According to the recent article, “Poster Beware: More bosses watch applicants’ social spaces,” published on the website ArsTechnica.com, and a related article titled “Social-Networking Sites Viewed By Admissions Officers,” published by The Chicago Tribune, the number of schools and corporations Googling applicants is on the rise.
This increase is blurring the line between people’s online and offline lives. A study conducted by CareerBuilder.com does not show any surprises, the main Internet-related reason for managers rejecting job candidates is incidents involving drinking and drug use. The posting of provocative photos or information took second place by only one percentage point. The CareerBuilder.com study also states that 22 percent of employers use social networks to research candidates. While not a majority, it still is a sizable number.
For those planning to further their education, The Chicago Tribune article mentions that 10 percent of admissions officials at “prestigious institutions” check social networks to research candidates. Although 10 percent is a small piece of the pie, as with the CareerBuilder.com study, the survey results are anonymous, so users are unaware who is Googling them.
Stony Brook University officials did not return calls by deadline.
In the case of academia, one reason comes from Christopher Watson, dean of admissions at Northwestern University, who said that his department “?consider[s] Facebook and MySpace [the applicant’s] personal space,” going on to say that to view the applicant’s profiles would “?feel somewhat like an invasion of privacy.”
Despite Watson’s pro-privacy view, there are no set rules governing how far employers and schools can check the Internet for information on candidates.
Jeff Olson, head of research at Kaplan’s test preparation program summed up the issue perfectly: “Today’s application is not just what you send…but whatever they can Google about you.” Right now, it is safe to assume that if it is on the Internet, it is fair game to be considered in an application, even if the content is intended to be private.
