Right, wrong or indifferent, employers hire individuals that will best exemplify their organization, perform at the highest level, and who will cause the least amount of financial risk. Should your personal life affect work? Probably not. However, it does, and unless you own your own company where you make your own rules, that will not change. After working in human resources for 13 years, I can honesty say that your personal life and your work life will cross paths. When they do, you want it to be a positive experience. If it'spositive, you increase your reputation positively and you also increase the likelihood that you will be rewarded with a higher salary and other benefits that come from performing your job well. And by conducting yourself in a manner that fits the company culture. Does what you have posted on line affect this? Absolutely, it's called "perception". We all draw our own conclusions based upon facts and perception, and as someone who has been hiring and firing people for a long time, perception is reality.
As an HR Director, it is my job to protect the company's assets and avoid lawsuits and embarrasment for the company. One of my contributions is to help staff the organization with people who will make the company profitable. If I need to hire a new employee, I will use all resources possible, including Facebook and Myspace, to gather information. If I see photos of drunken behavior, male or female it makes no difference, I would exclude that person from consideration. Can that person do the job? Probably. However, my job is to find the best fit for that job. Someone who could cause my company embarrasment if important clients (that ultimately pay your salary) see employees making asses out of themselves on line is not the best qualified to perform the job. The right person has it all--education, skills, experience, professional demeanor, and cultural fit within the organization. Getting drunk to the point of throwing up, male or female, does not fit within my company's culture at anytime. Demeaning yourself in photos does not exemplify good judgement , and that won't work either. I look for someone who displays sound judgement because in the customer's eyes, that employee is "The Company". That employee may be the only employee that customer ever has contact with, and the interaction has to be positive. If you have drunken photos posted,does that mean you will make an ass of yourself when you're on a business trip representing the company? Probably not, but I am not going to take a risk hiring someone who already shows proof that they cannot control their impulses. And I have no way to change anyone's perception of you if they do see you on-line, especially before an interview. with the company As for financial risk, for example, there are too many sexual harrassment lawsuits, discrimination lawsuits (and others, these are only two examples) and employers pay massive amounts of money to avoid lawsuits, public embarassment and other things that would cost the company their reputation or profits. It's just too expensive to hire people that may (may, not will) put the company in a potentially greater risk for a lawsuit. The "average" harassment investigation could cost upwards of $100k before you ever enter a courtroom or offer a settlement. Employers can't afford to take risks on people who may not fit the company's culture. Is that right? No, but it is what it is.
Before you jump all over me, I don't necessarily like all of the rules either, but for my paycheck - and it's not a bad one -- I will make sure I am the "best fit" and represent the company appropriately, help protect the company's assets and help to assure that thecompany is still there tomorrow. I don' t do it for free, and I don't necessarily even agree that it's right. So,even if you don't believe your employer should be concerned with your non-work activities, I'm sorry, they are. You don't necessarily have to compromise who you are to get job, just manage the perception of who you are a little bit better. I am not a conservative person but I work in a conservative company, For all of you who say you wouldn't work for a company that judged you on a photo of you hurling in a toilet, you may have to start your own business. There's nothing wrong with making up your own rules,but you may not get to if you want a paycheck from someone else. A good one, that is, because it's tough to pay the bills otherwise.
Girls dancing on bars half-naked, passed out on the beach, hugging the porcelain … these are photos posted for all to see on the Web site Facebook, in a group called Thirty Reasons a Girl Should Call it a Night. These shocking and provocative pictures are supposedly submitted by the women in the photos themselves. The women say they love to have fun, and this is a way to bond with other girls just like them. But are there unforeseen consequences to letting the public behold you at your worst? Dr. Phil speaks with women on both sides of this debate. Jasmine is the moderator for the group Thirty Reasons and says, although she’s responsible for taking down questionable photos, she hasn’t found one yet! Amanda and Norma are incensed that women would degrade themselves in this way. Hear from the president of a company who uses Web sites like Facebook and MySpace to weed out potential employees. Could documenting your good time on the Internet become your biggest regret? Then, a teen who loves to drink says criticism of Thirty Reasons just reinforces the double standard of gender inequality. What do Dr. Phil and the teen’s mother think? Plus, a mayor’s sexy photo has her town’s residents outraged. And, meet a substitute teacher who says he was unfairly fired from his job two times for what’s on his MySpace page. Share your thoughts here.
