Advice for Job seekers
- Search for yourself: Use a search engine and search for your name frequently to remain informed of what personal /professional information exists online
- Screen names: Choose an appropriate screen name or online ID on any of your social networking sites
- Review content: Always bear in mind that the inappropriate, funny posts and pictures that have been shared online could possibly fall onto the screen of any potential employer and may be the difference between being hired or not
- Be honest: When creating any resume, ensure you are honest and don't lie about any academic achievements, company information and job titles, as these can be researched and compared
- Keep past employer information confidential: Respect the confidentiality of your past employer and do not leak or reveal anything that shouldn't be released online
- Proceed with caution: Be sure to review a social networking sites privacy policy before clicking that ‘I agree' button. Often people skip this and may be consenting to the site collecting any information from yourself
- Friend requests: Don't accept just anybody who requests to be a friend on social networking sites as if that person is less desirable, a potential employer could overlook you and choose another candidate
While it is easy to delete the embarrassing photos online, it can be difficult to rid the internet of the traces of them. There are a variety of websites and search engines that store a cache of websites and their pages which can be archived through many years, thus leading to be impossible to delete your entire virtual footprint from the World Wide Web.
Social networking sites that are affecting the candidate screening process is essentially just the beginning of the practice being explored, and is set to expand in the future. It's imperative to be wise online as a future career could be jeopardised.
