employeeze

I have been quietly chuckling over the “social network revolution”. LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook, MySpace, etc. etc. were touted as the “latest and greatest” concepts in business history. But, the funny thing is that sales/marketing/recruiter professionals have *always* known the value of networking.  Remember in the early nineties when multi-level marketing tried to change its industry image by changing it’s nomenclature to “network marketing”?

 I have been preparing a slide deck (PPT) for a keynote address I am giving next week. I’m changing out my content this year, so I sent the deck to three of my recruiting colleagues for input and review. One of my most trusted contacts reminded me to stress the importance of social networking sites such as FaceBook and LinkedIn. 

“… one thing you might want to mention….Social networks ( tell people to clean up there profiles, facebook, myspace, twitter) we are check[ing] candidates out now a days and I ave more than once closed someone out for the content on there site.”

 You may or may not have heard stories of people that have gotten fired for calling in sick and then posted pictures of their “time off” on their MySpace accounts while playing hookie. Or the person who posted a clip on YouTube showing her “exotic dancing” routine, while applying to law schools.  These may seem extreme cases of people not watching their internet presence, but it is just as important to keep your other social network profiles up to date. For example, putting on your LinkedIn profile a group affiliation with the KKK isn’t such a great idea.  More subtle, but just as noticable, is having a job on your profile that *isn’t* on your resume. Remember that job you took for three months last year that didn’t work out? The one that you decided not to put on your resume but DO have on your Plaxo profile? That is what we are talking about. Falsifying your education or employment information are the biggest no-no’s out there. 

 The legalities of using the internet and sites as mentioned have been hotly debated in HR circles the last few years, but the truth of the matter is that if it’s on the web, it’s public domain.  If you must have a site that reflects your personality, make sure that you use some kind of a handle that won’t come up in a google search. For example,  my MySpace account, which I use to keep in touch with my 25 year old sister and where I post my more interesting tidbits on life (like the slightly wild New Year’s Eve party I attended), won’t come up in a google search for my name or any of my public email addresses. My LinkedIn profile,  on the other hand, tells you pretty much what I’ve been doing with my life the last ten years. 

 So be sure to put your best foot…and face…forward. 

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