Recruitment stateside

[Dave Bloke 6,343]

My missus got a strange phone call last week.

"Hello Mrs Bloke? We represent Mr Z Guy, do you know who I'm talking about?"

Mrs B "Yes I do, what is this about?"

"Your department's Facebook page has a video of Mr Z from last year"

Mrs B "Yes, he was presenting his paper at a conference last year"

"Yes, we're going to need you to take that video down please"

Mrs B "but he's just recapping his paper, it has been published in a book"

"Yes, the book isn't a problem but the video is, can you take that down?"

Mrs B "Well I'm not in charge of the FB page but I'll contact the appropriate person"

"Okay, thankyou for your cooperation"

Mrs B calls Mr Z Guy who says it is a MacCarthyist nightmare in the USA and he is working with a recruiter who have advised him to have zero online presence now and they have a firm who are erasing his digital past. Mrs B says "but why, your paper was nothing controversial, more in the spirit of the times". Mr Z Guy says "yeah today, but times can change and what can be normal today can be held against you tomorrow". He has just quit a US law faculty and says the whole thing is like the Soviet union with students trawling back over everyone's past looking for wrongthink.

So I guess that's dosbodders screwed then?

[Chewing Grass 21,432]

4 minutes ago, Dave Bloke said:

Mrs B calls Mr Z Guy who says it is a MacCarthyist nightmare in the USA and he is working with a recruiter who have advised him to have zero online presence now and they have a firm who are erasing his digital past. Mrs B says "but why, your paper was nothing controversial, more in the spirit of the times". Mr Z Guy says "yeah today, but times can change and what can be normal today can be held against you tomorrow". He has just quit a US law faculty and says the whole thing is like the Soviet union with students trawling back over everyone's past looking for wrongthink.

So I guess that's dosbodders screwed then?

Thank fuck I'm a sheep, these students are utter scum who think they are safe as the persecute yesterdays students.

If their employer is still in business they will reap what the have sown when 'students - the next batch' land in jobsville.

[Dave Bloke 6,343]

All your likes are belong to us

 

[wherebee 20,662]

Never apologise, always double down, avoid debt, minimise spending that will expose you to debt.

 

That's the new normal.

[snaga 13,933]

When you start judging past events and people by today's standards, it's only logical to assume the future will judge what you do and say today in a different way.

Ironic if this paradigm kills off social media.

[Melchett 8,826]

11 hours ago, snaga said:

When you start judging past events and people by today's standards, it's only logical to assume the future will judge what you do and say today in a different way.

Ironic if this paradigm kills off social media.

Someone will even deem 'funny' cat posts offensive in the future, for reasons yet to be decided but which the masses will accept when it happens.

[Yadda yadda yadda 2,192]

11 hours ago, snaga said:

When you start judging past events and people by today's standards, it's only logical to assume the future will judge what you do and say today in a different way.

Ironic if this paradigm kills off social media.

Social media combined with camera phones has already killed off a lot of freedom. People self police.

No great loss if the whole lot gets wiped as people protect themselves further.

[MrPin 19,525]

4 minutes ago, Yadda yadda yadda said:

Social media combined with camera phones has already killed off a lot of freedom. People self police.

No great loss if the whole lot gets wiped as people protect themselves further.

People actually choose to record their private life and blob it out all over the internet, so they get "liked".

[Yadda yadda yadda 2,192]

1 minute ago, MrPin said:

People actually choose to record their private life and blob it out all over the internet, so they get "liked".

Some do. Others know that if they do something stupid on a night out it will likely be recorded and chucked on the net by someone else. So they're much more careful what they do and say on a night out.

[eight 18,136]

8 minutes ago, Yadda yadda yadda said:

Social media combined with camera phones has already killed off a lot of freedom. People self police.

 

Now imagine the chilling effect of a "Portal" type device in your front room.

[Melchett 8,826]

21 minutes ago, eight said:

Now imagine the chilling effect of a "Portal" type device in your front room.

Which many people already have, though they either dont realise or try not to think about it.

[The Generation Game 10,225]

1 hour ago, Melchett said:

Someone will even deem 'funny' cat posts offensive in the future, for reasons yet to be decided but which the masses will accept when it happens.

Maybe not the cats but the "haz cheezburger" alone will have Animal Rebellion closing them down. 

[Funn3r 7,059]

Ever since I first started using the internet I always had one eye on "could I explain this honourably if I were challenged about it." Back then people didn't have personal internet connections and I was using the one from work, so it was doubly important not to have it rebound on me. I remember posting something a bit scathing about an American company and their fairly shit computer system, but unaware that they were one of our customers. I realised almost immediately after colleague gave me heads-up and managed to get it removed. 

Later on this morphed into "how might this look one day, is it a good idea?" I once photoshopped a photo of me before posting on Facebook to remove the pint of lager I was holding, just in case Drink ever became Evil. Of course I no longer post photos of me doing anything at all, and try to avoid others posting me.

Even after all that effort there are still a couple of things out there. One of them from 10 years ago even though utterly legal and honourable would almost certainly kick me off the shortlist if I applied for a job. There's ultimately no answer apart from just disconnect yourself, but even that can look odd from some viewpoints.

