CAN YOUR DIGITAL FOOTPRINT KEEP YOU UNEMPLOYED?

by Willette Coleman

What does your online life say about your character?  That’s what Hiring Managers (HMs) want to know.  Through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Tinder, tumblr, blogs, Youtube and other social media, even emails and credit reporting agencies, employers are snooping into your online activities and getting to know you without your knowledge; blurring the public/privacy line.  More than half of employers now use social media to screen job candidates, poll says; even send friend requests a Cleveland.com/business headline read.   So, when managers say “We’ll do a background check,” they might not tell you to what extent.

If HMs see naked pictures/sexting (women judged more harshly than men?); photos of alcohol/drug consumption; of you, friends or family members making gang signs, wearing gang paraphernalia; read profane and/or hateful blame/shame comments; threats/bullying, being down right rude/crude; criticism of jobs or colleagues; memberships in questionable circles and organizations; false information, poor communication skills including grammar that looks like alphabet soup, will it matter?  “What you say online matters...and what your friends say matters too,” Leigh Goessl said in Does Your Internet Reputation Matter to Employers?   

A Career Builder study found that “provocative photos on the candidate’s social media profile” was “the biggest factor influencing their decision not to hire an applicant.”   ReputationManagement.com reported that statistics suggest 56 percent of U.S. employers “are influenced by ‘inappropriate comments and text’ posted by the applicant; 55 percent are influenced by ‘unsuitable photos, video and information’ and 43 percent by ‘inappropriate’ postings by friends and relatives.”    

Clearly, if there’s any shadow of a doubt, an applicant will be rejected.  And, since life is mostly about what and how people perceive, perception plays a major role in a HMs assessment of a job applicant’s online behavior.    

HeadsUp ~ A dirty (or perceived dirty) online presence could also

impact budding entrepreneurs’ applications for grants or loans.

Is it Legal?

Robert McHale warned employers that Using Facebook To Screen Potential Hires Can Get You Sued, regarding ~   

·       Discrimination (race, age, gender, disability, and so on.).  Despite violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964, implicit racism moves some HMs to discriminate against people of color.  Can Black people or older people be targeted based on their photo?  

·       Invasion of privacy.  Controversy as to whether the Constitution expressly protects privacy in the Bill of Rights continues, so you’d need compelling proof.  

·       “Of Duty” laws.  In some states, your non-working hours activities are nobody’s business but your own.  New York’s job candidates and employees’ “lawful recreational activities, including political activities, during nonworking hours” are protected under Labor Code § 201-d.  HeadsUp ~  To check your state’s or territory’s “Off-duty” laws, type the name of your state/territory and “off-duty laws” in a search engine.

·       Free Speech.  This could become entangled in “a dog chasing its tail” dispute, despite the merits based on the Bill of Rights’ First Amendment. 

In addition to being sued, Roni Jacobson cautioned that, Facebook Snooping on Job Candidates May Backfire for Employers by damaging their rep.  The Journal of Business and Psychology found that “when job applicants realize an organization has viewed their social media profile, they are less likely to perceive the hiring process as fair, regardless of whether they were offered the position.”  HeadsUp ~ Industrial psychology is a lucrative career.

Honest, diligent and a formal process, similar to the guidelines in the Chartered Institute of Professional Development, could go a long way to circumvent violating federal and state laws, including Fair Credit Reporting (FCRA), and maintaining an employers’ integrity.  In the spirit of transparency, HMs could - a) provide a short paragraph on the application informing applicants up front, b) ask applicants’ permission to view their social media, c) offer the option to sign a written consent.  It would certainly look good to offer an applicant the opportunity to respond to questionable activity.    

DIY  Clean Up

Keeping your online life clean is a career life skill that can go a long way to achieving success. 

1.    “Go Google yourself/GGY” (No, that’s not an insult.).  In today’s “wired” world, “Google-ing” yourself is self-preservation.  Just put your name in quotes (i.e. “Janice L. Jones,” or “James M. Jones.”) into a couple of search engines, click search and you might be pleasantly surprised.  If unpleasantly surprised, delete anything that might be considered offensive.  If you’re unsure, ask someone. That family member, friend or acquaintance who seems to be critical about everything (in a good way) could be helpful.  HeadsUp ~ Regrettably, even after deleting photos, comments, web pages and blogs, they may not be “deleted” in the virtual world.  For example, the FBI was able to retrieve emails Hillary Clinton deleted a year ago.

