HBR Case Study: We Googled You

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HBR CASE STUDY AND COMMENTARY

S hould Fred hire
M imi d espite her on line history?
Four commentators offer e xpert advice.

We Googled You by Diane Coutu


Reprint R0706A
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A Western-style leader who doesn’t understand this will face high turnover rates and low productivity levels. For all her language skills, Mimi does not strike me as a credible parent substitute for a Chinese workforce.
This case illustrates how important it is for potential employees—particularly young people who spend a great deal of time engaging in all sorts of Web 2.0 activities—to protect their reputations and think twice about the online personae they are presenting to the world. Information posted today will still be available years from now and could come back to haunt them. Many new high school and college graduates don’t truly understand this until they are sitting in a job interview and the HR manager opens a file that includes not only their résumé but also their latest blog entries and party photos. Online content is public information, and it is fair game for employers to ask about it.
We always recommend that candidates search the Internet to find anything about themselves that might come up in an interview, so that they can prepare to respond effectively. They should consider how they might use the Web to demonstrate attributes
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boyd

Should Fred hire Mimi despite her online history?

If Hathaway Jones doesn’t want to hire people like Mimi, it’ll miss out on the best minds of my generation.

harvard business review • june 2007

I just celebrated my ten-year blogging anniversary. I started blogging when I was 19, and before that, I regularly posted to public mailing lists, message boards, and Usenet. I grew up with this technology, and I’m part of the generation that should be embarrassed by what we posted. But I’m not—those posts are part of my past, part of who I am. I look back at the
15-year-old me, and I think, “My, you were foolish.” Many of today’s teens will also look back at the immaturity of their teen years and giggle uncomfortably. Over time, foolish digital pasts will simply become part of the cultural fabric. Young people today are doing what young people have always done: trying to figure out who they are. By putting themselves in public for others to examine, teens are working through how others’ impressions of them align with their self-perceptions. They adjust their behavior and attitudes based on the reactions they get from those they respect. Today’s public impression management is

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