Today we had two different professors tell us that prospective employers at law firms will Google our names and search for us on MySpace, and that if we have a MySpace site or a blog, we may want to consider the potential consequences to our career. And now you know why I don't post my e-mail address or last name. Still, I wondered how easy it would be to track me down online. I changed my e-mail address on MySpace to a dummy address so I couldn't be looked up in that way, and when I Googled my full name, I got:
1. The dedication page of Dr. Chad's dissertation.
2. Articles by the editor of some newspaper in Eastern Kentucky (how odd is it that there are two journalists with the same not-so-common name in virtually the same place?).
3. The winner of a gay boy beauty pageant in the UK. In his undies. Yeah, I lingered here for a minute, so what of it?
4. A really bad photo of me from a column I had published in a local free rag.
5. An article I wrote on the Oscars for the university newspaper about a million years ago.
6. A silly photo of me with Dirty Debbey and some other chick. I have platinum blond hair and am wearing overalls...enough said.
7. A testimonial from five years ago I gave to my yoga instructor.
8. A website I built two years ago to feature some of my columns, the topics of which would likely tick off potential employers.
I disabled the site with my columns since I haven't updated it in ages anyway. This site didn't show up in any form or fashion, but I think I know how it could potentially be sleuthed out. So, now I have to decide at some point whether I'm going to censor myself, take down my blog altogether, or just live with the consequences of potential employers getting confirmation that I'm a big gay wack-a-doo. Mother always said my mouth was gonna get me in trouble one of these days.
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3 comments:
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! (Register MacCauley Culkin face from Home Alone) Don't give in to The Man Christopher...at least not until you've graduated and are subsisting on Ramen until you get your first job. I don't know what I'd do without Trading Faces every morning. I even read you before The Gilded Moose! Please, think of your tens of fans. Val, Ces and I will track you down and camp out on your lawn!!!
Quite frankly, this sounds like some manipulative, jealous bullshit on the part of some professors who haven't been in the job market since Pong was all the rage. I'd take this "advice" with a giant grain of salt. Potential employers hardly waste precious billing hours on checking every blog site, every website, every googled mention of potential employees. Sure they might, but please do not be scared off by a couple of people who couldn't cut it as real attorneys and have to teach for a living. If I listened to every bit of bullshit my professors told me, I would never be in private practice. I was told, on the first day, that it was "nearly impossible to do private practice nowadays." Tell that to me and my 8 highly-successful therapist friends now, you bastards.
Besides, you are mentioned in my dissertation acknowledgements. This suggests endorsement by a mental health professional. Also, consider the type of law you want to be practicing. I somehow doubt you will be working for some right-wing firm that would frown on you for being funny, gossipy, and gay. Fuck them and their stupid advice, Chris. Just because they put you on Red Alert doesn't mean it's a real threat to your future.
Christopher, they can't assume everyone with the same name is you--whether the last name is common or not.
We had an experience like a few years ago. Apparently, there's a guy out there with the same name as my husband, who's going around fathering babies like crazy. One of the baby mamas did a little digging and found our phone number. She called the house...addressed me by name, and proceeded to tell me that "he's been lying to you, honey".
I got upset and hung up the phone. I called Q at work, upset. He laughed his @$$ off! I was crying, upset not that I thought this story was true, but that we would have to go to great expense to prove that my Q is the wrong guy.
Baby Mama called again a few days later and I told her that I believe my husband is not the one she's looking for. She started going on about "his truck". And I told her my husband drives "a regular car".
She was shocked. "He's not a truck driver?" I told her no, that he "works in an office". Oops!
Baby Mama did apologize for bothering me.
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