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Lying about corps experience


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In the corporate world, one of the first things that employers do with apllicants now is Google their name. Job search 101 : Stay off youtube, myspace, blogs etc. If your name comes up it might be a real career stopper because employers follow up on it. Same thing in Drum Corps now. They're doing more and more background checks, and because it's a relativaly small community, it isn't very difficult. Honesty is always the best policy.

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People didn't do that back in 94 did they?....

Hah!

I was in drum corps in San Diego in the 60s-70s, obviously the Viet Nam war period, and SD of course had a huge Navy and Marine presence. So our corps got lots of young visitors with short hair. Funny thing was, most of them said they were snares with the Cavies, or lead sops with another big corps, or rifles, etc etc.

....after a couple of turns in the barrel, even young kids can smell baloney...

Edited by GuyW
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In the corporate world, one of the first things that employers do with apllicants now is Google their name. Job search 101 : Stay off youtube, myspace, blogs etc. If your name comes up it might be a real career stopper because employers follow up on it.

It seems to me that things like YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, etc., are only a problem if you're posting something that shows a lack of character on your part. Somehow, I can't imagine that posting an opinion you really believe in, or posting your old drum corps photos on a Facebook page would be a career-stopper . . . but I could be wrong.

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The most recent outing I'm familiar with was a woman who began posting on the Blue Devils web pages. Below is a recap of what I learned from her posts.

She told us all that her husband had been telling her for years that he had been in both his high school marching band and had marched in drum corps. She accepted this and did not make much of it, as she herself was largely clueless about drum corps. After they were married, and she had heard his claims a few more times, she became a bit more interested. She learned of DCI, and the internet connection to said organization. Through this she found the legacy year videos they offered. She thought it would be a wonderful Christmas present if she could provide him with a video of his drum corps experience, and also re-connect him with his friends from back when. What a wonderful wife. So she pressed him just a little so she could learn what years he was involved.

His claim was that he had marched Blue Devils. So she looked up the Blue Devils and found access to the threads much like here at DCP. She opened a thread specifically about her husband, and was asking for information. She even went so far as to post his name, and a picture taken of him rather close to the time/year of his claimed drum corps activity. Well, his year or years of marching coincided with my years marched, and of several other over the hill BDs who participated in this thread. Of course none of us recognized either his name nor picture.

Now when any of us here at DCP come across false claims, we recognize it for what it is, and probably will never see this person again. But if the person who outs you also happens to be your spouse? Ooh, that's gotta hurt.

Edited by BD2Rings
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It seems to me that things like YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, etc., are only a problem if you're posting something that shows a lack of character on your part. Somehow, I can't imagine that posting an opinion you really believe in, or posting your old drum corps photos on a Facebook page would be a career-stopper . . . but I could be wrong.

People should try googgling their own names sometime. You might be surprised what you come up with. The first time I tried it I came up with my father's name (same as my own) for a building permit for a shed in his backyard in a town that most people never heard of. If you're hiding behind a screen name like most people do, it probably won't come back to bite you. But real names and photos? Oh, yeah, they got ya. Besides, as far as opinions go, an employer might not neccesarilly agree with them. Then you're dogmeat.

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People should try googgling their own names sometime. You might be surprised what you come up with. The first time I tried it I came up with my father's name (same as my own) for a building permit for a shed in his backyard in a town that most people never heard of. If you're hiding behind a screen name like most people do, it probably won't come back to bite you. But real names and photos? Oh, yeah, they got ya. Besides, as far as opinions go, an employer might not neccesarilly agree with them. Then you're dogmeat.

But isn't that the case with just about anything? I realize that using the Internet makes it easier, but it could just as easily happen if you wrote a letter to the editor, and it was an opinion a prospective employer doesn't agree with. It's archived forever in newsprint (and now, possibly online). Does that mean we should never express our opinions? An employer may not agree, but I have a whole lot more respect for someone who stands behind his/her convictions than someone who tries to hide, or doesn't have any convictions to express.

Remember, when you submit a letter to the editor -- to a reputable newspaper, anyway -- you have to submit your real name and telephone number so that they can call and verify that you did, indeed, write that letter. Otherwise, they won't run it. So there's no use trying to hide behind a fake name there.

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I've met two people who have done this. This one season, a guy swore he marched with BD's drumline and he talked so much crap about his marching season. When we saw BD at a show, we asked him if he would introduce us to some people he knew. He then just made up excuses and disappeared. Some of us actually approached some of the drummers and they were like, "Brian who?". Needless to say, the guy never came back the next season. Another one is this girl I met at SDSU who said that she marched PC and would always brag about how hard it was. Later I found out from a friend I marched with in '05 who knew her that she was only seen at ONE camp and that was it. She never came back to PC and marched the two years she claimed she did.

People will never learn I guess...

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Well, I went to a Kingsmen camp in '88-ish. And a VK camp in '89. I had no intention of marching either as I was marching elsewhere. But does that make me an alumni?

Nope...I have no problem telling people that my first time EVER holding or playing a G soprano was for one day in VK 1984....I was there one day (well before the end of 83, as i auditioned for BD in late November)...Stanley Knaub was running the show, as I recall.

I didn't go back because I realized I had one year left and shot for the moon...'course, I would've made finals either way!

So...my VK experience totals about 6 hours...but me a VK alum? Sadly, no.

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And then there was this one time when we were discussing the Garfield name change(s). And a cadets alumni for some reason wanted to know my name, so I gave it to them via email. Only to have them turn around and I say I didn't march with you, the name at that time was this... All snooty like. I'm of course like I never said I did march with you. WTF??? Ahhh, ramd in it's glory days.

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