---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2013 21:35:39 -0400
From: Angela Penn <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: if wikipedia is problematic,
     then what do we think about library employers who google their candidates?

Because this is the era of social networking cites, many organizations use
google to check out potential  job candidates in an attempt to find out
additional information about them.

It is not a violation of privacy. The information more than likely will be
viewed on the applicants facebook page or twitter account. Unlike the
majority of privacy violations the information is voluntarily placed on the
social media cite by the applicant without coercion. The managers do not
have to resort to surreptitious means to find this information. The
information is  for public consumption there for all visitors to see.

If the information is of a nature that users do not feel comfortable sharing
with an  employer  or others, it is best to choose who can see specific parts
of an individual?s profile by employing  privacy settings. Privacy settings
enable users to control who sees the  information they have shared, as well
as who can find them in searches.

Managers may not want to disclose that they use google to check out
perspective applicants  or seek legal counsel prior to doing so. This practice
may be considered  a violation of labor laws. Just as certain questions are
not permissible during an interview, this may fall into that gray area of
what is and is not permissible during hiring.

I once submitted an application to work for an organization that my
husband worked for. Because we had different last names they did not
know we were related. He said that the office manager was passing my
resume around to the other workers to read. Because none of them knew
me, they tried to google me. Their search was unsuccessful because I did
not have a facebook page.

I did not get an interview or the job, could it be because I did not have a
facebook page?