Recruitment and YOUR Digital Footprint
Think back over the last 10 years of your life. Think of the most riotous night out/holiday/party in that time. Think of the best/worst stag-do-hen-party you’ve been on. Think of the photos that were taken on them.
How many of those photos do you want your prospective employer to see?
Social media has revolutionized a lot of things. Recruitment and jobseeking is one area that has benefits above more than many, but the risk contained in your digital footprint must be understood.
We all remember Prince Harry’s Las Vegas antics a couple of years ago. A reminder that in this age of smartphones, coupled with an overzealous/scandal craving media, there is no hiding place from the public eye. His behaviour was rightly dismissed by most as high-jinx antics from a young man about to enter a lengthy period serving in Afghanistan. You could argue the saga won him far more fans than it lost him and made his family appear just a little more human.
Harry’s antics were only newsworthy because he is royal, and a public figure. What about those who aren’t?
We were going to offer you the job….then we saw THIS
I did a speech last year on this subject to a group of final year university students. I asked for a volunteer, a young lady came forward. She was a Law Undergraduate, expecting a first with the plan to join a top 10 law firm. I asked her to log on to her facebook account on my laptop connected to the projector, she declined. Smart move.
I asked if anyone in the room knew her name, most did. I then found her on facebook, and found several non-private photos of her. They included pictures from her previous year’s holiday, to Ayia Napa. Several photos of her by the pool in a bikini, which noone would disagree looked great, if perhaps a tiny bit inappropriate.
….then came a couple of photos from a nightclub where she and her friend (whose
birthday it appeared to be) were on stage with the male ‘act’ doing something which shall we say made most of her male students sit up with interest, and envy. She looked horrified.
One of these males suggested it may help her get the Top10 job. Unlikely. We then googled his name and quickly found his Twitter timeline. Of the half a dozen tweets that were visible on that page all but one were probably inappropriate for a prospective employer to see – and that one was a photo of his breakfast! The others included comments on how drunk he had been, swearing, comments of a sexual nature, some VERY politically incorrect comments about an obese person and a joke about a black footballer player.
Does this matter? Surely ‘kids will be kids’. This is true, but in a highly contested job market, employers need no reasons to exclude you from the process.
Real life example?
I interviewed a young lady last year, very bright, straight-A student, Prize-Winning professional qualifications. She had been targeted for a role I was handling working for a London-based, very conservative Entrepreneur. Knowing his HR team would do background checks, I got one of my researchers to do the same, again merely using Google….
We quickly brought up several beauty pageant wins, including an entry in the Miss United Kingdom. It also brought up a side-line pre-University career in fashion modeling. Following that thread it brought up some glamour modeling, and some soft porn work, and some not so soft….. You get the idea. She wasn’t shortlisted.
Another example was an active tweeter who devoted much of his spare time campaigning against Animal Testing and promoting extreme political views. His application to join a key service provider to AstraZeneca ended quickly.
A highly topical example is the recent hijack of HMVs twitter feed last year, the tweets from recently dismissed members of staff were swiftly deleted, but only after 1,000 of copies had been made and distributed.
Your digital footprint is indelible. Your Facebook/Twitter accounts can be deleted, but the data will remain somewhere. Worse still, the majority of your digital footprint cannot be deleted by you but can be found by anyone.
Easiest way to prevent an adverse footprint is to avoid undertaking any activity that if discovered, might in any way hinder career prospects. But we are all human, and the life of total abstinence can render equal levels of unemployability. …for most it is “too late to shut the gate after the horse has bolted”
Back to Prince Harry. How did he deal with the situation? No doubt he got a dressing down from his commanding officer, a similar dressing down from his Grannie and huge sarcasm from everyone that knew him. He’ll also make sure that next time, his so-called friends do not have their phones nearby…..
But he took it on the chin and laughed it off. A young man, in the military, about to risk his life for 5 months in Afghanistan had a party..…with girls and alcohol. He’d be more embarrassed if there hadn’t been such a party.
What can commoners do? I have first hand of this. Having been splashed across the media in 2011, I can see the impact of modern digital media. I was lucky, not only was the reported story so exaggerated it became obviously unbelievable, but I work in a profession where being well known is a massive benefit. My tale had a happy ending, many do not.
The lessons are same for everyone though, don’t hide, don’t deny. Take extreme caution in what you do publically but don’t avoid living life because of it. Yes delete those photos from Facebook once you start entering the job market. Be especially careful of what you tweet/blog/etc – assume that everyone sees your comments, your wife/husband, her/his parents, your boss, etc…and use that as your control mechanism. Don’t assume you can hide. The wwworld is watching.
