do you take yourself off facebook when applying for a job?

I know someone from my uni who made a whole 'fake' public facebook for this purpose

He put his real facebook on private.

He asked us to post positive messages on the 'fake' facebook
His wall was like:
'Thank you for being there for me the other night, you are a reliable friend'
'You are awesome, thank you so much!'
'I can't believe you collected that much money at the fundraiser!'
'Good luck with the job-hunt, they'd have to be CRAZY not to employ you'
etc. etc.

Kinda got out of hand when one of our friends posted a message thanking him for saving his dog from a house fire. :biggrin:

Awesome idea though. Thinking of doing it myself.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 21

buyingtheticket

13

Original post by didgeridoo12uk

when applying for a job do you...
- leave facebook as it is
- massively restrict access
- temporarily disable your account

I did massively restrict access but now I don't understand why I was so paranoid about it.

Reply 22

CalB92

15

I just change my settings so people can't find me in search results, it's a bit extreme to close your account.

Reply 23

Spinnerette

16

My profile is private and it doesnt have my face as an icon and it only shows that I am female. It hides my friendslist so there'd be no point, you can't differentiate me from the other 34 Louise -insert surname-'s

Reply 24

didgeridoo12uk

OP

16

Original post by Spinnerette

My profile is private and it doesnt have my face as an icon and it only shows that I am female. It hides my friendslist so there'd be no point, you can't differentiate me from the other 34 Louise -insert surname-'s

does that not make it really quite difficult for new friends to find you on facebook?

Reply 25

RNBen

14

I don't have a Facebook, so have no real issues as far as people finding me online. :smile:

Reply 26

callum9999

16

Original post by CalB92

I just change my settings so people can't find me in search results, it's a bit extreme to close your account.

How do you do that? I seem to have been on that setting since the beginning as no-one can ever find me on there.

Reply 27

Sarky

18

No, my facebook account isn't open to the world. And I don't have anything inappropriate on there anyway.

Reply 28

didgeridoo12uk

OP

16

Original post by RNBen

I don't have a Facebook, so have no real issues as far as people finding me online. :smile:

how on earth do you organise your life without facebook?

Reply 29

yahyahyah

7

mate, why isn't your profile just on private?

non-issue.

Reply 30

py0alb

3

Original post by Ninat

I know someone from my uni who made a whole 'fake' public facebook for this purpose

He put his real facebook on private.

He asked us to post positive messages on the 'fake' facebook
His wall was like:
'Thank you for being there for me the other night, you are a reliable friend'
'You are awesome, thank you so much!'
'I can't believe you collected that much money at the fundraiser!'
'Good luck with the job-hunt, they'd have to be CRAZY not to employ you'
etc. etc.

Kinda got out of hand when one of our friends posted a message thanking him for saving his dog from a house fire. :biggrin:

Awesome idea though. Thinking of doing it myself.

It would be just too tempting to write something like: "Congratulations, I knew they couldn't make those rape charges stick" two days before the interview.

Reply 31

Jessaay!

15

To be honest, if you have to restrict access so vitally for people to even consider you employable, you're doing something wrong with your life and probably publishing too muhc of it on facebook.

I do have drunk pictures on my facebook, but nothing massively inappropriate.

Reply 32

angrydanmarin

14

Debenham's and McDonalds wont check your facebook, but lawyer and accountancy firms do. You may have a common name, but with a few extra info such as school or town, it's easy to find anybody.

As for privacy settings, facebook don't own any of the pictures of information on the site. You may set privacy settings, but firms can easily get around these. It's all well and good if you have nothing illegal on there, but any sign of a spliff or major alchahol consumption and you can consider yourself far from hired

Reply 33

Spinnerette

16

Original post by didgeridoo12uk

does that not make it really quite difficult for new friends to find you on facebook?

I am not bothered new friends usually find me through other friends if they are friends of my current friends list.

Reply 34

MagicNMedicine

20

I think people are overly paranoid about this. An employer isn't going to be shocked by the idea that you have photos of you at parties. Most big firms have a big social culture anyway. There are some things which will create a bad impression, eg a lad at my uni, who was applying for Teach First, his profile picture was of him kneeling down sucking on a bottle which was strategically being held by his mate at crotch level, and his interests were "your Mum" and "raping orphans". That probably didn't enhance his chances if they saw it!

I have my facebook pretty private but to be honest it wouldn't bother me too much if an employer had full access, what they would discover from it is where I went to uni, where I went travelling and the pictures of the things I've done, and some pictures from a good extra curricular I've got, so actually a bit of stalking would verify that I haven't been making it up. There's nothing offensive written on my wall, if they want to browse through it they would just see a bit of chat about football and some posted news articles about economic issues that I've been discussing with mates.

I reckon with most people what you need to watch for, more than facebook (where most people have high privacy settings anyway) is what a google search of your name reveals. Eg, if you are applying for a job with the Civil Service, and you are telling them on your application form that you are non-aligned politically, and a google search brings up stuff you've been posting on socialist websites, stuff about you as the socialist worker organiser on campus and so on, your blog discussing direct action against the state, then its going to be an issue....

Reply 35

kpwxx

20

It's already restricted to non-friends.

Reply 36

Ninat

Original post by MagicNMedicine

I reckon with most people what you need to watch for, more than facebook (where most people have high privacy settings anyway) is what a google search of your name reveals. Eg, if you are applying for a job with the Civil Service, and you are telling them on your application form that you are non-aligned politically, and a google search brings up stuff you've been posting on socialist websites, stuff about you as the socialist worker organiser on campus and so on, your blog discussing direct action against the state, then its going to be an issue....

But as long as the name isn't linked to a photo or other discriminatory details (location etc.) it could just be another person who shares your name?

Reply 37

psychocustard

18

Mine's already on lock down - I don't give a damn if it makes it more difficult for people to comment on pictures and such. If they know me, they're free to add me, I just don't want all my information public for all the world to see!