If you're looking for a job, shut down or lock down your social media.

My boss interviewed a candidate. Liked him. Sent me the resume, and I was going to be interviewing the candidate as soon as HR set it up. I searched the name on Facebook, it took about 15 seconds to find the right profile. There was some interesting stuff on there, but the most interesting was a post bragging about salary while also talking about the interview with my boss. In any case, I'll no longer be interviewing this person and my boss has informed HR that this person is out of the running. 

This person could have done nothing different except locking down their profile so nobody could see (and maybe they should think about changing their cover photo... if people might find it tacky, it isn't a good look). Or they could have simply not made that particular post. In any case, be smart about what you put out there if you're trying to get a job, especially when it literally has your picture and name attached to it. 

So why shouldn't someone brag about their upcoming salary?

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Companies hate it when you disclose that. It causes...disharmony between the umder and overpaid amongst the troops.

I only post things to onlyfans now. That way employers know that I'm about that dollar in all facets. If they want to check out and see what I'm up to as vanilla and PG as it is, they're going to have to pay just like everyone else. Know my value and add tax. 

Keeping salaries secret only benefits the owners of the company, and hurts those who usually don't make as much (women and minorities).

https://www.bustle.com/p/why-keeping-your-salary-secret-hurts-women-people-of-color-like-me-8743194

What does your boss have to hide?

I'd be interested to know what he posted that was bad enough to take him out of the running.

Yeah, that's BS man.  Dude is excited about his potential new job and it isn't illegal:

https://eastcoastriskmanagement.com/is-it-illegal-to-prohibit-employees-from-talking-salary/

I'm not sure I'd want to work for that org if they pull this sort of BS.

We interviewed a 50 year old dude for sales then looked at his FB.  A lot of bikini ladies and comments about his ladies and how hot they were and he was partying all the time.   Lots of pictures!   

Not illegal but it made us uncomfortable and in the end he wasn't the best candidate for us. 

Wait.   If I shut down my social media, how will people know what my lunch looks like!!!!!!!

aircooled said:

Wait.   If I shut down my social media, how will people know what my lunch looks like!!!!!!!

OMG, they might have to use their imagination!  What a tragedy... 

If you are employed you should still be careful about what you post. My former employer (a big corporation)  checked employees social media posts.

I thought his has been common knowledge for years and years?

It really only matters if you've got stuff out on social media you don't want others to see.

I use my areal name just about everywhere. If the stuff that I post that could be considered even remotely controversial* I post about online causes an organization to overlook me, I'll consider it a win for *both* of us, as I probably wouldn't have fit in there at all, anyhow.

*It may contain occasional profanity, dad jokes, horrible puns and possible ridiculous memes that include all three. On very rare occasions, I may voice a political opinion, and well, see my comment about being a win for both of us.

It wasn't the fact that this person brought up salary. It was the fact that they (a) lied about it (said they were making more than the job pays), (b) was very brash in the post, after coming off very humbly in the interview, and (c) other questionable things on the profile. It all raised concerns about this persons judgement, and from the profile alone we both could tell this would not be someone we would want to be stuck at an airport with - which will be happening again, eventually.
 

This person would have probably had the job if their profile was set to private (although their cover picture was inappropriate enough that if I was slightly more of a prude I still would have showed my boss - and nothing political about it). 
 

Oh, and this was an internal applicant, and what was posted does go against our social media policy that we all have to sign each year. 

In reply to mtn :

That's wild. Our social media policy just says we aren't to act as though we are speaking for the company in anyway.

When we interview we do a search for "applicant' name" and "plaintiff" and similar terms. That has weeded out a few, including a guy wanted in two provinces who we were thinking seriously about hiring.

We hired a detailer at work, we always google the new people, just in case.

New guy has a native status card.

He walked in one morning and the boss said "Good morning Big Chief berkeleyface!"

The look on his face was priceless.

That was his instagram handle, it's changed now.

Posts on social  media, i.e. GRM ended up with a deranged former buddy showing up in front of my house wanting to fight me. 

Your mileage may vary in this situation. 

Appleseed said:

Posts on social  media, i.e. GRM ended up with a deranged former buddy showing up in front of my house wanting to fight me. 

Your mileage may vary in this situation. 

Lol-I always assumed getting "Patio'ed" here was less fisticuffs and more stealthy ninja attack. 

In reply to z31maniac :

Company policy doesn't override Federal Law. It is illegal for any employer to bar any employee from discussing wages or retaliate in any way for doing so. I have a personally earned a check for $1700 from my former employer for reporting about them doing just that and them being found guilty. 

I try to treat social media as a semi-public forum - like I'm sitting at a bar. If I wouldn't say these things in public loudly enough for the people sitting around me to overhear, I don't post them.

I keep it mild (no pictures of me drinking, etc) and never talk about work. Also, profiles locked down and I practice work-facebook separation. If I work with you, you aren't on my Facebook (few exceptions for people who I raced with before working there).

On a related subject...I check facebook when screening applicants for rental properties (it's very easy to do when they're inquiring through the same platform).  I can weed people out QUICK with a scan of what they've posted on social media.  Frankly, when someone has their social media set so I can't see much, that's a positive.  

Photos of you and your friends flipping off the camera?  No thanks.  

Rants about "you know who you are, stay away from my friend/relative/etc with your drama" drama?  Nope!

You tell me you're not a smoker but have a photo posted within the month with a lit cigarette in hand?  Ha!  (these folks like to argue, too.)

Social media is really a mixed bag.  I like it for communicating with friends and letting my family see what's going on (because family enjoys that sort of thing) but like Beer Baron said...think about what you're posting there and if you'd say the same thing walking down the aisle of the grocery store (or whatever).  Because your audience is actually MUCH larger than that on social media.

Where I work, during the interview board, they slide a laptop across to the candidate and make them log into Facebook and the interviewers look at it thoroughly. Is that legal, I don't know, but we've done it for years to quite a few candidates. 

aircooled said:

Wait.   If I shut down my social media, how will people know what my lunch looks like!!!!!!!

If you drink enough you can vomit it up in front of them later