Before you enjoy your annual Guinness, consider our fictional friend Dirk. Dirk is a young gun in the working world – he’s got a college degree from a reputable school and a few years of steady work experience under his belt. Dirk is on the hunt for potential new job opportunities, and was lucky enough to land an interview at the Sheinhardt Wig Company last week.
Dirk was feeling fired up because the interview had felt like a breeze. He had immediate rapport with the hiring manager, nailed the tough questions thrown at him, and received extremely positive feedback at the end of the interview. Now he was just waiting for that coveted phone call.
One week later and Dirk wasn’t walking on sunshine anymore – he hadn’t heard a thing from Sheinhardt. He reached back out to the hiring manager to check on the status of the position, and received a curious response:
Hey Dirk,
Thanks for reaching out. We felt you were a strong candidate, but upon further review of your online presence, felt there were some red flags. We’ll be in touch again soon.
Dirk was confused to say the least. He had just updated his LinkedIn profile, and felt it was a positive and accurate reflection of his experience. Most of his social media accounts were private, but he started poking around to be safe.
The other shoe dropped when he opened Facebook. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, his buddy had posted an old video of Dirk from his college hooligan days. Dirk banged his head against his desk as he watched his younger inebriated self strip down to his skivvies and dive head first, beer in hand, into the green Chicago River. Many expletives followed.
Dirk did not receive that job offer. But he’s since updated his privacy settings, and has become more diligent about double checking his profiles. We assume he didn’t take a naked St. Paddy’s day swim today, but have no way of knowing for sure.
