5 Comments »Yesterday the Times Online has an interesting article about a coalition of children’s charities “urging ministers to make it illegal for companies to trawl Facebook and other social networking websites for information on prospective recruits.” One of the campaign leaders suggested that teenagers should not have digital records of their you used against them when applying for jobs.
Has it become a fact of life that the difference between successful candidate and unsuccessful candidate for employment is their ability to manage their online identity? For many web professionals, we have accepted it as a standard of practice to monitor what you post online. The smart ones are able to manage all of their postings to create this pseudo-reality which is their digital identity.
Granular privacy controls such as the ones that Facebook now offers makes it easier for users to manage their digital identities but for those that weren’t privy to such luxurious privacy features in the past, their online reputation may already be tarnished. This brings into question what is right and for those that did make child-like mistakes (which we all have made … ocasionally even as adults), should they be punished for making those mistakes at a young age?
I have to agree with this article in that we should embrace child-like behavior and not punish individuals for doing crazy things when they are young. This is a part of experimentation and every child should have the chance to experiment. Maybe we all become hypocrites with age and decide to punish the youth because we wish we hadn’t made the mistakes that we did. I don’t know what’s right but I know that nobody is perfect.
Do you think prospective employees should be punished for pictures of them doing stupid things when they were teenagers?
I know that I’m in the minority here, but I would think that holding things people do when they’re teenagers against them later isn’t a bad thing. If it was standard practice to look at things you did as a teen, then maybe teens would act more responsible and have a greater sense of accountability. I understand what you’re saying about being able to learn and experiment with new things, but should we really be teaching people that things they do when they’re young won’t affect them later in life? Shouldn’t we be trying to instill a sense of maturity at a younger age?
That said, those that are trying to hold them accountable should do so with a bit looser standards than seems to be the case. Should someone be punished for posting pictures of them at a party and drinking? Probably not. There is a difference between acting a bit crazy and having a good time, and doing things that are illegal or just plain stupid. The latter should be taken into consideration, the former should just be seen as normal behavior.
I know that I’m in the minority here, but I would think that holding things people do when they’re teenagers against them later isn’t a bad thing. If it was standard practice to look at things you did as a teen, then maybe teens would act more responsible and have a greater sense of accountability. I understand what you’re saying about being able to learn and experiment with new things, but should we really be teaching people that things they do when they’re young won’t affect them later in life? Shouldn’t we be trying to instill a sense of maturity at a younger age?
That said, those that are trying to hold them accountable should do so with a bit looser standards than seems to be the case. Should someone be punished for posting pictures of them at a party and drinking? Probably not. There is a difference between acting a bit crazy and having a good time, and doing things that are illegal or just plain stupid. The latter should be taken into consideration, the former should just be seen as normal behavior.
Personally, if a company wants to look me up on facebook or any other site where i post pictures video or what have you and they don’t like what they see, i don’t want to work for them. I go to burningman, i’ll tell an employer straight up in an interview that i REQUIRE the last week of august off in order to attend. If they scoff at me going, i don’t want to work for them!
Children shouldn’t be afraid of what they do as children/teenagers. You’ll notice that recently politicians have just recently begun to acknowledge their use of drugs(pot and even coke) in their youth.
Personally, if a company wants to look me up on facebook or any other site where i post pictures video or what have you and they don’t like what they see, i don’t want to work for them. I go to burningman, i’ll tell an employer straight up in an interview that i REQUIRE the last week of august off in order to attend. If they scoff at me going, i don’t want to work for them!
Children shouldn’t be afraid of what they do as children/teenagers. You’ll notice that recently politicians have just recently begun to acknowledge their use of drugs(pot and even coke) in their youth.
[...] The silver lining in all of this? Facebook already has the privacy settings instituted in its network, so that this situation could have been avoided in the first place. If you want a select 50 people to see your party invitation, make the event private and share it with only those 50 people. Got it, kids? Try not to give the grown folks reason to use social networking against you… [...]