MySpace killed the candidate….critical job interview tip
June 24th, 2008 by the medical sales recruiter
Another candidate with inappropriate material on his myspace…who is now no longer a candidate.
It’s REALLY important to sanitize your social network pages (anything on MySpace, FaceBook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.) while you are looking for a job in medical sales, pharmaceutical sales, clinical diagnostics sales, laboratory sales, pathology sales, imaging sales, medical device sales, cellular products sales, molecular products sales, or biotech sales, which is why I have addressed this in previous posts.
Why? According to a Vault.com survey, which I found in Net Etiquette for Job Seekers, 44% of employers surveyed looked up potential employees on social networking sites and 82% of those employers would think twice about hiring candidates with something perceived as negative in their on-line profiles. And FYI: 39% of employers have searched the on-line profiles of current employees, so don’t think you’re good to go after you’ve got the job. It may seem unfair and an invasion of your personal social life, but it becomes fair game once you’ve put it out there in public.
Additional great advice in this article–not only make sure your sites are “PG,” but also make sure they are complete, since they are serving as another resume. For instance, identify yourself as a healthcare salesperson (or even better, as a laboratory sales rep) rather than just say you’re “in sales.”
If that many employers are using social networks to gather information, I would imagine that any recruiter worth his or her salt uses them, too. (I know I do.) Social networking sites are one of the gold mines for finding candidates.
Social networks can be general or focused on a particular group, and it’s worth it to companies and candidates to find out how to effectively use them. The New Way to Network for a Job offers an overview that shows you how important they have already become and solid advice for how to use them to your advantage.
By the way, no one will tell you that this is what killed your chances…managers will just assume that you have bad judgment and want nothing to do with you.
Best bet…set all profiles (aside from LinkedIn) so only your direct friends can see you.
Christien, I agree that it is best to set your social network sites to private. And be careful who you accept as a friend.
Another good tip is to Google yourself (i.e. your name in its many iterations) once in a while. Make sure there is nothing out there about you that could hurt your chances at a new job.
[…] have not discussed at much length is knowing and controlling your own profile. Peggy over at Medical Sales Recruiter has a post about losing a candidate over their MySpace […]