Sunday, June 8, 2008

The Dangers of MySpace et al

True story: A student working at a coveted internship sent her supervisor a link to her MySpace page. The supervisor proceeded to read an entry about how the student liked getting stoned during her lunch breaks at the company – and even named the company.

Fortunately for the student, she didn't send the link until her last day – so it was too late to fire her. Unfortunately for the student, she can NEVER use the internship on her resume. (But then I know this person – she just may be foolish to do it anyway.)

While this an extreme case, be careful about what you put out there on MySpace, Facebook, etc. Photos of you drunk or showing your ass, talking about hangovers and all that other stuff that seems funny in college can come back to haunt you big time during your job search.

There is so much information out there on people that most employers will at the very least Google you. Many will go beyond that and try to view your social networking pages. And if they really want to see it, they'll find a way to view it.

So clean up all that information out there on you. The sooner the better. Don't miss out on a job because of a stupid photo or comment that you meant just for your friends, but were naive enough to put out there for anyone to see.

If you put it on the internet, it's fair game.

1 comment:

Alistair Tutton Photography said...

This is a fantastic post and an issue I didn't realize until I actually searched my name. Every time you leave a comment on a site with your name it'll be there on a search, anytime you're mentioned by someone else it's there on a google search. So don't say silly things and if your friends say silly things ask them to remove your name.

On the flip side of this try leaving positive comments on sites and blogs related to your own; turn your myspace and facebook page into an ad for you. Be yourself - the self that an employer would hire and your web profile can be a good thing.