But after the event, remember the saying, “It is not how hard you fall, but how high you bounce-back”. Address, explain and move on. If others can’t, it was never meant to be.
Above all, be aware of your digital footprint.
garychaplin.com 
Great Blog Gary. Such a hot area, my friends are so oblivious to the risks. Love your take and amazing stories.
Also love your own tale. Well done for bouncing back and not letting media bullshit stick to your fur.
I was in your presentation at MMU last year, amazing what information you uncovered on the two individuals in question. We still talk about your presentation and I have suggested implementation of elements of it’s content and advice to my new employer.
Thanks again
John
Thanks for the tips! You have just made me delete a number of facebook albums and set others to private!
Great blog and great tips. I work in recruitment and watched your story unfold with horror 2 years ago. We’ve all wanted to do it, and amongst everybody I know, loved the fact that you did. Never mind who those who you thought were your friends turned their backs on you, you have made millions of friends around the world. You may never need to buy your own beer again.
Good luck Gary and keep up the fighting stance. You’re a legend around here.
Picked this up from your CV guide. These tips a great and worth knowing.
But should employers be allowed to look at this type of information? Isn’t it an invasion of privacy?
Surely it’s only an invasion of “privacy” if your privacy settings are correct and they’ve been hacked somehow?
Great blog Gary, and great teaser in LinkedIn!
Interesting points, being beyond the age when my life gets logged on Social Media, I am blissfully unaware of the risks, but being of an age where my children are starting to want access to such sites, it panics me even further!
Thanks for the tips.
Great blog, great photo 😉
Saw your guest blog and as I said on there, total respect for bouncing back and having the attitude displayed above. You were a legend in our office, there’s a beer on the bar for you whenever your in my part of the world.
Fascinating article and stories. Certainly causing me to tighten up my social media presence. Good tips.
Thanks
Another well delivered and highly relevant blog, sir. Gone are my days of public social media after a night out!
Fun and interesting blog Gary, but also a very serious subject. I’m staggered how much ignorance there is about this type of stuff, and I can only see it getting worse.
Well done, another great blog.
Brilliant Blog. Brutal, but brilliant.
Interesting but flawed opinion. Any prejudice on basis of confidential data found on social media sites etc is sheer discrimination. Your blog is immoral for promoting it.
If it is “confidential” then maybe. However, I think that Gary is saying that data on social media is, by definition, NOT confidential.
I would certainly Google any prospective employee and would expect people to do the same of me.
I do not see any immorality here.
Ridiculous that someone’s activity when they were a teen would still count against them many years later. Your story is pretty extreme and seems a bit gratuitous tbh. Employing someone is about whether they can do the job in hand. It makes sense to be careful online, but usually a straightforward interview – using telephone, LinkedIn, proper CV analysis and a couple of good interviews should be enough to sort the good from the bad. People are entitled to a life and I wouldn’t want to employ a drone.
What you say is probably right, but in a competitive job market, being aware of your footprint is a very smart move. I have lectured my children on only being public about details that the are happy for anyone to see.
Most stories are extreme, but reported, public behaviour is becoming ever more extreme. If you can be seen to be openly racist, or a fascist, or do things that might bring the reputation of anyone connected with you into disrepute, then expect to be judged on it. There is a gulf between having a life, and being dangerously controversial or demonstrating unacceptable behaviour. Phone, CVs and interviews only display what the author wants you to see. Social Media gives the chance to see the real person, good or bad.
Great article – food for thought – better check my Facebook account !
Huge topic, often overlooked. Social media has accelerated the level of blunders. People spouting off in the heat of the moment, then trying to erase or justify when found out.
Personally I love seeing influential politicians, shitty z-list celebs and business leaders spouting off on social media platforms then having to dig themselves out of the shit when it goes viral. Highlights idiots and bullies. Every day there is another verbose idiot who makes a stupid/fascist/racist/fattist/feminist/whatever comment. And not just Jamie Oliver.
Interesting topic especially as you have inside experiance. Nobody is immune from either incorrect comments or as in your case, inappropriate response to genuine comments.
Education becomes key. Be aware of what you write and accept that comments, photos, videos etc and equally the follow on comments, defences and fight back are automatically public record.
It exposes keyboard warriors. Don’t say anything about anyone that you are not comfortable with saying to their face.
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