Teacher Suspended over Facebook Photo

Students, teachers and administrators alike are all a-twitter about the teacher in Western Pennsylvania who was suspended for 30 days because of a photo on Facebook.

It seems that the teacher in question was photographed at a bridal shower having a good time with the hired entertainment. The photos, it appears, were posted on Facebook by someone else and not by the teacher.

Reader comments seem to fall into a few basic categories:
- Not guilty! The teacher did nothing wrong. When did school boards get so politically correct?
- Guilty! The teacher is wrong. Why didn't she know better?
- Who snitched! How did anyone find out? Who in the school district is trolling Facebook?
- It could be me! What do I have on Facebook that I need to remove?

This last question is something I discuss with job seekers all the time, especially pending college grads. Here is roughly the picture I paint:

You were hamming it up for the cameras at a frat party or you were getting your groove on during spring break at Hedonism, Jamaica. You get an email from a friend with all the photos or videos which are now making the rounds. You think it's cute. You don't right away assume the photos or videos will end up online. You make a mental note but you are a little afraid to ask the distributor to stop passing the photos around. Before you know it, the person who took the photos or videos, has graduated, transferred, dropped out or is just no longer your friend. You go left, they go right! Before you know it, employers are withdrawing job offers or you are suspended from your job. What will you do?

This issue is clearly here to stay and as social networking sites gain even more popularity; folks are getting more vigilant and guarding their online persona and image.

These kinds of scenarios are testing the boundaries of existing laws and in the mean time, many professionals are having their careers jeopardized.

If this article is any indication, you actually have limited control over where your image might end up and how others, like your employer, might react to it. It is impossible to get signed releases from everyone taking your photo. Nowadays, when every cell phone camera could be a career-crusher, one can't be too careful.

Read the article about the teacher here.

Also read - Job Hunting? Dust off your Online Persona

WSJ.com - Even in a Recovery, Some Jobs Won't Return

"Even when the U.S. labor market finally starts adding more workers than it loses, many of the unemployed will find that the types of jobs they once had simply don't exist anymore." So says, Justin Lahart in an article for the Wall Street Journal today.

Lahart continues that some of the "lost jobs will come back. But some are gone forever, going the way of typewriter repairmen and streetcar operators."

Harvard University economist Lawrence Katz concurs by saying, "The tremendous amount of economic activity associated with housing, I can't see that coming back...That was a very unhealthy part of the economy."

The article highlights that some jobs were on the decline anyway and just accelerated by the recession. For example the Department of Labor cites that in November 2009, there were:

-36% fewer people working in record shops than two years earlier
-23% fewer people working at directory and mailing list publishers
-46% fewer people working at photofinishing establishments

The phenomenon of jobs and careers disappearing forever is not a new one. What is new, is the speed at which jobs and careers move towards obsolescence. Certainly technology is playing a major role there. Just look at the 3 examples mentioned here - record shops, publishing houses and photofinishing services. In the case of photofinishing services, it seemed like just yesterday, some of us who are photography buffs, were really loving the idea of the 1-hour photo mart. Now with printers and digital cameras, we are doing things at home.

Here are some previous postings about declining careers and jobs that offer insight as to what to do if you think you are in one of these declining professions:

-Is your Career Going the Way of the Pontiac?
-Occupations with Declining Employment

Also, read the entire WSJ article and learn more about 6 real people faced with readjusting career expectations. It is possible to regroup and rebuild and for some people the time is right to look at new longer term options. Link to article.