Bad Career Advice from Forbes: Don’t Scrub Your Facebook Profile When Job Hunting

June 19th, 2012 → 12:46 pm @ Mark Story // 2583 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.startingacareerinsocialmedia.com%2F2012%2F06%2F19%2Fbad-career-advice-from-forbes-dont-scrub-your-facebook-profile-when-job-hunting%2FBad+Career+Advice+from+Forbes%3A+Don%E2%80%99t+Scrub+Your+Facebook+Profile+When+Job+Hunting++2012-06-19+12%3A46%3A00Mark+Storyhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.startingacareerinsocialmedia.com%2F%3Fp%3D258

Meghan Casserly, a Forbes staff writer, has just written a piece full of some really bad advice.  Sometimes, I read things and run straight to my computer to Stop The Madness.  This is one of those times.

In the June 14 article “Social Media And The Job Hunt: Squeaky-Clean Profiles Need Not Apply,” Meghan postulates that the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of entry and junior-level candidates “scrubbing” their Facebook pages, removing party pictures and replacing them with bland profile information.  For her, it’s time for candidates to put some personality back into their Facebook profiles, the profiles that can be found by potential employers.

Why should candidates stray from the recommended, cautious profile to the now more open view?

“But with all of the common wisdom floating around the web (and this site) on how careful job seekers must be about curating (read: editing) their social presence online, it seems to be that our advice might have crossed over from helpful to problematic.”

Problematic?  How’s that, Meghan?

She cites the example of a young friend whose job it is to screen candidates for a recruitment firm for entry-to-mid level positions in financial and legal arena in New York City.  First, the person doing the preliminary screening with your career in her hands is 21 years old, but second, it would appear that those candidates who have followed the conventional wisdom and have ensured that potentially embarrassing party photos do not show up go to the bottom of the resume pile.  Yep:

“’There’s a sense that a profile with no character has probably been scraped of some racy stuff or else the person has no social skills and won’t fit in.’” Either way, she says, that candidate has been moved to the bottom of the pile.”

There is so much wrong with this that I am not sure where to start:

1. Rather than thinking that someone has “no social skills,” what about thinking that the individual has some good discretion?  I shudder to think of what would have appeared on my Facebook page were it in existence when I was in college in he 1980s, but it would have been bad.  And hopefully, I would have had the common sense to either lock down my privacy settings or scrub my profile.  For today’s candidates, this does not mean the person is likely a wet blanket; it means that she has good judgment.  And I like hiring people with good judgment.
2. What do you do if you can’t find any information at all on Facebook?  My mouth runs way too much, so my profile is locked down like Fort Knox.  Does that mean that I am not a hipster and am not on Facebook?  Or could it perhaps demonstrate that what appears (LinkedIn, my blogs) is what I want people to see?  And that I am smart enough to control public perception of me?
3. Since for this 21 year-old screener, Facebook is an important marker of a potential fit, what about mistaken identity?  My name is pretty uncommon, but she is looking at resumes in the largest metropolitan area in the United States.  What is your name is “John Smith” and you studied at the City College of New York?  And the other John Smith’s Facebook profile is something that would turn off the person doing the screening?  Either racist diatribes or the dreaded “bland” profile?  How to do make sure you’ve got the right John Smith?
4. Finally, Meghan writes that her 21 year-old friend’s  “…bosses seem impressed with her comfort with the technology and are pleased with her vetting of new hires, but she describes the task as akin to ‘stalking crushes on Facebook,’ something she’s ‘gotten embarrassingly good at in college.’”  This 21 year-old is not making candidate screening positions based upon a solid knowledge of the inner workings of her employer.  She is making career-altering decisions for people on behalf of other employers.  One cannot have a true sense of the culture of a firm without working there, let alone performing “stalking crushes” that have concrete career ramifications for candidates without a firm understanding of the employing firm’s culture.  I would bet that there are as many firms who would be horrified at party/keg stand pictures as those who think that, as the article states, the person has “no social skills.”  And by the way, what pictures are appropriate and which cross the line?  And who gets to make that call?

To me – and still – entry-level and junior candidates should either very carefully look at their Facebook profiles and remove items that they are not comfortable sharing (some people simply don’t care about the impact that a keg stand picture would have, and that’s fine) not lock down their Facebook pages so only friends can see select information.   It’s common sense.  Common freaking sense.

That’s why I am so horrified at the content of this article.  Judgment is gained with experience and that’s why junior-level candidates competing in a crappy enconomy should err on the side of caution.. So I think it’s terrible advice, Megan.  And 21 year-old screener?  Maybe instead of the applicant with no party pictures having “no social skills,” she just has really good judgment.

Mark

Image source:  Global Voices Online