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Online Missteps Can Cost You a Job

Rose McKinney recalls one job candidate who blogged and tweeted herself directly out of a job interview.

This was not an entry-level job or a rookie mistake. The potential job position was a midlevel account manager. The candidate was experienced.

“On paper she looked solid, someone worth talking to,” said McKinney, president of Risdall McKinney Public Relations. “But on blog spaces and in Twitter conversations she was negative and critical of other agencies. I imagined what she would say about us and our clients.”

Electronic faux pas were once considered the legacy of college students and 20-somethings who would post beer-sodden pictures of themselves and friends on MySpace. But with the rapid advance of Facebook and Twitter from phenomenon to near-obligation for multiple generations, employers are learning that grown-ups can be just as knuckleheaded as freshly scrubbed college grads when it comes to leaving digital impressions.

Amy Langer, co-founder of Salo, a placement firm for the financial services sector, had one job candidate for a controller’s position who didn’t get the job after the employer took displeasure with a negative political posting on the candidate’s Facebook site.

“It’s becoming part of the vetting process,” Langer said. “It makes sense. Social networking was all about personal posts, but now it’s leaked over to the professional side and nobody knows how to handle it.”

“The mistake people make is they pour too much of themselves out there,” said Gillian Gabriel, a headhunter for advertising and marketing agencies who looks at Facebook and Twitter when evaluating prospects. “They talk about personal issues – divorce, sick parents, recovery programs. If someone is having a big issue in life, are you going to take that chance [and hire them]?”

Gabriel said one job candidate with whom she had contact went to her professional network after she didn’t get an agency job and described a scenario where her ideas were at odds with the agency’s. “She made a poor decision,” said Gabriel. “Not only didn’t she get the job but she publicly pegged herself as a bit of a troublemaker.”

David Gerwitz, an author who specializes in technology and security issues, said social networkers need to realize that their electronic entries will last for years and years.