Beware Hiring Managers Who Spew Nonsense

A few years ago I went on vacation with my family to Costa Rica. While we were there, we visited Arenal Volcano. Although the volcano is in a “resting” phase, there was plenty of smoke and some rocks shooting out of the top. Not sure I would want to be there for a full eruption (lava and burning alive does not really appeal to me). So what does this have to do with job search? Continue Reading

Social Disaster — is Your Job Search Safe?

“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.” –  Bill Cosby

I was recently recruiting for an open position and, after numerous resumes and interviews, narrowed the search down to three candidates and then the final choice. The “winning” candidate had a very impressive resume and all of his references checked out. Then came the background check (which includes a fairly robust Internet search) and we discovered some disturbing news. The final candidate was a quite active political dissident (on the Internet, using blogs and comments). Now this might not cause alarm on its own, but his comments bordered on libelous and some statements were inches away from “overthrow the government”. Needless to say, we passed on this candidate.

What about you? Do you know what will show up in a robust Internet search on you? Continue Reading