NOTE: Live blogging, so please ignore lapses in grammar, syntax, etc. I'll fix'em later. Thanks!
12:46pm: Q&A
Q: Endorsements?
MA: Professional endorsements, yes. Personal ones, not really.
TA: Adds to "rep score."
Q: Accepting video resumes?
MA: No. Still get asked for Word resumes from clients.
LA: Specific industries, tech industries, trolling for job applicants through social networking sites.
MA rebuttle: Job niche accounting and finance -- still conservative.
LA: Some alums have landed in companies that are using stuff "as a matter of course" and requiring employees set up social networking pages. Use for internal communications.
Q: What information are they considering to be "personal info"?
MA: Facebook/MySpace more personal websites, going to have personal stuff. Not a problem to talk about fav. books, TV shows, movies; when you get more into illegal activity or questionable activity, hot-button issues. Never know what kind of biases people have.
F-upQ: Answers to questions illegal to ask such as marital status, appear on social networking sites.
A: Have to work under assumption such info found on social sites can be used against you.
Q: Arabic name, other people have it too, how to I show it's me?
TA: Application that aggregates all your websites together. As far as Google goes, really hard to pull all those pages together.
Q: When does this info become crap? Like credit reports.
TA: RipOff Report lets you post bad info, and won't take it down. So much bad info, hard to sort through and remove stuff. Social networking is volunteered.
RA: Fact of the matter is, there's an awful lot of junk out there. Whether or not it's accurate, that's out of your hands. So take control of those things, as limited as they are, to take control of you reputation and put the image that you want out there.
Q: Delete Facebook/MySpace account. If I delete and they keep it, an employer still see?
RA: Info might be archived elsewhere -- WayBackMachine. Starting thinking about what you put out there is going to be available to everyone, even if private.
TA: Even if just viewable to a few friends, one can copy and paste image/text and send it to another 20 friends. Stuff spreads like a virus.
Q: Instance where Google can detect what sites you been to, and is that info available?
TA: Sign up for Google (iGoogle, Gmail, etc), they will track your searches/info unless you opt-out.
RA: Even if not readily tied to an identity, info is still available. Search engine data "accidently" made public, possible to gleam individual people.
12:33pm: Tom
- Google caches every page so it's there.
- Naymz -- social network more like LinkedIn, "Social Reputation Network for Professionals."
- Online Reputation Repair
- Work with clients to enhance search engine results for their names.
- Push down or dilute any unwanted or negative results
- 100+ clients. Work with law firms and PR firms.
- "Scraping" -- other sites "scrape" info from social sites (Facebook, LinkedIn) and add to theirs.
- 5 Steps to a Clean Online Rep
- Investigate: perform "vanity search" -- search your name, different variations, attributes ("Tom Drugan" Chicago); search MySpace, YouTube, Blogs, etc.
- Clean: "Clean your Space and Wash your Face;" set privacy permissions, take down anything you don't want professors, employers, or families to see.
- Ask: contact website owner; ask nicely; take legal action of necessary; flood the search engines.
- Promote: become your own PR agent. Build your "personal brand." Positive, accurate information; mix up content on sites (blog, online photo album, upload videos, online biographies and endorsements); link websites together, buy a domain name, add comments to other's blogs and profiles.
- Monitor: Google Alerts, set-up RSS Reader; Monitor your name on Blogs; Complete Tracking Solution (trackur.com, reputationdefender.com).
12:32: Reis: "Social Forgiveness" -- people would forget. Learn from mistakes. Used to be no permanent record. Not so with Internet unless take extraodrinary steps to fix that.
12:23: Margaret, Mergis Group -- "Reality Check"
- CareerBuilder poll -- 50% of HR managers checking applicants MySpace/Facebook/etc. sites.
- 2 candidates recently pulled out of running for jobs because of social networking pages.
- Top 10 Recruiter Tips for Social Networking Sites
- Make your profile private/unsearchable.
- Do not include employer information on your profile.
- Do not post incriminating/inappropriate info.
- Be aware of comments that people are posting on your page.
- Be aware of photos/videos in which you are "tagged."
- Do not post negative job-related comments.
- Make blogs private.
- Do not make coworkers/managers your "friend" on these sites.
- Avoid posting remakrs regarding hot-button issues.
- Be careful with joining clubs/groups that may negatively reflect upon you.
12:09: Leslie Reis Speaking
- Reality Check - Maragert
- Tom - How to use Internet for good
Leslie's Points
- Info about you on Web "will be used by others to make judgments about you."
- Info put up by you, friends, family, anyone
- No Expectation of Privacy for information publicly available, no legal claim to protect.
- Very few exceptions, employers/people have free reign to search and use info found about you on the Web.
- "Publicly Available" -- information people can find without doing a ton of extra work, ie subpoena or fraudulent behavior.
- No overriding comprehensive privacy law.
- Background Checks
- Past employment
- References
- Education
- Professional Licenses
- Credit History
- Criminal History
- Court Records
Court Recrods, Public Records, Driver Records, medical history, worker's comp, etc. -- all publicly available!
- Publicly Available info
- Internet Searches
- Social Networking Sites
- Problematic Info -- illegal activities, unprofessional activities, personal info used to make decisions/judgments -- permissible judgments, discriminatory (illegal) judgments such as race, disabilities
Info can lead back to employer, harm employer image.
- Tagged info, links to friends -- can be problematic
- Field trip to Mid-East story: two students pulled out of line because passport suggested born outside US; asked 2 questions: cell phone number, MySpace or Facebook page -- not interested in content, interested in FRIENDS (new meaning to "social network").
- Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
- Doesn't require employers to conduct background checks
- Sets national standard for employment screening.
- Applies to "Consumer Reports" and "Investigative Consumer Reports"
- Only applies to 3rd parties that conduct background checks for an employer
- Does not apply to in-house
- Does not apply to jobs with annual salares about $75,000.
- Require applicant's written consent.
- Not to applicant of adverse action.
- Other Applicable Laws
- Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964
- Equal Pay Act of 1963
- Age Discrimmination in Employment Act
- ADA
- Family Educaitonal Rights and Privacy Act
12:08: Introductions.
Leslie Reis,
Tom Drugan and Margaret Lyons.
12:04pm: Pretty crowded! Having to bring in more chairs. Standing room, perhaps?
11:59am: All presenters are present.
11:57am: Even more people, including seasoned professionals. Nice mix of students and active lawyers.
11:47am: Arrival of people; food. Pizza! Free pizza. Yum! As people trickle in, a slide show of photos of students in "questionable" situations/places. Pictures are posted on MySpace, Facebook and other social networking sites, available for all to see -- including employers.
The founders of Threadless, one of the hottest startups in the Chicago area, invited students to visit their headquarters and discuss how computers help them facilitate vibrant creative communities with participants around the world but how they also create business risks in terms of managing intellectual property.
