People Losing Jobs Over Online Posts
from the oops dept
People certainly like to speak freely over the internet, often forgetting that what they say becomes part of some version of a "permanent record". This article says that people are losing their jobs over online posts. It appears that management (and hiring managers) are increasingly using the internet as a "third reference" before hiring anyone (which suggests that Bernard Shifman may have trouble getting hired despite his resume spamming). This article, though, focuses specifically on the UK site "Friends Reunited" which lets former schoolmates and co-workers find each other again. The problem is that many start saying bad things about their employers or themselves - which are then easily found. In one case, someone at a PR company lost her job after calling her boss as the "bitch from hell" and her employers as "a bunch of cowboys". Someone else had admitted in his posts that he was "lying through his teeth at the interview" and that his resume was "a masterpiece of fiction and creative writing".
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Not news
In 2001, Mark Pilgrim lost his job over his weblog (and then got hired for it).
I've lost contract work because of my personal writing online even before that.
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Online 3rd party info
If people are going to use it against people THEN TAKE IT DOWN!
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This is stupid
#2 - If you want to go around posting stuff on the Internet you wouldn't want your boss to see then you can either use an alias or not post it. I admit, what you do on your own free time should not be held against you, but some employers will (the truck driver for Coke comes to mind). These days you pretty much have to live with the consequence of your actions.
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I don't actually see the problem
Anyway, the only other reason I would support this kind of decision is that it shows lack of tact and business acumen to go around spouting off like this in a public forum.
You failed the IQ test Jimmy, you're fired.
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Re: I don't actually see the problem
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Re: I don't actually see the problem
You can't be so naive as to think that your employer doesn't use the web.
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@John
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jobs
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fag
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