Special Announcement – SQL Server 2008 Community Launch Virtual Event
(Event is FRIDAY) We’re excited to announce that we’ll be hosting a huge online virtual event helping launch SQL Server 2008 and bring real-world feedback, information, tips and concepts to you for SQL Server 2008. We’ve just opened the site, and time is very short to register. The event will happen Friday, October 24 at 9:00am Pacific (Noon Eastern). The kicker: The event is free – no charge whatsoever. You do need to register though – just head to our Launch Event site and you’ll be able to register there.
We’ll have a new feature overview session, information about SSIS 2008, an interview with Jason Strate and more. You’ll also get to check out the vConferenceOnline platform, host of our upcoming Virtual Conferences November 5, 6 and 7 for SQL Server, Business Intelligence, SharePoint and .NET Developers.
Social Networking and Hiring
[Send in your thoughts here]
Brent: "I’m a huge fan of doing this, and I’ve used this when hiring several candidates.
I’ll search the web for a candidate’s personal email address and past work email addresses. These often turn up links to forum postings or Usenet group postings. Then I look at the dates on the postings and the content of the questions. If the quality of the questions doesn’t match the job they had, it indicates a potential problem.
For example, I had a candidate applying for a senior DBA position, but a few months ago he’d posted a very junior-level question on a newsgroup about how to perform a very basic task, like how to do transaction log backups. That indicated to me that he probably didn’t have the knowledge he claimed to have, so I gave him several technical questions early in the interview. Sure enough, he was faking it.
Another example – I had a candidate who’d asked several very good technical questions online, and the way he’d posed the questions was very professional and very in-depth. It showed that he knew how to do effective troubleshooting and how to post enough background information to get the right answer fast. That was a big plus in his favor, whereas I’ve seen other candidates post rude or obnoxious comments that put their resume at the bottom of the pile."
Josh: "To me, the social networking sites are separated into two fairly distinct categories; those sites used for "business networking" (a la "LinkedIN"), and those used for personal "outlets" ("MySpace", "Facebook"). For the record, many professionals, including myself, use as many of those sites as possible to connect with other professionals, and to market ourselves. I do have a MySpace page, a LinkedIN profile, a Facebook profile, as well as accounts on Twitter, Tumblr, and FriendFeed. While there is SOME overlap of real life friend connections with professional connections, whenever I post any content to any of the sites, I am being very conscious of the potential readership. Therefore, as a professional, it’s my job to maintain a certain level of awareness around who might look me up, including potential employers.
Having said that, do I believe that employers should be going to these sites to "look up" their potential candidates? Yes and no; sites that are designed for these kind of relationships (LinkedIN) are fair game.
Seeking out someone’s MySpace page is going a bit far; particularly since most people don’t put their real name on their MySpace page, an employer would have to do a disproportionate amount of digging to find someone’s MySpace page and read it. And then, you may be crossing long established protocol. For example, in most places, you cannot ask someone whether or not they are married, or what their sexual orientation is, in an interview. However, this information is available freely on many social networking sites. Since the site isn’t a formal HR recruiting tool, even the simple act of viewing the page (and therefore learning more about the candidate which may possibly influence your hiring decision) is probably a violation of your own HR departments policy, if not the law. Of course it is a huge grey area, but companies have to be careful to avoid putting themselves in the position of being sued because they went and checked out John Doe’s Facebook page. Whereas any person has the right to put their info out into the web in a social context, without feeling fear that a potential employer would judge their "hire-ability" on the content of their page.
When it comes to forum postings, however, as long as the forum posts being read are relevant to the job duties that would be assigned to a potential new-hire, I think that’s fair game. It’s relevant to the job, there’s a low likelihood of personal information being contained in the post, and it helps bring the candidates knowledge to light. That being said, it may behoove some people, particularly IT pros, to actually include links on their resume to forums where they post regularly (if they do), in order to lead the potential employer to another resource that demonstrates their knowledge."
Tony: "Interesting,
As a 20 year veteran, I only joined Linkedin maybe a year ago and have a facebook and myspace page only to keep up with my nephews. I am a very web savvy programmer. I do feel now that it will be important to show an on-line version of my resume – perhaps on linkedin – to help recruiters.
One of my nephews who, at 17, wishes to be a lawyer one day, refuses to join any networking site saying he has no control over content posted by networked friends, and this may impact his future. His brother, on the other hand, has pictures posted from his first night at university, of a drunken party.
As an interviewer, I would definitely like to see on-line content – blogs, work examples and forum posts – and particularly note any abrasive attitudes to other posters. The somewhat anonymous nature of the web can reveal the darker side of a personality.
I have been surprised a number of times by people who have aced interviews and turned out to be totally unsuitable, and any extra tools would be great."
It’s Almost Time – The Virtual Conferences Are Almost Here!
Register today – SQL Server, Business Intelligence, SharePoint, .NET Developers – it’s all here, and it’s all coming directly to your computer from the virtual conference – second to none and not like anything you’ve ever seen online (see a quick demo here). We guarantee it.
[Click here to register – still only $100] (not a typo!)
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