Posted on 06/04/2006 by the cynic
Viewed: 487 times
The post about employers checking your email got me thinking about another phenomenon--I have read that most HR people will google your name prior to hiring or interviewing you, and I'm wondering if anyone has experience with or opinions about this.
It worries me a bit, because prior to joining the "real world," I wrote some...let's say, strongly worded political opinion pieces, that can be Googled by my first and last name. I don't have an incredibly uncommon name, but some of them give my location (e.g., Columnist B lives with spouse in City A), and with interviews coming up it has me worried. If there is a very conservative HR person and they discover you're a staunch liberal, or vice versa (I'm not giving out my afiliation here), what do you think will happen? What are the chances of it hurting OUR chances? Some of them were simply op-eds discussing the current political climante, while others discuss my thoughts about aspects of the general American workforce (not mentioning companies or names).
Is it recommended to contact Google and have them delete the cache prior to interviewing? Or contacting the editors of those sites and having my archives removed? I've heard it's possible and am wondering if I should do so. Thanks!
POST A COMMENTDharmadee(06/04/2006)
Do you really want to work for a company that would have a problem with your political affiliations? As long as you have done nothing illegal, don't worry about it.
corporateSlave(06/04/2006)
Boy do I agree! One thing I learned is: Make no apologies for who you are and what you believe in. Be yourself and do not try to mask who you were before. Everything about our pasts---good or bad---makes us who we are. If an employer does not want to accept that then the heck with them. You don't want to work there anyway. You didn't commit a felony, you wrote some political articles. You won't like yourself very much if you pretend you don't believe what you do or pretend to adopt the political opinion of the company or boss you work for. There's a name for people like that: Sell Outs. And kudos to you for writing articles online!! Chin up and be proud, cynic!
the cynic(06/05/2006)
Thanks folks. I was just checking (and being paranoid) because I read an article recently "warning" new job seekers not to boast about their college parties on Facebook or write strong opinions under their real names, because it can hurt your chances. And I know my husband's HR department does sit and look at facebook profiles all day, so I wasn't sure about op-eds. Nope, wouldn't want to work with someone who can't handle who I am--in fact, I find it fairly stupid that companies even do this. Please keep sending job vibes! :-)
just me(06/05/2006)
I say go ahead and let them! Googling somebody is so commonplace now. I google people all the time. It's crazy the stuff you come up with. I googled an old classmate last week and found out she was a well established author. It's fun to google people and I don't blame HR depts fo doing so.
the cynic(06/05/2006)
Maybe they just do it cause they're bored. Heck, if I know an HR person's name, I've been known to google THEM! Hehee!
C - -(06/05/2006)
GUENERVERE: What else do the simple folk do/To help them escape when they 're blue? / ARTHUR: They sit around and wonder what royal folk would do/ And that's what simple folk do.
desray (06/04/2006)
I wouldn't go back and try to change anything from my past that I was proud of or is a part of who I am. Plus, even if you are successful in contacting all the websites and having the pages removed, google's cache may take months before it updates and removes those pages. So it really isn't worth the effort.
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