Social awkwardness continued... know your friends... or face the peril

An article in today's WSJ mentioned another reason why you should be careful who you friend on your social network of choice: recruiters or HR folks will often look for "friends in common" and informally do a reference check.

You say: What? Really?

I say (looking at you with genuine concern): Yes, really. So when you "friend" that really annoying person in the next cubicle just because it seems easier than saying no, and annoying guy really doesn't like you either, and only asked you to be his friend bc he's a friend collector, you've set yourself up for trouble. It might come to pass that he's friends with said recruiter, and she calls him because she knows you guys work at the same place - and she asks him,"So Bob, do you think John is worth his salt?" Well you know what happens next: having no loyalty and an evil streak, he tells the recruiter that you're a big fat meanie...

Well... that recruiter isn't going to call you about that dream job. Poor you.

I'll pause here to let you clean up your friend list. Wow, that's taking you a long time...


Here's another quote from the New Yorker article I cited in my last post.

"I'm a Facebook addict," Scolnic said. "I already have 900 friends at NYU (gasp! he's a freshman!). Facebook sent me a warning that said, 'Stop friending people.' I guess I didn't take it as seriously as I should have, because last week my account was disabled for four days.... In the elevator, people say hi to me and I'll have no idea who they are. Don't get me wrong, I think it is useful... But for every situation where it helped me there have been, like, five or six that have just been really awkward."

And that, is, as they say, that.

Don't give the guy in the next cube any ammo, and don't have weird elevator moments.

Don't take candy from strangers. Don't get into strange cars. And don't friend people you don't like or know.