Wedding Worries

Strange thing, this era of the Internet.

Whispers took a call recently from a former resident of Northwest Arkansas who left the region under less than ideal circumstances. He wound up in the megalopolis of Los Angeles, where, he said, he was transferred after his stay here ended on a sour note.

The California job had run its course, however, and this former resident was looking for a new gig. And that, he said, is where his problems began.

A potential employer Googled his name, and the first thing that popped up was a Whisper the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal had written about the woman he’d married — a woman with two felony convictions for embezzlement on her record. 

That article, the guy said, raised a serious red flag with the hiring boss, who said other candidates would be interviewed, even though this person’s credentials were spot-on for the job. This guy asked that the Business Journal unplug the article so it wouldn’t show up on a Google search during future job hunts.

Request denied.

Almost everything shows up on the Internet these days, including a brief little Whisper about a marriage to a woman with two felonies under her belt. The fact that a story of only five paragraphs from Northwest Arkansas could break through the colossal crust of a city like LA ought to tell you something about the combined power of the press and the Internet.

Makes you think, doesn’t it?