Another story in the press of someone who said more than he should on face book.

Kyle Doyle bragged about taking a sick day on facebook as he was still trashed.

Might be ok if it was just between his friends, but he had got his boss down as a friend.

The morale is to be a lot more cautious about who you accept as freinds on facebook.  Also to be cautious when you belong to a group/network. If you belong to e.g. the Birmingham network then anyone within that network can also view your profile.

It’s great to stay in touch, and Facebook, MySpace, Live Journal, Bebo etc mean that you can keep up with your friends and send messages so you all know what’s going on, but just as your friends can access your page so can your potential boss and the HR department. 

You Google them, they Google you

As a career coach I encourage my clients to Google the name of the person that will be interviewing them or their boss, so that they can find out a conference paper they may have written , or media quotes thus helping them plan what is most relevant to talk about to enhance rapport and sell themselves better.  

However it also works the other way. Many companies will now do a background check using Google and Yahoo, especially on graduate applicants but they are beginning to do it on potential employees from all levels before the job offer.   According to a survey of 102 executive recruiters by ExecuNet, an executive job search and networking organisation, 75% of recruiters use search engines to uncover information about candidates and 26% of applicants have been eliminated because of information they found on line. 

Can they really find my secrets?

What they find is not details on sporting achievements and articles written for student papers but instead details of how the person got drunk, the drugs they take and satirical essays about the university staff.   It can seem like a great joke to share this sort of material with your friends, and at 18 people rarely are thinking about their future career search. However, when found by a potential employer it can destroy the carefully crafted image via CV, application form and interview.  

And the impact on my career could be …

At New York University, recruiters from 30 companies told Trudy G Steinfield, Executive Director at the Centre for Career Development that they do look at these sites and if they find something questionable about the applicants lifestyle or values this is a red flag to a potential job offer.  Just a quick glance on MySpace yesterday found many sites with people looking like they were about to pass out via drink or drugs, and sites where you can see the student in a provocative pose.  

Not all companies will use these social networking sites to search for details, but with so many doing it, shouldn’t you make sure whatever you have written there, or in forums is something you’d be happy for a potential recruiter to see.  At least with facebook you can be careful who you allow to be a friend.  

It’s blogs as well

Blogs can also be damaging – Catherine blogs about her life, living and working in France at http://www.petiteanglaise.com/ .  However, when her employers saw what she wrote, she was sacked. In this instance she did win an appeal, plus got a book deal, but it might not be such a happy ending for you.  To find out what’s being said about you, you can set up a Google alert on your name so you get an email whenever you have been mentioned on the web or in a blog.    

Brought to you by Denise Taylor, Chartered Occupational Psychologist. Denise is a careers expert who specialises in helping individuals achieve career satisfaction and to take a systematic approach to job search. Do you need help with career discovery or with job search?

http://www.amazingpeople.co.uk

It’s been a good weekend, I’ve learnt how to use myspace and have added on quite a bit about me, I’m trying to get the balance right between the work and the personal me, not certain about putting music on it, but, for the people who will find me on my space they will probably appreciate some music so should sort this soon.  I’ve been found by an old client which is fantastic, really hope he is doing well. I’ve also suggested to a couple of clients that they set up a myspace account as a means of developing a profile as, for nicola, a fashion writer.  There is always a danger with myspace that you can write stuff that may harm your career in the future, so do be cautious, potential employers may well find out more about you than you want.

hope you are having a great weekend, the sun is shining and everything is great.

Just a short message to let you know that I now have a skype name and a webcam so if you want to communicate with me via this, just get in touch.

I’ve also got a myspace page set up, (doing it now!) so if you have a page, do ask me to be your friend!

skype me: amazingdenise

visit me at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/careerguide

Take care,

Denise xx