Once again, Tech Writers don’t get it. (Name and contact info removed so I don’t have to deal with some guy bitchin’ about me posting his info all over the place.)
On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 18:28:54 -0800, [President/Principal Writer] wrote:
> Speaking of google, what's the difference between doing a little
> research about the contents of a test and an employer using goggle to
> underhandedly find out information about a candidate.
>
> [President/Principal Writer's first name]
> --
[President/Principal Writer]
President/Principal Writer
[Company name]
[Company website]
MSN: [removed]
Yahoo: [removed]
There are two pains in life, the pain of sacrifice and the pain of regret.
This is the pain of the industry, if you ask me. Googling your name for info is already cliche in some circles. If you don’t think that people are plugging your name into search engines before or after talking to you… wow. That’s like not looking up the bio of an acclaimed writer. You’d have to prefer the experience of being ignorant.
To be fair, this post was quickly followed by a number of people pointing out that you can use this activity to your advantage, a kind of free advertising. Does you name show up in newsgroups being helpful? A potential employer might like that. Of course, you may not want your name turning up as you’re knocking a common practice for someone doing due diligance on a candidate or company. The real issue is that what Mr. Poster expressed as an “underhanded” practice is a belief held by more people in the Tech Writing world than you would believe. Did you know that some employers expect writers to do other things besides write? I know, we need a union to stop these things!