Safe Versus Star (a/k/a Yawners Versus Washington Capitals Superstar Alexander Ovechkin)
College career service office professionals, recruiters, and hiring managers often are puzzled when I tell them that they should not use MySpace, Facebook, and other social networking sites to exclude candidates from the hiring process except in very rare circumstances but they should use those sites to include candidates in the hiring process for almost every type of position. Why? To me it boils down to whether your organization would prefer to hire people who've never done anything distasteful in their lives and are therefore likely to be the types of people who won't embarrass your firm but probably also won't lead your firm or hire people who apparently don't mind and perhaps even enjoy being in the spotlight and being exhibitionists so therefore may embarrass your firm at some point but also will be far more likely to be leaders.
Want a couple of examples? Have a look at this first video if you want to see what I mean by a safe candidate. Pretty vanilla. Definitely not the type to inspire your clients, vendors, employees, or stockholders but also probably not the type who is ever going to embarrass you.
Now look at this second video. This is a guy who is rumored to live his life the same way off the ice as on it: full throttle 24 hours a day. He will embarrass himself and the company that he works for by making spectacular errors in judgement, yet every organization in his field would just about kill to have the opportunity to have him on their roster.
Now ask yourself, who would you rather have on your team? If you are engaged in college hiring and therefore are trying to hire the next generation of your organization's leaders, who do you want to hire? The guy who is so safe that he puts you to sleep or the guy who does the amazing almost every time he is on the ice?
I thought so.
Whaddya got against Ovechkin? I live in the DC area and follow all the local teams and don't recall ever hearing anything about him that would be termed 'embarrassing'. Why didn't you use T.O. to make your point?
Honestly, I'm not sure that I want either of the 'profiles' that you brought up though. If someone is going to air his dirty laundry on these sites, then that in itself is a sign of bad judgement. On the otherhand, just because someone is 'safe' and won't embarrass me, doesn't necessarily make them anymore appealing.
I have nothing against Ovechkin. I love the guy. But some employers would object to his live life at 100% attitude, both on and off the ice. There have been allegations about ties to the Russian mob, but I doubt that Ovechkin is a mobster or in bed with them. It wouldn't surprise me if he gets threatened by them given his Russian background and recent wealth. To some employers, all of that is scary and likely to make them want to exclude a guy like Ovechkin from the hiring process. Those employers would be making a big mistake. Ovechkin is the kind of employee who is a star. He drives the success of his organization. Every organization needs more Ovechkins.