Facebook, MySpace posts could hurt you in professional world

Once upon a time, Anita Jobs could apply for work and know that with diligent interview preparation and an impeccable resume, she had a good shot at success.

Today, however, she might not have as much success when her potential employer sees his Facebook profile picture of her wearing a beer helmet while riding a unicycle on Highway 231.

While this Anita Jobs doesn’t exist, her fictional plight is similar to one faced by numerous job seekers around the country.

Social networking Web sites have taken the Internet by storm in the last five years, and their impact has stretched beyond the sites’ regular users.

Facebook has more than 250 million active users, according to its Web site, and a Los Angeles Times article pegged MySpace at more than 70 million users in the U.S. alone.

In the five years since its creation, Facebook has grown from groups of college students to encompass people from all walks of life and age groups.

MySpace, too, has seen its popularity spread from mainly a younger generation to a tool used by older generations as well.

Unfortunately for many reckless youths, what they post on their Facebook and MySpace pages is not necessarily for their friends’ eyes only.

“We definitely tell students looking for jobs to be cautious with what they post,” said Josh Wooden, coordinator of career services at Troy University. “I think more students are becoming aware that employers do look at that information. Once it’s on the Internet, you don’t want to show yourself in a way that could harm you down the road.”

Wooden encourages students to use caution when maintaining their social networking pages throughout college and into their job searches, but many don’t think about the content of their pages until they actually begin the job hunt.

“When I first learned about MySpace and Facebook, I wasn’t too concerned. I wasn’t aware potential employers could go and be privy to that type of information online,” said Jake Blocker, a senior at Troy. “It does have an impact on potential employers opinions of who they’re hiring, so I decided I shouldn’t put anything I would not want everyone to see on my profile. It might be funny with a close-knit circle of friends, but in a professional setting, you want to keep those things hidden.”

Jeremiah Reynolds graduated from Troy last Friday, and he never worried about the content of his Facebook and MySpace profiles until he began his employment search.

“It’s really only something that I became aware of when I started thinking about looking for a job,” Reynolds said. “And when I really started thinking about it is when I started being connected to coworkers in a professional setting through my internships.”

Now he says he keeps a close eye on his profile and tries to ensure it looks as professional as possible.

“It is open to everybody, plus after doing some internships and having some administration from those internships connected to me, I try to keep in mind what I’m posting,” he said. “Not only are they possible employers, but also my references for other possible employers. I’m more careful about stuff like quotes that I have and definitely pictures. I also try to be careful of proofreading everything on my profile and making sure everything has correct punctuation and correct spelling, along the same lines that I’d want correct grammar for my resume.”

According to Wooden, users should monitor their profiles closely and take advantage of the Web sites’ privacy settings.

“It might not be in the guidelines of (a company’s) employment, but you definitely have to be aware of any type of status updates, what your picture is and also people you associate with,” he said. “You can change your profile picture so it’s more professional, but there might be several people in your friends category that might cause (employers) to say, ‘whoa.’ You can choose to have settings on private or public, and we encourage everyone to have them as private settings.”

Laci Meis has seen first-hand how employers use these sites to weed out potential hires.

“I’ve worked at a job before where they were going to hire somebody, but a couple of the younger people in the office looked for them on MySpace, found their profile and looked at it just to see what kind of person they were before hiring them,” said Meis, a secretary to the dean of career technical instruction at Wallace College. “It’s obvious employers are utilizing Facebook and MySpace to check up on their employees, too. A lot of people don’t think about it, but I wouldn’t dare put up anything I didn’t want everybody to see.”

And the limits of privacy on these sites don’t just extend into the career field. Profiles and even private messages can be used in the courtroom.

According to Rushing Payne, Alabama Attorney General Troy King’s consumer protection division chief, nothing on the Internet is exempt from being used as evidence in criminal or civil cases.

“Just like we can subpoena telephone records, can subpoena internet records,” Payne said. “We do want to be clear that we expect companies to maintain privacy of any information they have, (but) anytime a citizen is using internet to publish information about themselves, they should not believe they are somehow invincible or have insolated themselves from liability or claims or prosecution.”

One needs look no farther than Wicksburg to see a local example.

In the trial of Robert Wills, who was convicted of murder last August, prosecutors used evidence gathered from Wills’ MySpace page.

What may seem like harmless cyber threats can turn into very real legal liabilities.

“We’ve seen it in our cases,” said Houston County District Attorney Doug Valeska. “It’s amazing how the younger generation puts information showing them doing stupid things, making threats, minors drinking beer, all the while thinking nobody can get to it. That’s ridiculous. We can get subpoenas for that information, for one thing. It’s been used in many criminal prosecutions. What you think is private can turn public and turn on you real quick for the whole world to read and know.”

Hearing such warnings could be enough to turn some off of networking sites altogether, but Wooden says such a decision would be a mistake for anyone.

Through their profiles, users can establish connections that can be valuable for them down the road.

“We definitely encourage it, because it’s better to be on there and cautious than not on there at all,” Wooden said. “You want to be seen. It’s called self-branding. You can make contacts within your networks that might be able to put you in contact with an employer, so that’s a potential contact for you set up. You know somebody on the inside.”

That fact isn’t lost on the new generation of people looking for employment opportunities.

“It does really help,” Reynolds said. “When I’m at a work setting, I meet other people only briefly. But I can still connect to them through these sites. It helps me remember their names, who they are, where they are from, what they do, and it also provides contact information to them. It keeps things organized and updated. If they change occupations or locations, I’ll have their updated information and vice versa.”

Social networking sites can be not only useful tools, but fun ways to connect with old friends and new ones alike.

However, while it might seem like a good idea to post embarrassing photos on your Facebook profile, perhaps discretion is the better part of valor.