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Posted

Hey Photoflyer,

 

i started a new topic on this but it centers around your first post on peeve issues.

 

I was looking at a pilots face book page last week and saw some things there (photos & videos) that would make me throw his resume in the trash and never look back. I'm wondering how many of you do online research on your prospective employees. A back-ground check can be pretty inexpensive when compared to having the wrong person on your team (speaking from experience), and sometimes the bg check misses stuff (like felonies in other states!!).

 

now for those of you that are going to say "but you have to be invited onto their face book page before you can look at their stuff", let's just assume that you can get past that for now (there are ways believe me).

 

just wondering..

 

dp

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Posted
Hey Photoflyer,

 

i started a new topic on this but it centers around your first post on peeve issues.

 

I was looking at a pilots face book page last week and saw some things there (photos & videos) that would make me throw his resume in the trash and never look back. I'm wondering how many of you do online research on your prospective employees. A back-ground check can be pretty inexpensive when compared to having the wrong person on your team (speaking from experience), and sometimes the bg check misses stuff (like felonies in other states!!).

 

now for those of you that are going to say "but you have to be invited onto their face book page before you can look at their stuff", let's just assume that you can get past that for now (there are ways believe me).

 

just wondering..

 

dp

 

 

You have a very good point, and it's one of the reasons I was very hesitant to join facebook or myspace. I finally joined facebook, but I have made a point of making sure that I keep mine at least semi-professional.

 

Hopefully mine is tasteful, and doesn't leave employers with the wrong impression.

Posted

Yet another reason that Facebook and Myspace are completly ridiculus. I never understood why everyone is so fascinated with putting everything there is to know about themselves out there for anyone too see. I understand trying to keep connected but what about the phone, e-mail, texting, etc...... or even good ol' snail mail? No job because of a lame Facebook? I'd hate to be that person though they'd probably never know.

Posted

hmmm, interesting topic.... I'd like to think that my musical and other personal interests have no bearing on my professionalism, at least for the last 16 years it hasn't. It sounds more like you are looking for reasons not to hire someone rather than reason to hire them. I can understand where you are coming from with previous bad experiences but there is that saying "don't beat up your new girlfriend because your ex is a ho" no one can predict the future and no matter who you decide to hire ANYTHING can happen so I believe judging someone's professional capabilitiy on their personal interests would be a big mistake. remember when you go to Vegas scared money doesn't win.

Posted
hmmm, interesting topic.... I'd like to think that my musical and other personal interests have no bearing on my professionalism, at least for the last 16 years it hasn't. It sounds more like you are looking for reasons not to hire someone rather than reason to hire them. I can understand where you are coming from with previous bad experiences but there is that saying "don't beat up your new girlfriend because your ex is a ho" no one can predict the future and no matter who you decide to hire ANYTHING can happen so I believe judging someone's professional capabilitiy on their personal interests would be a big mistake. remember when you go to Vegas scared money doesn't win.

 

But on the same note, if your background image on your myspace page is a Marijuana leaf...that might indicate that your decision making ability leaves a little to be desired...especially in an industry such as ours. I don't believe that anybody would not hire you for liking Beethoven, or Marilyn Manson....just my .02 cents.

 

Ryan

Posted

I'm gonna add a perspective to this.. As a 'boss' (if that is what you want to call me)..I have looked for potential employees myspace pages AND I have used myspace to help prosecute a former employee for stealing from the company (the dope admitted it on line). So myspace does say alot about a person and the carelessness that some use myspace, email, chat, text messaging etc.. It becomes a good tool for prosecutors etc. I do look for people who apply for jobs, on myspace, I dont look hard, I look..if they are easy to find...more power to me and the company I work for.. Funny part is, alot of the younger people...will give you their myspace page info and think nothing of it. I would never not hire someone because I think their myspace is unprofessional (layout etc)...most sites are horrible anyway... I would just read it to find out if they are losers...ie. profanity, mean towards others, derogatory, speak poorly about others on their site etc.. I like nice people and I will do what I can to make sure I find the right people for the job. :)

Posted (edited)

I hear ya'll, I'm playing the devil's advocate more or less for argument's sake. So in that spirit, I was watching an episode of Vice Cops on spike TV the other day and in the police office there was a flag with a marijuana leaf on it :lol: so by that reasoning all the policemen should be fired right!?! hahahhaa ( they obviously as policeman have poor judgement making skills )

 

of course I would support someone taking the appropriate measures to make a good hire but I do think judging someone on their personal tastes could be in poor judgment itself. Who knows why that guy/gal has a picture of a pot plant on their website, it could be a daily reminder to them of their friend that died doing drugs and why they walk the path they are on, but you'll never know if you don't ask and continue to jump to conclusions.

