Job hunting and Web 2.0

"It's not what you know but who you know," is an old saying about job-hunting.

In the world of social networks we "know" more people than ever and we can be connected to the people they know as well, making it easier to find work and hear about people using our personal networks...

See Why 50 is the magic number for job-hunting by Peter Bowes (BBC News) for more details.

Health employer uses YouTube for recruitment

 

A Scottish health board has uploaded a short film to video sharing website YouTube in a bid to recruit new staff.

The video promoting vacancies in NHS Highland's cancer treatment services is the first in a series the board plans to produce to attract new employees.

In the six-minute film, workers seek to dismiss misconceptions about the Highlands...

See NHS Highland uses YouTube in bid to new recruit staff (BBC News) for more details.

Employee rights and LinkedIn

Millions of us use professional network LinkedIn as a sales, marketing and database tool, either through personal profiles or LinkedIn groups.

Some of us have a few contacts, while others have hundreds – but the ownership of these on the site has been the subject of legal debate in the UK and abroad...

For more details see LinkedIn contacts: who owns what? (Philip Landau, The Guardian).

Employee fired for posting payslip online

A Brooklyn dad claims he was fired from his job as a salesman at Lacoste for posting a photo of his paycheck on Instagram...

For more details see Former Lacoste employee: I was fired for posting my paycheck on Instagram (Carole Kuruvilla, NY Daily News).

ACAS guide to social media in the workplace

It's a trade union rap...

Police officer quits over Twitter comments about Thatcher

A police officer who reportedly wrote on Twitter that he hoped Baroness Thatcher's death was "painful and degrading" has resigned.

Sgt Jeremy Scott of the Metropolitan Police is understood to have published a number of offensive messages since the former prime minister's death.

Sgt Scott is said to have claimed her death was "87 years too late" and added that the world was a "better place"...

 

For more details see Thatcher 'death Tweet' policeman Jeremy Scott quits (BBC News).

TUC blog

It would appear that some one at the TUC or who has close links with the TUC has set up a blog to criticise the TUC.

The blog is called What's wrong at the TUC.

Employees take over official corporate Twitter feed

According to an article in the Guardian yesterday, disgruntled HMV employees briefly took over the company's official Twitter account on Thursday to express their extreme dissatisfaction at being sacked by the ailing retailer.

 

More details:

 

On Thursday afternoon one or more angry employees took to the microblogging site to vent their anger and "tweet live from HR". They managed to post seven subversive messages [see image above] before the company regained control of the account and deleted the posts.

 

For more details see: HMV workers take over official Twitter feed to vent fury over sacking (Sam Jones).

Sexist Brazilian police officer fired for Twittering

According to the BBC News website, a Brazilian police inspector has lost his job after using Twitter to criticise women who worked for him.

 

Some more details:

 

Pedro Paulo Pinho tweeted that out of the 14 women staff of a Rio de Janeiro police station "only one had the talent, courage and determination needed for police work".

 

For more details see Rio policeman loses job after tweet 'offensive' to women.

Barrister IT misbehaviour

Just seen article in the The Times that is about barristers Googling for information about jurors in order to win sympathy for the people they represent.

Quite unethical in my opinion, but until something substantial can be done to prevent it such practice is not going to go away.

For more details see: Threat to the courts system as barristers google jurors then alter speeches to win sympathy (Frances Gibb), although these days you have to subscribe to The Times to get full access to the full article.

IT misbehaviour

I saw a great IT misbehaviour story on the BBC News website today.

Some details:

A security check on a US company has reportedly revealed one of its staff was outsourcing his work to China.

The software developer, in his 40s, is thought to have spent his workdays surfing the web, watching cat videos on YouTube and browsing Reddit and eBay.

He reportedly paid just a fifth of his six-figure salary to a company based in Shenyang to do his job.

For more details see US employee 'outsourced job to China'.

Facebook misbehaviour at DVLA

Looks like employees at DVLA have been up to mischief again!

See DVLA: Seven staff suspended for posting "inappropriate" Facebook comments for more details (BBC News).

Blogging and anonymity

Many work blogs are renowned for being written in an anonymous fashion.

An article and radio programme by an anonymous blogger has recently appeared on the BBC News website.

See Belle de Jour's history of anonymity.

The radio programme, as told by the Brooke Magnanti (Bell de Jour blog), can be found here.