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Local HR practitioner blasted for posting inappropriate photo

Online forums are popular platforms for HR professionals to share their experience with terrible candidates, but they should think twice before posting.

Last year, a Hong Kong HR professional earned harsh criticism from netizens for being unprofessional, impolite and "attacking a candidate" after she shared her encounter with a bad candidate on Hong Kong Discussion Group.

And she is not alone in ticking off netizens. Last week, a HR practitioner landed himself in hot water after sharing the story of a weird applicant through an online post.

The writer of the post claims to work in HR and said he posted an opening for a sales engineer position on the Labour Department's recruitment website last week. A day after posting the job, he received an application which included the candidate's personal details, qualifications, working experience and a few private photos.

The writer of the post said he was shocked by one of the photos, which displayed a man in his underwear, and decided to share the case online.

Taking a closer look at the application, the candidate wrote on his CV he worked as a part-time model for an underwear manufacturer on the mainland in 2012, which could explain the picture.

It is unusual for candidates to send such a photo, considering he is applying for an engineering post, but what is more inappropriate is the HR practitioner exposing the applicant's private information online.

In the online post, readers are able to not only see the photo, but also find out where the applicant went to school, his name, his working experience, and other personal details.

The writer of the post was hoping for feedback from industry peers to deal with the unusual job application, but all he's gotten so far are respondents telling him he is in deep trouble for violating applicant's privacy. Some even said they will report the case to the police.

It is hard to believe a HR professional who has been informed about the importance of protecting the privacy of staff and job candidates would expose the personal information of an applicant online.

The post has been online for four days, and the writer has not yet taken down the personal information of the applicant.

ALSO READ: How Hong Kong HR professionals got candidates to work for free

Photo/ 123RF

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