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I had to get a background check for my job; the report is a 300 page pdf

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Re: I had to get a background check for my job; the report is a 300 page pdf

#111

Post by Jupe »

Get used to it... this is the world we (the tech community) helped, even pushed, to create.

I ask myself, would a FAANG company hire someone who doesn't actively tweet? Somehow, I doubt it.

It is increasingly impossible to live in the modern world without using the internet. Try buying something these days; many of the brick-and-mortar stores are disappearing. Try getting a job without using online services. Try buying a home or even renting an apartment without online services. The cost benefits of leveraging the internet for most operations (help-desk, ordering, even viewing) grossly outweigh the expense of having people perform such duties. The digitization of life is only going to grow, IMO.

We, the people, are being (operationally) forced to use the internet for more and more aspects of post-industrial life.

For now, our Orwellian dystopia persuades us to use the system. As the "free market" pushes us more and more in the direction of online-only services, AI-driven chat bots and the like, we will reach a point where you must be online to get nearly anything done.

Treat every activity you perform on the internet as if it will last forever. Because it will. And people can judge you for it now and forever; even after you've passed on.

Most of us have nothing to hide; but this perspective is based on our past experiences. We have nothing to hide if the old rules apply. But these are new rules. I can laugh at an off-color joke in the closeness of friends. Do the same online (via a like, re-tweet, share, whatever) and it becomes part of the permanent BigBrother data store... discover-able, query-able, judge-able forever.

Scary stuff.

Re: I had to get a background check for my job; the report is a 300 page pdf

#112

Post by BlueTemplar »

marcinzm wrote: post #24
retrac98 wrote: post #9

Name and shame these companies until this stops.

I mean, as I see it the reason companies are requesting these checks is because of all the naming and shaming of companies whose employees were found to have posted inappropriate things (or done other actions). So naming and shaming them seems sort of ironic to me.

Are you suggesting much more aggressive methods?

Re: I had to get a background check for my job; the report is a 300 page pdf

#113

Post by kennywinker »

ZhuanXia wrote: post #74
aloknnikhil wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like Hire Right ( https://www.hireright.com/ ) uses this. And a lot of the FANG tier companies use Hire Right. That'd a exclude a lot of the tech companies.

It's basically an algorithmic filter for wokism. A lot of innovative people tend to be unswayed by our strange moral fads. Seems like talent is being left on the table. Good news for startups.

Not really “for wokism” - some of the tweets captured are “woke” but still flagged for the language used. As one reply pointed out “fuck racism” would get flagged. It seems like it’s more just scanning for expressions of opinion, good or bad. “I like alcohol” - flagged bad. “I love charity” - flagged good. So these can be used by employers to determine “culture fit” which (opinion here) will probably largely be used, consciously or unconsciously, to enforce a homogeneous work force (racially, sexually, politically).

Re: I had to get a background check for my job; the report is a 300 page pdf

#115

Post by BurningFrog »

dudul wrote: post #81
appleiigs wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On a related note, I declined a job interview when a company wanted to do the interview process via HireVue. Has the Orwellian telescreen feel. The process includes candidate recording interview responses and uploading them for AI to evaluate. HR must not realize that as part of the interview, candidates are also evaluating whether the company is a good place to work at.

I've also laughed at companies trying to pull this thing, but I also realize that this is a huge privilege. There is really only in tech that the tables are somewhat flipped, and applicants can afford to give HR bullies the middle finger.

The US has record low unemployment. There are many fields outside tech where workers can be picky about jobs.

Re: I had to get a background check for my job; the report is a 300 page pdf

#116

Post by drdeadringer »

istorical wrote: post #57

How do they handle extremely common names?

The name doesn't even need to be common. There are a dozen's dozen ways to spell my last name, and I've received emails intended for somebody else simply because the sender searched the directory and clicked the first hit they got.

For extra credit, I share the same name [spelling and all] with a decently famous musician. If you search for me you'll get him unless you include//exclude an extra choice word or two.

Re: I had to get a background check for my job; the report is a 300 page pdf

#118

Post by BlueTemplar »

0xff00ffee wrote: post #52

I stopped using my real name on social media in 2016. I wonder if Fama can still associate my posts with my fake names. Because if so, holy shit I'm fucked for dozens of reasons. I guess they could ask Reddit and Hacker News for IP logs of user ip addresses, especially since HN doesn't delete accounts.

Yeah, you shouldn't count on it. Especially if they use neural networks - they likely have the know-how to identify you using your writing patterns (though the needle in the haystack issue might help you against not really persistent detectives...)

Re: I had to get a background check for my job; the report is a 300 page pdf

#119

Post by lonelappde »

aloknnikhil wrote: post #36
brenden2 wrote: post #4

Here's the company doing this: https://fama.io/ The idea that you can assess someone's workplace performance based on automated screening of their tweets is utterly absurd. If anyone works somewhere that uses this tool, or anything similar to it, you should run far, far away from that company. This is a terrible precedent, and much too much Orwellian for my taste. EDIT: somewhat related, but a while back I made a Twi…

Looks like Hire Right ( https://www.hireright.com/ ) uses this. And a lot of the FANG tier companies use Hire Right. That'd a exclude a lot of the tech companies.

That is FANG tier? Do any FANG companies use HireRight? They aren't on the blogroll list.

Re: I had to get a background check for my job; the report is a 300 page pdf

#120

Post by greenshackle2 »

ZhuanXia wrote: post #74
aloknnikhil wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like Hire Right ( https://www.hireright.com/ ) uses this. And a lot of the FANG tier companies use Hire Right. That'd a exclude a lot of the tech companies.

It's basically an algorithmic filter for wokism. A lot of innovative people tend to be unswayed by our strange moral fads. Seems like talent is being left on the table. Good news for startups.

Not so much wokism, more being bland and unobjectionable.
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