Around the country, potential employers admit to using the Internet to conduct further research on job applicants, particularly those coming right out of college where social networking sites are particularly popular. If you're posting photos or blogs, you might be surprised to find out they may not be as private as you thought they were. Potential employers can gain access to these sites through a variety of means and read all about the life and times of you and your friends. What they find could lead them to question your character without you ever knowing about it. Or it could completely boost your reputation and work in your favor when it comes time to start scheduling job interviews. It all depends on what you're putting out there for the world to see.
What you're willing to post online might say a lot about who you are at your core, but it might not, especially if you think it's all just for fun. However, some employers aren't willing to take the risk that posting risqué photos or descriptions of hard-partying ways is all bravado. Online habits can send up all kinds of red flags to some job recruiters and lead them to question the values and judgment of job applicants. If they have other candidates to interview who don't have last Saturday's exploits posted for the world to see, those are the applicants who are more likely to be invited in for an interview.
Online socializing is still a relatively new social phenomenon, but its popularity is huge. MySpace alone boasts millions of users, not all of whom are posting overly revealing information. For many, though, the Internet seems to lower inhibitions about what they're willing to share, perhaps due to a false sense of security and the ability to connect with people who will accept them for who they are.
You may not be someone who shares the wrong kind of information with potentially thousands of people, but it can't hurt to give anything you've posted online a second look. It's not clear just how many employers are actually using the Internet as part of their recruiting repertoire, but why take the risk? Update your sites, remove potentially embarrassing material, and limit access to your personal web pages. Don't forget about anything you've done that may have been posted publicly, either. If your name is attached to it, it may show up in a search engine. If it works in your favor, great, but if it's something that could reflect poorly, have it taken down. The Internet is a public place, and you should ask yourself if what you post there is something you would be willing to say or show in public surrounded by real people, not cyber friends. It could make a difference in your job search.