Is your social visibility putting your career at risk?
Posted by Nesreen Bakheit, January-10-2012
Twitter and facebook have had adverse publicity recently and there is no doubt that it is having an impact on what people are prepared to write on their wall or post to their network. At the very least no one can say that they were not aware that posting inappropriate pictures or making inappropriate comments that can be seen by your employer and anyone who cares to look, is potentially dangerous to your career prospects.
With LinkedIn on the other hand, everything that I have read in the past year or two has been overwhelmingly positive and none more so than when talking about social networking and recruitment.
So I was taken aback recently when I asked a head hunter why he didn’t accept my invitation to join my network on LinkedIn. He said “it’s for your protection, everyone knows that I am a head hunter and when you and I connect, everyone in your network (including your employer) gets an email update telling them we are now connected and everyone will assume that you are either a client or looking for a job”. He added that the other thing he found astounding was that people did not realise that LinkedIn was one of the biggest CV databases around and unlike Monster, Reed or Total Jobs, you don’t even have to buy a license to be able to see the people who are looking for a job; as they simply tick the looking for a new job box or interested in new career opportunities and are then visible to the entire world, including their employer.
I decided to do a bit of research and came across these articles in the Telegraph & Mail discussing the sacking over a LinkedIn profile which highlight to me the exact issue my friend had outlined.
The articles cover the case of John Flexman, 34, who posted his career history on networking site LinkedIn while employed as a graduate and development manager for gas company BG Group in Reading, who alleges he lost his job for saying he was interested in ‘career opportunities’ in an online CV. As part of his profile, he also ticked a box to say he was interested in career opportunities.
However, after discovering Mr.Flexman’s profile his employer took exception to it, saying Mr Flexman had revealed confidential information and breached company policy.Mr Flexman is understood to have been ordered to remove the profile and was called to a disciplinary hearing for ‘inappropriate use of social media’.He was using the website to advance his career at a cost to the company: “In effect what you were saying was ‘what a terrible place this is but what a great job I’ve done’,” BG Group lawyer Ian Gatt QC, is reported saying :
“Mr Flexman said he should have put more thought into the content of his profile but that he had a right to post his CV publicly “.
“But did I do it to further my career? That’s absolute nonsense.”
On his return to work he was handed a list of disciplinary charges and told he could be sacked, Reading Employment Tribunal heard.The dispute led to Mr Flexman’s resignation in June.
Employment law experts have commented that it was unlawful to treat anybody differently because they were seeking employment and looking for a job is not a sackable offence. However, employers are entitled to expect loyalty from staff and if the employee knowingly published confidential information in his online CV, the dismissal may have been justified.
Most people still believe that LinkedIn is a networking site and that’s why the CV details are required in order to find and connect with like-minded people, but my friend the headhunter says that it is rubbish, it’s a recruitment site, that’s what everyone uses it for and that is probably the major source of income for LinkedIn.
The hearing is continuing,so we will have to wait to see how it all ends, but clearly more consideration needs to be given to what information you are prepared to put online in public “networking” or CV databases and more thought needs to be given to how someone else may interpret whatever you are putting online.
Has anyone come across anything like this? If you are able to share positive or negative experiences, would love to hear your story.
Also any thoughts on LinkedIn: Job boards or social networks?
Comments:
Lisa
January 10th, 2012
(2:42 pm)
Really interesting article! I had never though of using Linked in as a recruitment tool! I will certainly be updating mine to make sure that I put myself across in the best possible way, you never know when a dream job may fall on your lap!!
Mark Bugby
January 10th, 2012
(3:00 pm)
This is interesting, and a far more subtle situation than the usual ‘got sacked for slagging off my boss on fb’.
As an interim/temp, I don’t face the same issues; it’s expected that I am open to new opportunities and I display my status as ‘immediately available’ or ‘available from’ on my headline.
Putting negative comments or company-confidential information on your profile or CV should be avoided at all costs, just as one would never discuss such issues in an interview. As well as potentially causing the problems as outlined in this blog, it also comes across as displaying a negative attitude, which no prospective employer welcomes.
Nina
January 10th, 2012
(3:12 pm)
Yes Mark! Always best to assume both your boss and your mother will read anything you post on line, usually a great way to work out what’s appropriate. It reminds me of when we were at school and had to abide by school rules whilst in uniform, regardless of where we may be. We were representing the school, and like it or not as soon as anyone lists their employers details on their sites they are doing the same.
Cathy
January 10th, 2012
(5:34 pm)
This article is interesting. I do not use LinkedIn a lot and am surprised to hear it is more of a recruitment site than a professional networking page. I do not believe that letting employees go over a tick in “interested in career opportunities” is justified, however I do agree that confidential company information should not be disclosed on sites like LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter. Generally, I’m convinced that anybody should be careful about publications online, one can never know how or when it might backfire.
magid
January 10th, 2012
(9:24 pm)
Useful tip! Thanks.
Julian
January 11th, 2012
(11:19 am)
I am a headhunter, dealing with senior professionals. Most of the people that I talk to are genuinely not “on the market”, but want to keep in touch with me in case a golden opportunity arises.
Like your friend, I am constantly amazed when I am invited to join linkedin networks and have to explain why it is not a good idea for me to accept.
I might add that, whilst looking for a new job may not be a sackable offence, I cannot see that it would do much for your career prospects for your boss to find out.
January 11th, 2012
(11:33 am)
An interesting article and you high light an important aspect of not only LinkedIn, but also with regards to teh transparency that social media brings.
LinkedIn is now a recruitment tool first and foremost. Based on the fact that their revenue is generated from functionality targeting recruiters this will continue to become apparent in the coming months.
This leads to your point regarding connections and is a wider issue of privacy. As you mention Facebook has come under fire for not being clear on how a user can manage privacy, but in reality the tools are there for an individual to control what the public and connections view. Both LinkedIn and Facebook (as well as others) provide users with the ability to control their activity, so a quick change of your LinkedIn settings will allow you to keep private, not just your connections, but also the activity announcements.
However this does not control the content you actively publish within the public domain, by commenting in LinkedIn Groups, on Facebook Pages and blogs etc. This is true for both job seekers and employers and I discussed this in a recent blog I wrote on Netiquette and avoiding being #Antisocial.
Will this year see a change in how people use LinkedIn as more start to use it simply as a job board and CV database?
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