MySpace and FaceBook: The New Background Checks?

The New York Times has a front page article a new phenomenon. Well, we shouldn't be surprised. Many companies "google" a potential hire, now they're moving to other social networks.

Please don't flame me for this but I think it's a good idea.

Sure, work and play should be kept separate. I whole-heartedly agree with that. But can corporations afford to "guess" whether new grads are up to the task and reliable.

Well, probably. But smaller companies may not be. Recruting and hiring take time, effort, money and other resources many small to medium size businesses cannot afford to waste.

People, realize what you place on the web, in social networks and other areas, is PUBLIC DOMAIN. Why else would we love them so much? Even semi public areas can be accessed by people other than your inner clique.

On MySpace and similar sites, personal pages are generally available to anyone who registers, with few restrictions on who can register. Facebook, though, has separate requirements for different categories of users; college students must have a college e-mail address to register. Personal pages on Facebook are restricted to friends and others on the user's campus, leading many students to assume that they are relatively private.

But companies can gain access to the information in several ways. Employees who are recent graduates often retain their college e-mail addresses, which enables them to see pages. Sometimes, too, companies ask college students working as interns to perform online background checks, said Patricia Rose, the director of career services at the University of Pennsylvania.

So girls, save your skimpy night club pictures to a less public forum. Guys, save the keg stands and embarrasing party pictures. Don't use these pics as your icon when going to seek a professional grade post-grad job (change it back after you're hired if you must).

Think of public forums the same way you think of your voice mail message. Hopefully you've thought to take off "My Humps" when awaiting a return call after an interview. Changing your public image to reflect a more professional "you", even for a few weeks, may pay off big. Believe me, your prospective boss will be more likely to respect you if you have a generic sounding voice message rather than the "hottest new hip hop" song blaring when voice mail picks up.

Students may not know when they have been passed up for an interview or a job offer because of something a recruiter saw on the Internet. But more than a dozen college career counselors said recruiters had been telling them since last fall about incidents in which students' online writing or photographs had raised serious questions about their judgment, eliminating them as job candidates.

Save yourself from "red flags". Don't red flag yourself.