our online identities can be very important when it comes to seeking jobs or just to show your real self.Often we do not realize that our online identities are a part of our real identities our Email Ids , Orkut, Myspace, Facebook and numerous other social network profiles give away bits of information about us which we often do not want to share beyond a specific circle.
Furthermore this information about each of us, our interests, Hobbies, Political views, Religious bantering non of them go unnoticed,although the web seems like a huge place but it is pretty much crept up by search engines and special keywords attract attention from all sorts of entities.
Not to mention the Monetary value of such huge databases of people's interests and opinions to the marketers ( This is also a large part of the financial model of these social networks ) each word you type online give away information, that information can be utilized for a large number of legal and illegal purposes ranging from spam to monitoring by government agencies.
The trend of mining social networks for information about potential employees is also increasing specially in the high tech sector, and will only grow as more and more employers find out about this free and vast source of information about "our" lives.
here is an interesting article about this same thing here ( With a link to the original article )
By Laura Houser ( http://www.middletownjournal.com )
He’s an Olympic swimmer and even he can’t escape Facebook.
If Michael Phelps’ pot smoking incident doesn’t convince new college graduates to protect their online identities, searching for a job in this market may force many to keep an eye on their Facebooking behavior.
“An increasing number of employers are looking (on Facebook). Privacy settings need to be set, and people need to be careful about what they put on there,” said Mark Sisson, associate director for career advising at the University of Dayton.
Sisson said the list of red flags for social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, include inappropriate photos as well any information that suggests the student may not be as mature as the employer would like.
Statistics also point to trends in the number of employers mining Facebook for information on potential employees.
According to a February article in the New Jersey Law Journal, 40 percent of employers reported checking the social networking sites of those vying for jobs. This is up from the 22 percent reported by CareerBuilder.com last year.
Sisson said cautioning students about Facebook use begins as soon as students step on campus.
“I speak to a lot of first-year students when they come in about career-related issues, (and) I bring it up right from the very beginning,” Sisson said.
Jason Eckert, director of career advising at UD, said some students are unaware of the impression they leave online.
“Students don’t have an understanding that even though Facebook is a relatively closed community, employers can see them,” Eckert said. “Even things posted innocently can often be detrimental to a student’s success.”
Few employers have policies concerning using Facebook to screen potential hires; however, the information gathered may be more than a new hire may wish to reveal, Sisson said.
“By pulling up someone’s Facebook account, they can see your race and age, and everything else you choose to disclose,” he said.
In the past, both Eckert and Sisson said they have seen employers reject applicants because of unprofessional Facebook pages, as well as a few who have actually rescinded their offers. This is especially true, Sisson said, for applicants of government jobs.
Both Sisson and Eckert advise job hunters to set their Facebook security settings appropriately.
Nevertheless, Sisson said Facebook can be used to a student’s advantage, particularly during the job search.
“If a student wants to work far away and he doesn’t have contacts (there), Facebook can help develop these job contacts,” Sisson said.
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