently divorced" young single mother who REALLY needed the job to help support her young child.

I googled her and found the pictures from partying in France, partying in New York, San Francisco, etc. and then the blog about taking off from work to get in line for an X-box so she could sell it on e-bay. Very explicit about needing the money for furniture for the baby since the deadbeat boyfriend couldn't get a job to help support his kid...

Also stated later in the blog her parents were cutting off financial support so guess she had to get a job even though she didn't know why she had to work when everyone else with kids got to stay home...

Needless to say I didn't even bring her in. Had an interesting discussion with the recruiter about her as well...

[Deleted]

I google everyone. For everything.

[swamp]

Yes I do, but I've never found anything that interesting.

However, I'm on the county drug court team, and each participant signs a contract regarding their behavior and they cannot have any alcohol or drugs. If they're caught, they are facing multiple years in prison. It amazes me how dumb these guys are to have open FB pages and post pictues of themselves partying on there.

[swamp]

I won't hire anyone named John Smith.

[mollyanna58]

Well that's an interesting conversation starter

[justme]

Where I worked now googled me before the interview. I'm proud to say that the only thing that popped up that was actually me was related to my MBA class. ;D I figured being googled is a given so I make sure to keep up the privacy settings on anything online that has my actual name attached, and I don't put my real name on a lot of stuff.

[Sum Dum Gai]

I always google perspective candidates, but when I'm bored at work I google random people I've met too. Parents of the kids my daughters hang out with, people who work in my building, people we meet at fundraisers and stuff, just whoever.

[michelyn8]

Apr 30, 2012 13:11:02 GMT -5 The Captain said:

The cheating thread got me thinking...I routinely do a web search on any applicant I'm considering for an interview.

Most of the time the stuff I find in pretty benign. However one time I discovered the total *wreck*. Candidate was originally sold to me by a recruiter as a "Recently divorced" young single mother who REALLY needed the job to help support her young child.

I googled her and found the pictures from partying in France, partying in New York, San Francisco, etc. and then the blog about taking off from work to get in line for an X-box so she could sell it on e-bay. Very explicit about needing the money for furniture for the baby since the deadbeat boyfriend couldn't get a job to help support his kid...

Also stated later in the blog her parents were cutting off financial support so guess she had to get a job even though she didn't know why she had to work when everyone else with kids got to stay home...

Needless to say I didn't even bring her in. Had an interesting discussion with the recruiter about her as well...

Obviously you had enough information about the candidate to determine you were looking at information about the correct person or were you just assuming?

I get why you'd want to google someone but you need to keep in mind that you run the risk of jumping to a wrong conclusion about someone. I keep my "online presence" as minimal as possble but there are others in my area with the same name as me and who are about the same age. At a previous job I was culling old, out of date applications and came across one where a gal in the next county with the same first and last name as mine and same age range had applied for my position when my predecessor was hired. That means that not only do I have someone with the same name and general age living near me but also in the same line of work.

Just because you find "me" via Google doesn't mean you have the right "me".

[Regis]

Apr 30, 2012 13:25:17 GMT -5 Sum Dum Gai said:

I always google perspective candidates, but when I'm bored at work I google random people I've met too. Parents of the kids my daughters hang out with, people who work in my building, people we meet at fundraisers and stuff, just whoever.

That's not googling, Dark, that's STALKING! ;D

[Sum Dum Gai]

That's not googling, Dark, that's STALKING! ;D

Not true. There are no laws against online stalking. You can be charged with harassment if you make repeated contact online. Just looking is perfectly legal. It's only stalking if you leave the house and follow somebody around in person. I won't say how I know, but trust me on this, I've had first hand experience.

[Cookies Galore]

I would Google prospective employees, sure. I don't care about an employee's perspective, though.


I will Google everyone I can think of. I googled Bf when we started dating. In five years he hasn't killed me once!

[DVM gone riding]

Well as an employee I have googled prospective bosses--a couple I wouldn't work for!!

[buster]

When someone googles my name the get to read about some kid (that has my name) that was murdered back in the late 70's....good times....

[InsertCoolName]

Well I just googled my own name and there's a lot of me!!!!

Everyone I know will be heartbroken to know that there is more than 1 of me. ;D

Can't say that I have used google to know about someone. I just simply ask people I know if they know so and so. Helps that I am in a small town.

[Phoenix84]

"There is a porn star that has my name. When I google it, that's what comes up."

That's actually a big problem with googling someone. Assuming you've never met the person, like googling a job applicant, how do you know if it's THAT John Smith or another John Smith?

[Phoenix84]

"When someone googles my name the get to read about some kid (that has my name) that was murdered back in the late 70's....good times...."

