Due diligence on interviewees

[mildmannered]

Recently had an interview, and very early on in the process was told that "they'd done some digging around on me" (words to that effect).

1) Is this common practice?
2) Beyond a basic Google, what methods would be used?
3) If this is "normal" should I be leaving a deliberate 'professional' digital footprint?

I tend to use a handle or moniker on forums (usually associated with the one I use on here) and I assume that my email is pretty much hidden from any search?

I do use Facebook and do act consciously (I've heard the stories of peoples Facebook activities landing them in trouble!) so try and refrain from the nonsense and set pictures/videos to private. But don't use LinkedIn as I've never really mixed in the sort of circles that I would consider LinkedIn to benefit me.

I did have a bit of a sniff around, but only found a couple of items - which actually painted a positive (but nerdy) picture of me.

Found it a little unsettling to be honest. Any other experiences?

[MrHargreaves]

I would assume its happening even if you don't get told about it. Sound's like you are careful and shouldn't have any problems but it is amazing what you can discovered about people using google and other basic searches

For example, I was once sent an "anonymised" CV from a recruiter. Using only google/linkedin I was able to find out exactly who they were and that the currently work with a former colleague of mine. I did nothing else but its a pretty scary example. Don't put anything online you wouldn't want to tell somebody in person

[edc]

What's the problem? You as an interviewee would want to do your homework on the company, past performance, reputation, work culture, who your managers maybe and who you might be working with. You might Google them to see what industry events, conferences or exhibitions they have been to, check details via LinkedIn to see if the interviewer or manager has any connections to you, worked at any familiar places etc.

[mildmannered]

edc said:

What's the problem?

I don't have a problem with the process. But I have not been exposed to it before, hence why I was after input from you gentlemen.

I read it as a leading statement, as in implying they'd gleaned facts about me.

If the roles had been reversed and I'd uncovered something about the candidate that I was unhappy with, I'd ditch the application, or enquire about the information directly.

[AndStilliRise]

I seem to get it a fair bit.

I turn up to interviews with people having read my LinkedIn and whatever posts they can find about me so don't think too much about it anymore.

I think people try and verify what you have written down to what they can find out about you online.

Needless to say PH is anonymous or least i hope.

[NDA]

I quite regularly Google people we are considering for a senior role - just in case there's something in their background we were not aware of. In one instance we saw someone tweeting about the interview, which gave us an interesting perspective on their personality.

These days you're not allowed to ask if a candidate is male/female, how old they are and numerous other things. The web is often more informative.

[Sheepshanks]

My industry uses LinkedIn a lot - I think it's close to weird now if I look a business contact up and they're not listed.

I'm always gobsmacked by people posting on forums in their real name unless it's useful for them to promote their business. I recognise a few people on here, and some of the things written are interesting, to say the least!

[davepoth]

Sheepshanks said:

My industry uses LinkedIn a lot - I think it's close to weird now if I look a business contact up and they're not listed.

I'm always gobsmacked by people posting on forums in their real name unless it's useful for them to promote their business. I recognise a few people on here, and some of the things written are interesting, to say the least!

I use my real name everywhere. It serves to remind me that everything I write could be traced back to me if anyone really wanted. Nobody's really anonymous on the internet.

To the OP, it's not especially common but not unheard of. It's pretty scary how much information people let out online without thinking - over in the "Scottish Referendum" thread there were one or two people pretending to be someone else, and they got found out pretty quickly. It's usually a case of adding together a number of little bits of information (spread throughout a PH posting history for example) that can lead you to another place.

In one case the poster had a particularly distinctive car - the only one of its type for hundreds of miles around. It was so rare that his local paper had written an article about him so that was pretty easy.

[mildmannered]

I am pretty careful about what I write, but I am also pretty certain that the odd sentence or joke taken out of context may be viewed negatively (especially Facebook).

I guess I'll have to be even more vigilant about I conduct myself online. Just a shame that you can be judged professionally by how you conduct yourself in your own time.

Should I take this as a cue to generate a LinkedIn profile? So I can leave an visible and positive footprint?

[NDA]

mildmannered said:

Just a shame that you can be judged professionally by how you conduct yourself in your own time.

Employers need to make sure they're recruiting the person they 'see' at an interview - just occasionally, these can be entirely different characters.

For example, what if someone was making racist comments on-line?

[Jader1973]

I'm involved in recruiting students for a one year placement where I work.

First task is always to check their Facebook/LinkedIn.

Facebook in particular is often a bit of an eye opener - I'm amazed that they aren't taught about their digital footprint at Uni and how best to present themselves.

Gets a bit weird when I check my LinkedIn and find that a couple of them have checked me out though!

[lambysdad]

They may have just asked around.
I work in the O&G Industry and someone always knows someone who has worked with someone before...if you see what I mean

[Sir Bagalot]

I also check out their Twitter accounts. All the interviewees need to do is lock their accounts down. It really isn't rocket science.

[oldbanger]

Pop your name, email address and phone number into google, pipl, the Facebook search bar, etc, and see what comes back. It can be amazing how open some people are online - drug habits, public slanging matches with exes, slagging off work, drunk photos, racism, porn etc.

Personally, my advice is to set your privacy settings to max on all personal social media accounts, then set up a strictly professional LinkedIn profile.

[mildmannered]

Thanks for the "pipl" one, not heard of that before. Only thing it came up with was my Amazon wish list, which I use to bookmark items that I've stumbled across that I don't wish to purchase at the time. All in all, very dull! Maybe that was the point