Monday, June 12, 2006

Personal Blogs Can Be Dangerous To Your Career 

Alan Finder of the New York Times pointed out yesterday that companies are beginning to look up the Facebook, MySpace, Xanga and Friendster journal entries of perspective employees as reference checks. Look what happened to this young man:

When a small consulting company in Chicago was looking to hire a summer intern this month, the company's president went online to check on a promising candidate who had just graduated from the University of Illinois.

At Facebook, a popular social networking site, the executive found the candidate's Web page with this description of his interests: "smokin' blunts" (cigars hollowed out and stuffed with marijuana), shooting people and obsessive sex, all described in vivid slang.

It did not matter that the student was clearly posturing. He was done.

My advice to anyone who maintains an on-line journal is not to post anything that has to do with your real life unless it is extremely positive. And even then I would have doubts about doing it.

PermaLink | 6:48 AM | |

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