(Originally posted on Stack Overflow but closed there and more relevant for here)So we first interviewed a guy for a technical role and he was pretty good. Before the second interview we googled him and found his MySpace page which could, to put it mildly, be regarded as inappropriate.  Just to be clear there was no doubt that it was his page (name, photos, matching biographical information and so on).The content was entirely personal and in no way related to his professional abilities or attitude.Is it fair to consider this when thinking about whether to offer them a job?In most situations my response would be what goes on in someone's private life is their own doing. However for anyone technical who professes (implicitly or explicitly) to understand the Internet and the possibilities it offers, is posting things in a way which can so obviously be discovered a significant error of judgement?EDIT: Clarification - essentially it was a fairly graphic commentary on porn (but of, shall we say, a non-academic nature).  I'm actually more interested in the general concept than the specific incident as it's something we're likely to see more in the future as people put more and more of themselves on-line.My concerns are not primarily about him and how he feels about such things (he's white, straight, male and about the last possible victim of discrimination on the planet in that sense), more how it reflects on the company that a very simple search (basically his name) returns these things and that clients may also do it.  We work in a relatively conservative industry.
Is what someone publishes on the Internet fair game when considering them for employment as a programmer?
interview;recruiting
You have to take things on a case by case basis.You cannot blanket statement say we will choose between candidates based on what they say online.If you find a web page where your candidate says, Here are the nine steps to fooling any interviewer into believing you are a good programmer. Clearly you need to consider this.On the other hand, if a page you find about them says I like big butts, and I cannot lie. Well I don't think it's fair to judge them on that.You have to make you decision based on what you know (obviously, you know that) but be aware of your prejudices, and put yourself in their shoes.UpdateIf your company's image is what you're worried about, there are two factors you need to consider: the likelihood that a customer will meet your candidate, and the likelihood that the customer will then go on to Google stalk your candidate. I imagine the second is so low as to make the first immaterial, and generally the first is quite low too.UpdateIn response to the comment that you need to consider the impact of discovery.Absolutely. I had forgotten about that. I think that would be the likelihood that discovery would cause a noticeable loss of income. I still think this is offset by the likelihood of Google stalking. But then, I'm not a conservative type, so I don't know how they react to meeting new people, particularly people that don't hold a lot of clout in an organisation.