Mistaken identity is the utmost reason to GGY.  One job applicant, Kevin G. told Forbes.com/Learnvest about how his self-search revealed a sex offender with the same name, even though the sex offender’s middle initial was different.  Is there a despicable same-name person who could be mistaken for you?  Unfortunately, some employers might not invest the time to dig deeper, especially if under a deadline and have hundreds of applications.  Nonetheless, Reputationmanagement.com cautions employers to be sure they “have reliable information before immediately disqualifying a candidate.”  They also advise employers to hire someone un-involved in the hiring process to review applicants’ social media.  HeadsUp ~ Job seekers should take a look at this site to get some insight into what employers are advised to prioritize.

2.    If DIY is your thing, BrandYourself.com offers a free clean up tool.  If not, “online clean up” or “cyber-scrubbing” services like Reputation.com's ReputationDefender (starting at $250 monthly) promises to “fix negative search results” including on MySpace.  You may no longer use MySpace, but it might contain some past damaging comments you’ve forgotten.  HeadsUp ~ Check out BrandYourself’s jobs/careers.  If you understand the ins and outs of behind-the-scenes technology, i.e. coding (Got kids?  Check out computer coding or kids) backlinks, algorithms, etc., you could earn a living in this profitable industry.

In his post, How to Clean Up Your Online Reputation, Allan Hoffman suggests you “sign up at Google Alerts….”  The service mainly monitors whether your name has been mentioned  or “pinned” anywhere on the net.  It’s likely that the person mentioning your name is the one who reviewed your social media and is the individual to contact.  As with cleaning up your credit report, you should have non-credible mentions removed.


Linkedin alerts users to the number of people who have reviewed their profile, but you must subscribe to its “Premium” services to see who. 

Can you lock out snoopers? 

Probably not.  Hackers will admit that “nothing on the Internet is secure.”  Privacy settings help, but unscrupulous HMs might attempt to bypass your privacy setting by impersonating as a “friend,” as Cleveland.com reported. 

Encryption apps, like Gabriel, by VirnetX, promises users “peace of mind;” that your data is stored only on your devices, “be it phone, tablet or computer.”  A word of caution:  It pays to do some checking on apps’ developers before you download.  For example, VirnetX is a “patent troll,” according to Wikipedia, which IT professionals consider “contentious.”  Also, with some apps, you might be giving the developer access to ALL of your email and other social media content as reported is the price paid by users that download the Pokemon Go app.  Also, according to NakedSecurity, the game is susceptible to malware. 

No Online Presence?

You’re a private person with no online presence?  Well…..you could be between a rock and a hard place.  A CareerBuilder’s Social Media Recruitment Survey found “35 Percent of Employers [are] Less Likely to Interview Applicants They Can’t Find Online.”  And, since hiring managers also recruit candidates via social media (a Jobvite survey found 2/3 of Companies Now Recruit via Facebook, Over Half Use Twitter and Almost All Use LinkedIn), an online presence has become a necessary career tool.          

As noted, online caution cannot be underestimated.  Many people still don’t get it, or just WON’T believe it, but the Internet is not, I repeat NOT, a private place.  Hence, the terms world-wide-web (www) and Inter –“net.”  Nets are designed to gather/trap stuff.  People tend to dismiss the fact that their online entries and photos, no longer belong to them exclusively; unlike those pasted in personal photo albums resting in a drawer or on a shelf at home.  Even pictures and content on your iphone are susceptible to Internet trollers get a kick out of hacking into devices.  (See:  How to Protect Your iPhone Data Against Hackers and Malicious Activity.)

Some Internet trollers work for companies to “lift” photos and paste them in ads to pretend you’ve endorsed a product, a major complaint by Dr. OZ.  But, you don’t have to be famous for deceitful people to place your photo on their website praising their product or service; even photo shopping your image on to a porno site. (See: Stolen Profile Photos, Can You Protect Yours?)

According to abine.com, an online privacy blog, “Under many websites’ Terms of Use, you lose rights in whatever you post as soon as you post it.  That’s why it’s absolutely key that you think before you post…”    

Remember: 

1.    Like GPS systems, your (and my) digital footprints are tracked…by “cookies.”  Our every Internet move, from searching for jobs, loans, scholarships, and housing to dating sites, is recorded by this innocent sounding file embedded in computers.  You can learn how to turn off cookies at Onlineonguard.gov. 

 

2.    Most importantly, YOU put your likeness and personal information in cyberspace or the “cloud.”  Consequently, you’re willingly allowing anyone to peek into your life, which is why “invasion of privacy” may be difficult to prove. 

Finally, I kind of went off track in some areas in this post, but the point is that, even if you’re a veteran employee, you’re not exempt from your employer scoping your social media, which is why, in the final analysis, reputation still matters.  INTEGRITY COUNTS!  The best practice – which is old-school - is:  “Say it, forget it.  Write it, regret it.”   

Magic, Miracles & Blessings!

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