Looking for a Job? Be Careful What You Say!

'Bitch Boss' Remark No Way to Win a Job
Fri Jun 20, 8:23 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - One called her boss a "bitch from hell" while another admitted "lying through his teeth" at interview.

Both the British job candidates were -- not surprisingly -- turned down after prospective employers discovered their candid comments on a public Web site.

The London recruitment firm which revealed the cases warned on Friday that employers were increasingly scouring the Internet to check what candidates are really like behind the rosy image they seek to project in CVs and interviews.

"One media sales executive aged 24 had a job offer withdrawn after a quick check on www.friendsreunited.co.uk revealed that the applicant only planned to stay in London for a few months before embarking on a world tour," London's Media Contacts said.

As well as missing out on the jobs they were aiming for, the frankness of some also cost them their current employment.

"Another candidate, an account manager, 26, for a well-known PR agency was forced to resign when she described her boss as a "Bitch from Hell" and her employer as "a bunch of cowboys," Media Contacts said.

In a third case, a senior sales executive seeking a move also ended up getting fired after boasting to the Friends Reunited site, set up to keep old school pals in touch, that he lied at interview and his CV was "a masterpiece of fiction."

"People should think carefully what they say about employers -- past and present -- and what they say about themselves in any public domain," Media Contacts' recruitment consultant Gordon Cherrington said. "Having fun...is a good thing, though negativity in any form, rarely reflects well on the writer."