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Everyone seems to be looking at this backwards... I thought that the prevailing view around here was that, when applying for a job, you are interviewing the co

by blhack 17y ago

Everyone seems to be looking at this backwards... I thought that the prevailing view around here was that, when applying for a job, you are interviewing the company as much (and if you're talented, even more) than they are interviewing you. To me, if an employer asked me anything about my HN, or Slashdot, or reddit, or gibsonandlily, or facebook, or myspace, or whatever other silly social network I had signed up for in the past profile, it would be a "thank you for your time, but I'm not interested" response from me. I suspect that the type of employer that has issues with boundaries like facebook and myspace is also going to have issues with boundaries like "I am using the two weeks allowed per year of vacation to go to the lake with my family. I am not on call right now, do not get angry if I don't respond to your emails immediately". In other words, them even asking about your profile should be a major red flag.

yangyang 17y ago
If it's public, you've got to expect people to see it, including potential employers. It's ridiculous to expect anything else. If they don't like it, they don't necessarily need to talk to you about it. You just might end up not being considered. The signing in in front of them thing is an exception but it doesn't seem to actually happen anyway, so that's a red herring.
rapind 17y ago
I agree that it's a two-way interview, and that's really the only way to look at it. Even if you really need a job, you're better off waiting to find a good fit. However, I disagree than a potential employer looking over our online persona is necessarily a negative thing. In fact, I think it can be positive in that it suggested the hiring manager is doing some real work to check out their candidates. Just like anything there are lines you can cross, but that's just common sense. Asking for a potential hire to login into their FB and show their world shows a complete lack of common sense in almost any context. Checking out a potential hire's technical background for a technical position is certainly within the realm of common sense, and I think it would be negligent not to. There may be a wealth of relevant information available online about the candidate, and this shouldn't be ignored. Likewise, I would recommend putting in the effort to check out the employer's history too. Using google, wayback machine, chief staff members, etc. It doesn't take long and give's you a much better idea about the opportunity. Most employer's would find that kind of research shows commitment to finding a good fit.

by blhack 17y ago

yangyang 17y ago

If it's public, you've got to expect people to see it, including potential employers. It's ridiculous to expect anything else. If they don't like it, they don't necessarily need to talk to you about it. You just might end up not being considered. The signing in in front of them thing is an exception but it doesn't seem to actually happen anyway, so that's a red herring.

rapind 17y ago

I agree that it's a two-way interview, and that's really the only way to look at it. Even if you really need a job, you're better off waiting to find a good fit. However, I disagree than a potential employer looking over our online persona is necessarily a negative thing. In fact, I think it can be positive in that it suggested the hiring manager is doing some real work to check out their candidates. Just like anything there are lines you can cross, but that's just common sense. Asking for a potential hire to login into their FB and show their world shows a complete lack of common sense in almost any context. Checking out a potential hire's technical background for a technical position is certainly within the realm of common sense, and I think it would be negligent not to. There may be a wealth of relevant information available online about the candidate, and this shouldn't be ignored. Likewise, I would recommend putting in the effort to check out the employer's history too. Using google, wayback machine, chief staff members, etc. It doesn't take long and give's you a much better idea about the opportunity. Most employer's would find that kind of research shows commitment to finding a good fit.