Be careful what you post online, career counselors warn

I'm not so careless as to use my full name and address on websites. I don't know why some people do that, if they don't have to.

 

As long as people understand that what they post online is a sort of a speech at a public stage, then all is fine. However, it's all too easy to abuse the information. Any which subject can be taken out of context if needed.

Just the fact someone posts in a racist-oriented forum thread, for example, can be misinterpreted as endorsement or interest in the subject, even if the particular person is possibly defending/arguing against racism.

Still, I think that social networking and whatnot have nothing to do with someone being hired. What person do at their home is their business, be it sniffing socks, beating themselves senseless with a chain or installing BSD for fun.

Mrk

 

Unfortunately there are many employers who probably dont agree with you.

 

That's why people should make sure that a search on their names does not come up with any results at all.
I have searched myself with different search engines. It appears I'm not on the internet at all hehe. I'm very active on the web. I just don't put my name there.

 

Slightly (or maybe more than slightly) O/T, but still interesting ... like probably everyone else in the world has done at one time or another, I once Googled my own full name (not a common family name, by the way) and discovered another guy with the same name who's a highly published teaching anaesthesiologist at one of the major Eastern US medical centers, Johns Hopkins or Bethesda Medical if I remember. Probably an extremely distant relative.

 

The downside to that is the ISPs keep records of what you do searchs on because of the data retention laws, so use a search engine that has a 48 hour record keeping policy (start by looking in they're privicy policy). So it pays to be parinoid.

 

Which can be a good thing - or not. If you are a professional person and are applying for jobs (as the article assumes) and there are ZERO results for you, that is not a good thing. I'm a believer in controlling your information. If need be, create a LinkedIn profile, keep it controlled. Keep a professional blog without names, company names, etc. Keep it controlled.

If you want no information on the Internet, you've done well. However, another method is obfuscation and misdirection.

It all depends on a persons station in life and what they hope to do (or not do) professionally.

 

Well put! I'll further add that for those who might have aspirations of becoming attorneys, they should take a peek at the following:

http://www.floridabar.org/DIVCOM/JN...d288355844fc8c728525761900652232?OpenDocument

So, I can well imagine that, in the not-too-distant future, this has the potential of not only sabotaging the likes of job hunts and promotions, but applications for professional licensure.