Are we being judged for the company we keep?

Posted by admin, June-9-2010

The places I can be in when I am inspired to write a blog! Working hard during my Spinning class, a new tune started and I kept hearing the words “Get Connected”. Actually, if I’m honest, I thought the singer was saying “Get Knackered”, which seemed more apt, but on checking I was assured that it’s a song called “Get Connected” by Midnight Juggernauts. Well anyway, it got me thinking….

Yesterday, I was speaking with job seekers at Skillscentre Bucks about using Social Media, in particular LinkedIn and Twitter, to network effectively and find hidden jobs. We were discussing the ways to “get connected” and interact appropriately when a member gave an example of being judged incorrectly because of a photo, that someone else had added, on Facebook.

Outside of work, this gentleman is a member of a professional British shooting team and the photo on Facebook was of the team after a professional event. He went into the interview and was hit with “I see you’re pro gun” and, needless to say, he was not offered the job. In my humble opinion, he was probably saved from working for a company that would not have been a good fit but when you’ve been looking for work for a while each knock back can be hard to take, whether the company is suitable or not.

So are we being judged by the company we keep?

I’ve heard stories of people not being offered roles due to the inappropriateness of their profile picture or losing a job because they panned the organisation online but this appears to be worse.

If I look around my connections and my friends, included are one of my best mates who loves going roo shooting (pictured), a goth, a rather pierced and tattooed aeroplane engineer and an eclectic mix of people who all add value to the world.  Should I be judged that my husband sings with a German rock band who all wear monks attire? Frankly, no. Yet, if you did not know me you could see the pictures of all these people in my Facebook profile and pre-judge.

So have we taken this too far?

According to Socialized HR, “a survey, funded by Microsoft and conducted in December 2009, by Cross-tab Marketing Services, found that 70 percent of HR and recruiting professionals in the U.S. had rejected job candidates due to what they found regarding those individuals online”. On the basis of that finding, Socialized HR have actually developed a tool to make it easier for HR professionals to drill into our Social Network information. So the judging could get worse!

So what should a jobseeker do? Avoid networking altogether and miss out on a potential opportunity or network but with an awareness of what could happen?

Personally, I have found it extremely beneficial being connected to my network on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook etc and I would rather be on there, monitoring my reputation with the available free tools, than not.

But what do you think?

by Katrina Kollier