[wherebee 20,662]

2 minutes ago, Funn3r said:

Ever since I first started using the internet I always had one eye on "could I explain this honourably if I were challenged about it." Back then people didn't have personal internet connections and I was using the one from work, so it was doubly important not to have it rebound on me. I remember posting something a bit scathing about an American company and their fairly shit computer system, but unaware that they were one of our customers. I realised almost immediately after colleague gave me heads-up and managed to get it removed. 

Later on this morphed into "how might this look one day, is it a good idea?" I once photoshopped a photo of me before posting on Facebook to remove the pint of lager I was holding, just in case Drink ever became Evil. Of course I no longer post photos of me doing anything at all, and try to avoid others posting me.

Even after all that effort there are still a couple of things out there. One of them from 10 years ago even though utterly legal and honourable would almost certainly kick me off the shortlist if I applied for a job. There's ultimately no answer apart from just disconnect yourself, but even that can look odd from some viewpoints.

"Show me the man and I will show you the crime" - as Stalin's thugs used to say.

Everyone has done stuff that would get them sacked if it was on the front page of the Times.  End of.

 

The problem is cancel culture, and you are not going to avoid it by censoring yourself.

[MrPin 19,525]

I don't like giving information out about myself. Eventually I got a LinkedIn account which wasn't the fantastic job hunting tool I had been told. I didn't put my mugshot on it.

[ad_ceng 5,229]

14 minutes ago, MrPin said:

I don't like giving information out about myself. Eventually I got a LinkedIn account which wasn't the fantastic job hunting tool I had been told. I didn't put my mugshot on it.

I find linkedin really good, but I am very active on it and share lots of original (and hopefully) helpful content on it. I find if you have face picture you get more engagement. I would say LI probably gets me 20-30% of my business 

[MrPin 19,525]

Just now, ad_ceng said:

I find linkedin really good, but I am very active on it and share lots of original (and hopefully) helpful content on it. I find if you have face picture you get more engagement. I would say LI probably gets me 20-30% of my business 

All I get is SPAM. I refuse to "connect" to people I never met.

[Funn3r 7,059]

Suppose you work for XYZcorp in the Frobulator Division and you post this on Linkedin or Facebook.

One day a frobulator has a meltdown releasing a cloud of radioactive miasmavirus.  The fake news will be all over social media and it will be a matter of minutes before your phone is ringing non-stop and reporters turning up at your house. This is not as uncommon as you might think, though maybe on a lesser scale than my imaginary scenario - I actually worked at a place where this happened but luckily I did not come up in their search. Was no fun for colleagues though who got pestered like hell.

[ad_ceng 5,229]

6 minutes ago, MrPin said:

All I get is SPAM. I refuse to "connect" to people I never met.

I will connect with most engineering people others not so much. 

[Sucralose Ray Leonard 6,048]

15 hours ago, snaga said:

When you start judging past events and people by today's standards, it's only logical to assume the future will judge what you do and say today in a different way.

Ironic if this paradigm kills off social media.

We can but hope so.

[MrPin 19,525]

39 minutes ago, ad_ceng said:

I will connect with most engineering people others not so much. 

Yes, that's the people I know, that I liked working with, or actually know.

[Sucralose Ray Leonard 6,048]

Never saw the point of Linked In, never had a Twatter account (still read it) and never had Facebook.

I did join Friends Reunited, but thankfully failed to reunite with anyone.

I saw it all coming. I get called a Tinfoil hatter. I wear that as a badge of common sense.

Just need to follow @The XYY Man's advise and bin the Devils Dildo, but i dont know where i'd get my fix of men of colour with stupendously large tallywhackers or innocent looking videos interupted by loud orgasmic sounds.

[MrPin 19,525]

28 minutes ago, Sucralose Ray Leonard said:

Never saw the point of Linked In, never had a Twatter account (still read it) and never had Facebook.

I did join Friends Reunited, but thankfully failed to reunite with anyone.

I saw it all coming. I get called a Tinfoil hatter. I wear that as a badge of common sense.

Just need to follow @The XYY Man's advise and bin the Devils Dildo, but i dont know where i'd get my fix of men of colour with stupendously large tallywhackers or innocent looking videos interupted by loud orgasmic sounds.

I'm only interested in people I actually know. Some have bigged me up for a job I would never have heard of. I do the same for others, when I can.

[Dave Bloke 6,343]

1 hour ago, MrPin said:

All I get is SPAM. I refuse to "connect" to people I never met.

All I get are invites from pert breasted recruiters in Lyon called Claire with some awful job they are trying to pimp

Edited December 1, 2020 by Dave Bloke

[Melchett 8,826]

29 minutes ago, Dave Bloke said:

All I get are invites from pert breasted recruiters in Lyon called Claire with some awful job they are trying to pimp

Quite. Yes, I really want to take a massive paycut and relocate me and my family (with my wife having to give up her job) to go live in Slough. Do fuck off, recruiters, and only bother if your offer is in any way tempting.