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fired for bad facebook behavior?

 
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Missihippi



Joined: 22 Oct 2007
Location: Gwangmyeong

PostPosted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 11:31 pm    Post subject: fired for bad facebook behavior? Reply with quote

from a Dear Abby column, it sounds like this could very well have been a Korean school. Don't let formal co-workers and strangers have access to your Facebook page.

from http://www.sunherald.com/2011/01/13/2777215/naughty-online-posts-jeopardize.html

Quote:
DEAR ABBY: A former student asked me to write a character reference to help her land a teaching job abroad. I agreed, since I thought highly of her potential as a teacher and scholar, and her level of character. However, after she was placed in the classroom, the ministry of education of the nation where she was to teach discovered some inappropriate posting on her social networking site.

Because I had written the recommendation, they contacted me asking if they had a problem and provided me with copies of what they had found. Her posting detailed a history of forging fake IDs to buy alcohol while underage, numerous episodes of binge drinking in high school and college, her marijuana use and several exhibitionistic stunts and sexual activities that I won�t mention. I was shocked. None of this matched the person I thought I knew.

When I tried to contact her to let her know she had been discovered, she rebuffed my inquiries and cut off all contact! Her parents� response was denial and to �kill the messenger.� I have been left with the problem of how to respond to the ministry�s questions.

Ordinarily I would not want my signature associated with someone with those behaviors and attitudes, but this young woman is in legal jeopardy abroad. I still don�t know if what she wrote is true, but I find it highly problematic that she would portray herself as she did.

This situation has so shaken my trust in the character and judgment of the 20-something crowd that I�m now reluctant to write recommendations for any of my students. What do you think I should have done? -- Heartbroken Teacher in Oakland, Calif.

DEAR HEARTBROKEN: You responded appropriately by trying to contact your former student and her parents.

It is intelligent of you to think twice about giving references to students in the future. It�s important that you be careful because there could be liability for you if you knew anything about her antics when you wrote her recommendation. If you are wondering how to respond to the ministry of education, what you need to convey is that you were basing your recommendations on your personal interactions with her.

Let this be a lesson to all young people who are using social networking sites. Employers are doing background checks and you will be discovered. Any past communications you have on the Internet are there to stay.
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northway



Joined: 05 Jul 2010

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 12:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

People need to learn how to use the privacy features.
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young_clinton



Joined: 09 Sep 2009

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 12:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That is very very cold blooded. I wish I knew the country she was going to work for. I would never work for a school located in a country like that.
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Radius



Joined: 20 Dec 2009

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 12:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

maybe this was China
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young_clinton



Joined: 09 Sep 2009

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 1:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Unfortunately I think we will never know the country involved in this.
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shabu_shabu



Joined: 11 Jan 2011

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 3:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

How stupid do you have to be to not realize that employers and potential employers check these types of sites?

I have no sympathy for idiots like this girl.

Keep your nose to the streets! Happy janitoring...
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rumdiary



Joined: 05 Jun 2006

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 8:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

More jobs for people who understand privacy setting. It's like natural selection.
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cyui



Joined: 10 Jan 2011

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 8:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

How old was this girl? How did they acess the facebook?
Why were the parent's contacted if the girl is in her 20's ( she is a grown woman).

I would cut have cut all contact off, too. Your choices are your own.
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PatrickGHBusan



Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 10:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

shabu_shabu wrote:
How stupid do you have to be to not realize that employers and potential employers check these types of sites?

I have no sympathy for idiots like this girl.

Keep your nose to the streets! Happy janitoring...



How true.

In addition, how casually people put stuff online is astounding. Emplyers check online routinely now before hiring someone and often before re-hiring someone. It has become par for the course.

Facebook is no exception. As for the vaunted privacy settings...its fine for YOUR FB page but what about one of those dear FB friends who takes pics at a party and posts them on HIS or HER FB page...then they spead. FB is a joke when it comes to security and privacy.

As far fetched as it may sound, when an employer is faced with a choosing between many applicants with similar skills and experience and some of them have wild party pics on FB or some other social network, who do you think gets tossed into the "not selected" bin?

Be smart for Pete's sake.
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rumdiary



Joined: 05 Jun 2006

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 12:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Since nobody else brought it up...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyHqW4KTi-I&feature=related
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redaxe



Joined: 01 Dec 2008

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 6:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If this former student is in college or already graduated from college, it's totally inappropriate for the letter writer to be contacting her parents.
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redaxe



Joined: 01 Dec 2008

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 6:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

cyui wrote:
How old was this girl? How did they acess the facebook?
Why were the parent's contacted if the girl is in her 20's ( she is a grown woman).

I would cut have cut all contact off, too. Your choices are your own.


Yes, exactly this. It sounds like totally inappropriate behavior by the letter writer. None of her g-d business.
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southernman



Joined: 15 Jan 2010
Location: On the mainland again

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 7:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There was an International study done amongst probably most of the countries that we come from in January last year that was only released the past November

Internationally, over 40% of employers check Facebook etc when checking out prospective employees. The ammount of employers doing this is only going to increase.

Some peoples comments on FB amaze me, do they think that because their comments are made in Korea that they will stay in Korea. It is an extremly naive thing to do
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