For Employers

This page is intended for viewing by current or potential employers who stumble upon this site. It seemed necessary given the tenuous environment surrounding professional-online clashes.

If you are reading this, you are quite possibly a current or potential employer who found my web site via a search engine. You will notice I have made no attempt to hide this site from search engines, and have gone to great lengths to make it easy to find and publicly accessible.

There is a wide diversity of opinions on the topic of how apropos it is to have material about oneself online, and how subject that material is to one's professional life. This page exists to address that topic.

1. First and foremost, I firmly believe that so long as I am not discussing my professional life, what is made public about me has no relevance to my employment.
2. Second, I believe that any company should have the right to fire or not hire anybody for nearly whatever reason it desires. While I hold the opinion that it is not in their best interests to use personal web sites and profiles as a basis for employment, I fully recognize a company's moral right to do so in most cases, and do NOT intend to take any legal actions surrounding such decisions.
3. Third, my online life is generally an open book, both to my work and to everybody else. I do not publicize it at work, as I don't think that's appropriate. But I don't hide it from work either, just as I am not hiding anything from you right now.
4. Fourth, I do not believe it is appropriate to discuss the details of one's professional life online. You are welcome to search the Internet, and you will find very few specifics I've said about my jobs. Typically, people know little more than the fact that I have a job, and what industry I work in. I give my employer this respect, and I expect similar in return.
5. Fifth, I do not seek employment at places where I believe there would be a strong ideological difference that would inhibit my professional life. Thus, I do not pursue organizations which have social or religious agendas in conflict with my own values. This is to protect both you and me.
6. Sixth, Redstroke is intended to display my personal thoughts and experiences, not my professional ones. I do have a web site for professional purposes, which is far less expansive and far more in line with my professional values.

Please be advised that this web site and auxiliary online profiles I maintain will contain pictures of me. While I do not mind if you view my pictures or even make employment decisions based on them, if your corporate policies prevent you from seeing images of potential employees due to the possibility of lawsuit, you may wish to be careful about where you look.

In case your human resources procedures involve searching various other online profiles I may have, a non-exhaustive list with links is available at the Contact Me page. Should you need any other information, please do not hesitate to ask.

Copyright © Van Goodwin, 2006
Last updated 2006-06-22 at 23:33 GMT
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