Before interviewing for a job, it’s reasonable and responsible to do some research on the people who are scheduled to interview you. This research might involve doing a few web searches to find out more about them, see what kinds of things they work on, maybe even learn about their interests so you can make small talk before the interview. That’s perfectly fine; they’ll be doing searches on you for the same reasons.
After waiting a reasonable amount of time following the interview (one to two weeks), it’s okay to email or call an interviewer or recruiter and ask for a status update. What’s not okay, though, is stalking an interviewer after the interview. Don’t send your interviewer friend requests on Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter, or any other social network. Don’t post comments on their personal blog mentioning the interview. LinkedIn is a grey area, but it’s probably best not to try to connect with your interviewer unless you’re offered a job (connecting with recruiters is probably okay).
Remember that your relationship with your interviewer is a business relationship, not a personal relationship, and it does not extend to blogs, social networks, and other non-work-related websites. Trying to wedge yourself into an interviewer’s personal life is rude and annoying, and it’s likely to give the interviewer a negative impression of your personality, even if you did well in the actual interviews.
Comments
Reality
Unless youse in Joisy and send Guido the Neck to remind the guy how youse is the best one for the job.
Guido is very persuasive.
you forgot...
“Trying to wedge yourself into an interviewer’s personal life is rude and annoying”
You forgot to mention that it is friggin’ creepy!!
retard
“it’s reasonable and responsible to do some research on the people who are scheduled to interview you.”
Great advice. As a recent Yahoo interviewee, I knew one of my interviewers had moved on from Property X to Property Y (per a YUI Blog post) and I asked how that was going. He seemed impressed I knew this and actually commented how I “did my homework”.
Still, it felt kind of creepy that I knew what was going on with his professional career seeing as how I just met him.
Re: retard
I think the distinction, and the reason that what you did was perfectly acceptable, is that you asked your interviewer about an aspect of his professional career as opposed to his personal life. It also doesn’t hurt that you read about it on an official company blog. That shows that you cared enough about the company and the position to do research, which most candidates actually don’t do.
If, on the other hand, you had found the interviewer’s personal blog where he mentioned something about his personal life, it would not have been appropriate to bring that up during the interview.
I think interviewers themselves should be held to the same standards. If I read on your personal blog that you’ve been playing around with a new web framework, then it’s fair for me to ask you about that in the interview. But it’s not fair for me to ask you about Flickr photos of you getting drunk at a party.