Yoram's Note

How to flunk that critical career interview before you send a resume

If you have teenagers at home, you are probably amazed by the amount of time they spend by their PC "playing" on Facebook. I am troubled about this phenomenon for a totally different reason you can imagine. I am concerned about all the information floating out there FOR EVER in cyber space which may hurt our kids in the future.

A little while ago Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg deleted his own incriminating photos featuring half naked shots with his teddy bear and pajama pants looking anything but sober. I guess Mark felt it was time to grow up and resume the image of a true CEO – One who heads an epic brand with the biggest global swarm ever known to mankind. Well, hey - Mark could get away with it… But you and I, or our children may not.

If DeCartes lived today he would've declared– I appear in Google, therefore I am! Truth is millions of people are scrutinized daily online. Millions of incriminating data; photos, videos, wall comments, tweets and jackass stunts are viewed, poked, tagged and re-tweeted again and again… and again.

12th century Iranian mathematician and philosopher Omar Khaayam once wrote: "The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on… nor all thy piety nor thy wit shall cancel half a line…nor all thy tears wash out a word of it."

Let's put it in today's context: If you post a photo of yourself or a friend completely smashed, chances are you could be shooting yourself or your friend in the leg right before that critical, career turning interview.

Even though Facebook recently created new privacy laws, there are millions of people who are not properly applying them. Facebook and other social media communities provide fantastic, no - brilliant networking opportunities. Myriads of jobs, marriages and re-connects have resulted over the years. Unfortunately there are no statistics indicating career failures and fall outs resulting from incriminating information innocently posted online.

Perhaps if your 18 year old daughter who was tagged in scant cladding over the summer, or your 16 year old son who was featured in a vandal rampage in YouTube were made a little more aware…

After all – could you imagine them emailing an incriminating photo or video to the CEO of that dream company - just before the interview?

We have an important message to convey to our kids. Perhaps, if we put it to them that way - they may think twice before the next expose.

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