Yeah, when I googled my name it came up with someone who died with my name and how there's a memorial fund for them.

[Sum Dum Gai]

Assuming you've never met the person, like googling a job applicant, how do you know if it's THAT John Smith or another John Smith?

Sometimes you don't, and sometimes you can guess. If the results that come back are a college newspaper story about the person and the year and college match what's on their application, you can be pretty sure it's them. The more unique the name is, the better the results tend to be. I wouldn't even bother googling a John Smith probably. You'll get too many results. La-a Shaquanda Cooper on the other hand... that chick better not ever screw up, cause she's probably the only one out there.

[The Captain]

Apr 30, 2012 16:17:43 GMT -5 Sum Dum Gai said:

Assuming you've never met the person, like googling a job applicant, how do you know if it's THAT John Smith or another John Smith?

Sometimes you don't, and sometimes you can guess. If the results that come back are a college newspaper story about the person and the year and college match what's on their application, you can be pretty sure it's them. The more unique the name is, the better the results tend to be. I wouldn't even bother googling a John Smith probably. You'll get too many results. La-a Shaquanda Cooper on the other hand... that chick better not ever screw up, cause she's probably the only one out there.

This was the case with the person I considered, rather unique name, same graduation date, and even more detailed specifics as to profession and work background. The odds that there were two of her living in the same suburb with the same facts were almost nil, trust me...

[alabamagal]

If you google my son's name you might think he is a prominent advocate for legalizing marijuana and has testified before the legislature in California. Hopefully that doesn't prevent him from getting a job in the future (although he was in his mid teens at the time of the testimony).

[TheOtherMe]

I just found out that I am an attorney!!!! So not true.

I don't use my real name on FB or anywhere on the internet for a reason--Google.

[midjd]

I got lucky in that I took DH's last name just a few days after I was admitted to practice. So if you Google the name I provide on a resume, all you get is my LinkedIn page, some articles I wrote, and links to my employer's website. If I'd kept my maiden name, you'd also be treated to some long-ago-deleted caches from my Livejournal circa 1998, nobody needs to see that

[Deleted]

Please don't hate on me but the word you mean is prospective, not perspective.

Prospective means potential, as in potential employee, which is what you mean. Perspective means your point of view, for example from where you are sitting, or thinking about.

[constanz22]

Apr 30, 2012 19:33:40 GMT -5 @debthaven2 said:

Please don't hate on me but the word you mean is prospective, not perspective.

Prospective means potential, as in potential employee. Perspective means your point of view, from where you are sitting, or thinking.

LOL! Thank you! I wanted to say that too!

[Deleted]

YW Constanz! I hope the OP will not be offended.

[cubefarmer]

Just googled myself and while one would think my name is search engine optimized - it's not because the few people who do share my name - several of them are public people. Some website said there were 25 of us in the USA, but if I am out there I am past page 20 on google search.

[Sam_2.0]

Crap. Go to Google and search your name. Then click on images. Let's just say I am trying to figure out why there are so many pics of me out there (and pics of people I know, that I don't know how I got tagged in).

[DVM gone riding]

the most of "me" that come up are clearly long dead rarer name now more common before

whoo I own an LLC now,
but I have to say the third/fourth thing after linkedin/fb acct things (of which there are more then "me") is so obviously actually me no one could doubt it and once you have one very definitive hit its easy to verify others.

[Cookies Galore]

Apr 30, 2012 19:36:40 GMT -5 constanz22 said:

Apr 30, 2012 19:33:40 GMT -5 @debthaven2 said:

Please don't hate on me but the word you mean is prospective, not perspective.

Prospective means potential, as in potential employee. Perspective means your point of view, from where you are sitting, or thinking.

LOL! Thank you! I wanted to say that too!

I already did.

[quotequeen]

Apr 30, 2012 19:39:04 GMT -5 @debthaven2 said:

YW Constanz! I hope the OP will not be offended.

I don't care if she's offended, I just hope she changes the title so I don't have to cringe every time I open the home page.

[midjd]

OMG Sam, I did that a few months ago - apparently Google+ downloaded all the pics on my phone when I synced my Gmail contacts. Well, the last pic on my phone - and the FIRST pic that popped up when I searched my own name - was a pic DH had taken of himself, mooning me.

I seriously almost had a heart attack before I realized it was only visible to me. But damn did I delete that quickly! So yeah, if you have a smartphone, don't ever take any pictures with it (or let other people take pictures) you wouldn't want potentially uploaded to your Google+ account...

Funny thing is, it was DH's ass on the internet, not mine, but he wasn't embarrassed by it at all.