It’s an article of faith that the younger generation, especially the people joining the workforce now and part of what’s called “Generation Y,” are a tech-savvy bunch. That’s surely true overall, but their savvy may not extend to protecting their privacy in important ways.
According to a news release from Adecco, a recruiting and staffing firm, “in a recent Adecco Workplace Insights survey, 66 percent of Generation Y respondents were not aware that seemingly private photos, comments and statements were audited by potential employers.”
This is an interesting finding, since more and more employers are using Google and other online sites to check out prospective employees. We’ve posted on that issue here before (see below).
If you’re an employer, the lesson may be that you still have to use judgment when evaluating an applicant and his/her history. Certainly some things that you find on your criminal records check or pre-employment credit report may be knock-out factors for you. But many times you’ll want to use them as a starting point to find out what happened and what it says about the quality and fit of the applicant you’re considering.
The same is true for what you find during checks using internet sites, only more so. If you’re using information from the net you must make sure that you’re got information on the person you’re considering. You must make sure you’ve got accurate information. And you must make a judgment based on what you find and verify.
If the Adeeco survey is right, many of the young people you’ll be considering won’t have cleaned up their online act. That means you’ll have to decide if some of the things you see point to a bad fit with your organization, or if they’re one more proof that many of us do dumb things when were young that we leave behind when we grow up.
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