Online Persona Undermines a Resume

¶ … Online Persona

undermines a resume"

According to Alan Finder, many prospective job applicants and college/university students are beginning to realize that posting unflattering and often risque personal information on websites like Facebook and MySpace may come back to haunt them, due to the ever-growing trend of employers and college/university recruiters using Google or another search engine to locate information on prospective employees and students on these types of social networks. For example, company recruiters at NYU admit that they use these social networking sites to verify and check on applicant resumes and to seek out certain personal information which may go against the core values and principles of a company or corporation. In addition, Finder points out that some of these social networking sites hold the potential for misuse by stalkers and often reveal negative traits about a potential employee or student, such as "posting photographs of hazing by college sports teams" or even posting photos and commentary "about a student's sexual escapades, drinking and pot smoking."

However, Finder mentions that this type of searching on the Internet via Facebook and MySpace is in reality not that widespread, due to the fact that most potential employers and college/university company recruiters consider it to be unethical or somewhat underhanded. Nonetheless, Finder makes it clear that all those seeking employment must review their information on these types of social networks and remove photographs and text that might be viewed as inappropriate by potential employers. One way of doing this is to use settings on sites like Facebook and MySpace that limit access to certain pages and information and to be very vigilant concerning what is posted and who has access to it. Overall, Alan Finder offers some very logical advice which all potential employees and students should carefully consider before posting personal information on the Internet.