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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   Edited 2yr ago   5649 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 13, 2022

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Crossposting about finding work in an age of public shaming, because Reddit sucks and isn't helping me.

https://old.reddit.com/r/jobs/comments/xq7bhs/do_employers_google_previous_names/

Depends on the level of scrutiny your employer is going to give, which is entirely up to them, to my knowledge no laws against it or methods to prevent it practically. Big companies with big HR departments managing liability are likely to do more, small businesses or local government agencies are likely to do less, anything that has contact with the military industrial complex is almost certainly going to lead to you getting got if it's anything spicy. The smaller the org, the less likely they are to use sophisticated tracking methods, so maybe just target your search there?

It's tough to imagine somebody going through trouble to find your old name and then doxx your online accounts if you just apply for an engineering job somewhere, but I don't actually know how hard that is having never really tried to do it.

If this is a serious issue for you, maybe the best way to cover up that needle is to get a haystack? Post a whole bunch of shit all over the internet on, idk, sports forums or car hobbyist forums, just generic shit you could probably macro or bot but will get upvoted, so the spicy shit gets watered down.

I'm technologically illiterate, but I would pay good money for someone to do a bot spam of things with my name everywhere, if that's what you're describing.

Exactly what I'm thinking. Make so many generic comments that it drives the other stuff down in the rankings! Like, comment on restaurant reviews saying just Yum it was great, football forums saying go birds! Car forums arguing about Ford vs Chevy.

I'm not sure reddit is your problem. Your question has already been answered there: yes, if an employer gets access to your "previous name," they are likely to Google it. And yes, literally anything could be sufficient to put them off hiring you, much less something substantial. Beyond that it is impossible to give you direct advice since you have chosen (understandably) to not provide further specifics.

There are a some caveats to this, however. The first is that having your SSN does not necessarily give them access to your name. You can update your name on your SS card if you have legally changed your name. Beyond that, SS fraud is commonplace precisely because having your SSN does not necessarily give employers access to any government records about you. Illegal immigrants often use stolen SSNs to secure employment. The SS department cheerfully collects that money and most of the time asks no questions, though the original owner of the number may sometimes encounter bureaucratic headaches as a result.

The second caveat is that, even if you use a SS card with your old name on it, you usually don't provide a SS card to employers until after you've taken a job. They are less likely to Google your old name (though this depends a lot on how meddlesome HR decides to be) after they've already made an offer. The risk, of course, is that they then rescind the offer, but people are less likely to rescind an offer than they are to pass you over in the first place.

I'm talking about cringe fetish stuff and/or spicy political takes getting posted on Kiwifarms and/or Twitter. I figured that was specific enough.

Wait, my SSN doesn't give them access to my government records? I thought that was the entire point, because that was how they did criminal background checks. This gives me optimism. Quora does make it sound like it's not fool proof, but it is a hurdle I can create.

https://www.quora.com/Do-previous-legal-names-show-up-on-background-checks?top_ans=395229319

Wait, my SSN doesn't give them access to my government records? I thought that was the entire point, because that was how they did criminal background checks.

First and foremost, your SSN is how your company reports their information (how much they paid you) to the government. The government doesn't give them anything in return for that.

Background checks are a different matter. Most companies will not do a real background check; most companies will simply do a credit check. But yes, the Quora answers are basically correct. Even if a company does a more thorough background check, associating your old name with your new one is a step away from identifying that person as you. And I have never had an employer ask me about my relationship to any of the people who would doubtless appear in a background check. If you're applying for a job with, say, the federal government, then odds are pretty good (though not 100%!) that someone will notice. The smaller the company, the more likely they will either (A) never know or (B) never care.

Basically, you're not wrong to feel concerned, but also there's no reason to think your situation is hopeless.

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