 

I'll stand by my statement that if they interviewed well and passed the checkride and you are looking on myspace for "indications of poor decision making" that you are looking for a reason NOT to hire them. So call it what it is and don't beat around the bush, you just don't want to hire them and need to justify it to yourself, no matter what the rationalization to come to that conclusion is ( past employee did this or that - see beating up girlfriend )

Edited by Rogue
Posted

Hey its ok to try and find reasons not to hire someone. I used to work as a manager for an armored car company, of course we looked into our employes pasts, and spent alot of time in the interview using all kinds of techniques to get them to admit to stuff before we hired them. I was always amazed at what people would tell me in an interview... drugs, gambling etc etc. Crazy, of course were looking for reasons not to hire.

 

As far as Myspace and Facebook, I have a profile, I could care less if my boss looks at my pictures there. Its a generational thing, most of my friends from High School and University are on, its a way to stay in touch, and we all want to share the cool things in our lives. You just have to assume that anything you put on will be seen by your chief pilot, so if you do have incriminating photos or video, don't post it! If you do, your getting what you deserve for being so dumb!

 

Of course better yet, don't do the stuff in the first place and you don't have to worry. Of course long before Facebook and Myspace pilots were doing dumb things, I'll bet just about every school in the US has fired a CFI for something they did that was dumb that a person saw and reported.... long before the internet.

Posted

ha! yes didn't mean to imply it wasn't ok to find reasons not to hire them if that is how it sounded, i'm just saying I hope that isn't the sole basis for a decision to be made, not that I have anything to hide myself though my tastes can be and are rather odd.

Posted

Well, if a prospective employeer was looking at my page, and also hated civil war reenacting, shooting guns, riding motorcylces and getting my but kicked at the last party (judo throw by a friend) then I might have trouble getting hired to! I hope what I do in my spare time isn't a basis for a decision, but if someone posts video of themselves doing stupid stuff.... fair game.

Posted

exactly, differences in personal tastes shouldn't be an issue, in fact its rather unprofessional to mix business and pleasure IMHO.

Posted

The truth is, everything you do has an effect. You set an example every day, for someone, whatever you do, and nothing you do is in a vacuum. Privacy is becoming more and more rare, so you have to assume everything you do is going to be seen by someone, and noted by your employer, the government, and everyone else. It may not be right, but it's the way it is. If you put your private life on the internet voluntarily, you have to be willing to accept the consequences.

Posted (edited)
Hey Photoflyer,

 

i started a new topic on this but it centers around your first post on peeve issues.

 

I was looking at a pilots face book page last week and saw some things there (photos & videos) that would make me throw his resume in the trash and never look back. I'm wondering how many of you do online research on your prospective employees. A back-ground check can be pretty inexpensive when compared to having the wrong person on your team (speaking from experience), and sometimes the bg check misses stuff (like felonies in other states!!).

 

now for those of you that are going to say "but you have to be invited onto their face book page before you can look at their stuff", let's just assume that you can get past that for now (there are ways believe me).

 

just wondering..

 

dp

 

Let me get this straight: YOU hacked into someone's PRIVATE webpage, and you're calling HIS professionalism into question?? Wrong guy for the team?? I dunno, the guy that breaks into my private domain would be the very first person I would kick off the team.

 

My pet peeve: People who decide they have a right into my private affairs without being invited, whether it's online or not. Have a nice day.

Edited by nsdqjr
Posted
Let me get this straight: YOU hacked into someone's PRIVATE webpage, and you're calling HIS professionalism into question?? Wrong guy for the team?? I dunno, the guy that breaks into my private domain would be the very first person I would kick off the team.

 

My pet peeve: People who decide they have a right into my private affairs without being invited, whether it's online or not. Have a nice day.

 

It is a little underhanded to hack a myspace page. That person obviously didn't deem that information valid for anyone but his friends to see.

 

Having said that, I know(as a former employer) the detrimental effect that the wrong person can have on a business once they're in. And in the aviation industry that effect can only be amplified many times. So as the employer, you gotta do what you gotta do to survive. It may mean the difference between having a home & putting food on the table, and not having those things. I'm just glad I'm not an employer any more, I plan to enjoy life as an employee who plans to work hard and know where his boss is coming from(most of the time!!).

Posted

anyone who has spent time on Facebook (I don't have a my space) knows that you can't draw substantive conclusions about a person from their profile certainly not about their work ethic.

 

My currant boss of the last three years is one of my Facebook friends but then we have a strong professional relationship based on honesty and trust. If you are hacking on to my page, and there is no other word for it as tight as I have my settings, and making judgments about me based on pictures my freshman roommate posted of us getting plastered then maybe you are doing me a favor because I'm not sure I would be happy in an environment based on that kind of dishonesty.

 

That may seem a little harsh but I find it hard to credit that in a community that values professionalism as much as this one does that it is acceptable to be so duplicitous as to search an applicants private site without their knowledge or consent.

