December 16th, 2010
Who can forget Yoda’s immortal words in Star Wars Episode II : Attack of the Clones;
“Hmmm. The Dark Side clouds everything. Impossible to see, the future is”
If you haven’t been hibernating for the last few years, then you’d be aware that after each round of interviews, many employers seek out a PC, and go “googling” or “facebooking” your name, or combinations. Increasing in frequency alongside this is the old detective trick of “looking up“ any writings on/from work associates at previous (or even current) employment locations.
Places like Trademe, Linked In, Plaxo, etc actively encourage interviewers to “develop an appetite” for such workmate / schoolmate linkings. Oftentimes its as simple as checking out whom a potential job candidate follows on Twitter or Facebook.
I’ve read comments on some sites like “a workmate is saying so and so” or “he/shes a real wally, a looser” or such.
If either the writer or the intended whom the writer is scribing about, are applying for a job through an interview process, then these comments plus any type of “associated” photo’s are quite illuminating indeed.
In fact from an interviewers point of view, I think the phrase is “time saving.” I’ve heard of one interviewer even glancing over which Facebook Groups a person publicly belongs too.
So along with all the fun of sharing exciting overseas trips, your best friends wedding, and last years family Xmas gathering……..you really should think twice about those “other” photos.
Don’t forget comments either.
Comments?
Check out the box on the right hand side of this page if you are unsure what I’m talking about. (not my page and content varies considerably – some R18)
Maybe the poster thought it was amusing at the time……but dauntingly, thanks to the wonders of the internet, (eg: “mirror sites” in the news this week) those comments will be there to haunt you for a while longer now.
If you need a prime example then you need do no more than google “Candidate’s racy Facebook photos showed ‘lack of judgment’: B.C. NDP leader “ (NSFW)
The Real Estate Angle
I guess by now you are wondering what the heck this has to do with real estate.
Turns out…….lots.
If, after visiting 3 – 4 property managers to find a place to rent / let, then patiently waiting some days for an answer…..and finding out you missed out, yet again……perhaps those photos and that “colourful” language you used on what you thought was a private page just, may not have been such a good idea after all.
Landlords and Property Managers looking to find out a “little bit more” about any potential person who they are going to entrust with their 2 year old 3 bedroom $450,000 brick home…..well you too could do yourself a big favour by employing exactly the same methodology. All landlords would like to have a long term tenant who keeps the grounds tidy, looks after the inside of the home, treats the floor coverings like they would their own, etc.
From the look of some of the photos posted on sites like Facebook…..then it’s not surprising that upon seeing these, a potential future landlord may just have “second thoughts.”
Ringing in my ears is something I was told many years ago which still rings true to this day…..could almost be an interviewers mantra…..
watch what a person does not what they say
Sort of a counter intuitive (“reverse”) meaning of the following phrase “actions speak louder than words” really?
In the end….you don’t want to be disheartened with the whole rental thing…….its your retirement next egg after all…….and the last thing you want to be doing is running an advertisement like this;
….because it got too much and you just want to sell up, and investigate another type of investment.
Could definitely save some “heartache” in the long run.