 

Attitude reflects leadership.

Posted

Rogue, I happen to be a police officer, and have worked in street narcotics before being assigned to aviation. There were pictures of marijuana leaves in our office....That is a very different matter than going to an officer's personal myspace page and him having marijuana leaves et cetera on his page. If that was the case, I believe that he should definitely be counseled and his involvement in that culture investigated and appropriate measures taken.

 

Ryan

Posted
... I could care less if my boss looks at my pictures there. ...

 

It's "I couldN'T care less", not 'could care less'. That's IT! I am NOT going to hire you because of incorrect English usage on a web site! Pet Peeve no. 3!

 

:) (just kidding)

Posted (edited)
Rogue, I happen to be a police officer, and have worked in street narcotics before being assigned to aviation. There were pictures of marijuana leaves in our office....That is a very different matter than going to an officer's personal myspace page and him having marijuana leaves et cetera on his page. If that was the case, I believe that he should definitely be counseled and his involvement in that culture investigated and appropriate measures taken.

 

Ryan

 

Ryan, I think you may have totally missed the point. First of all, LOL smiley - in other words that paragraph was tongue in cheek. Secondly.... ah nevermind......... well... maybe you'll get it the second time....... i'm playing the devil's advocate for the sake of argument.

Edited by Rogue
Posted
Ryan, I think you may have totally missed the point. First of all, LOL smiley - in other words that paragraph was tongue in cheek. Secondly.... ah nevermind......... well... maybe you'll get it the second time....... i'm playing the devil's advocate for the sake of argument.

 

Rogue, your right, the smiley went right over my head...I have been ducking pretty low lately...The media has been slamming us lately over our contract negotiations...Liberal media..jeez...

 

Ryan

Posted

yea them dang liberal media folks :wacko:

 

no harm, no big deal :P

 

for the record I think everyone should take all the precautions they feel are necessary I just urge anyone to make sound judgments based on all the facts and not uninformed observations.

Posted
Let me get this straight: YOU hacked into someone's PRIVATE webpage, and you're calling HIS professionalism into question?? Wrong guy for the team?? I dunno, the guy that breaks into my private domain would be the very first person I would kick off the team.

 

My pet peeve: People who decide they have a right into my private affairs without being invited, whether it's online or not. Have a nice day.

 

 

 

hummmmm, i'm trying to get how you got that anyone hacked a private page from my post.. oh well.

 

First of all, NOTHING you put on the net is private.

 

Second, in my case, i was standing in a room with six or seven others looking at their friends pages.... what i saw was a guy with about 50 photos of him plastered drunk and a few of him passing a bong... oh yeah, the photos were recent, not from high school. What i was saying is that it's pretty easy to see stuff like that, and you never know who is looking. i would pass on him just because of the drinking, not to mention the bong.

 

i can feel it coming, you're gonna say "maybe he was just passing the bong"... if he even makes decisions to put stuff like that on his page, then i

don't want him on my "team".

 

The other day an FAA examiner brought up another side of the issue; if you are involved in an incident, and there is an investigation... and something like the above comes up... it's not going to help you much.

 

i was just trying to make a point..

 

 

dp

Posted
The truth is, everything you do has an effect. You set an example every day, for someone, whatever you do, and nothing you do is in a vacuum. Privacy is becoming more and more rare, so you have to assume everything you do is going to be seen by someone, and noted by your employer, the government, and everyone else. It may not be right, but it's the way it is. If you put your private life on the internet voluntarily, you have to be willing to accept the consequences.

 

 

very well said..

 

 

dp

Posted
i would pass on him just because of the drinking

 

Remind me not to apply for any jobs that you advertise in the future. Seriously, have you ever seen what happens at flight school accommodations at the weekends. I don't agree with the whole pictures of the bong thing but if someone is having a good time drinking with their pals I don't see what the problem is with putting up pics of that.

Posted

face book and my space are not the only places, just googleing the persons name can bring up volumes of information if they are "volume" user, (for the lack of a better term) anything you put out there can and will at some point in time show up.

 

just try it, google yourself and see what comes up, hopefully you won't shock yourself.

Posted
hummmmm, i'm trying to get how you got that anyone hacked a private page from my post.. oh well.

 

It might have been when you said this.

 

now for those of you that are going to say "but you have to be invited onto their face book page before you can look at their stuff", let's just assume that you can get past that for now (there are ways believe me).

 

to the rest of your point though.

Your right in that having pictures of your self taking a hit off a bong is a bad idea. I would say though that 90% of my face book photos involve drinking which is not representative of how I generally spend my time. what is representative of is the fact that I don't often bring my camera to work or school, and that I generally don't like to pause while Skiing, Hiking, paint-balling, sailing, or Climbing to take pictures.

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