Are Your Online Activities Hurting Your Job Search?

If you are like most internet users, you may have a MySpace or Facebook page, you may have a Twitter account, and you may even have a few blogs. These are all great ways to express our personalities and keep in touch with friends, but there is a pitfall. Nowadays, employers are doing a little bit of research on their job candidates. Say you applied for a job as a store manager at a local retail store. If the hiring district manager performed a search for you online, what would they find? Here are some things they better not find:

Profanity: Yes, most of us swear from time to time. In fact, some of us use profanity a lot. The thing here though is that you don't do it in the workplace. In the workplace, you need to be professional and on-the-ball. A hiring manager who sees your MySpace profile laced with profanity is going to think twice about hiring you. Yes, you may only use that language around friends and family, but it is worth the risk?

Illegal Activities: Hopefully you are never one of those people who like to brag about illegal activities online. Whether it be drugs or underage drinking, these are not activities to list on your MySpace or Twitter page. Once again, I am sure that you wont participate in any illegal activities at work, but most hiring managers are going to be thinking (once again) why take the risk when I have another similar candidate with a perfectly clean Facebook page?

Discriminatory Remarks: So you told a bad joke on your MySpace page or one of your friends sent you a borderline offensive joke. You might not think much about it. Yes, it could have offended someone or a group of people, but you know the remark wasn't meant that way. However, a hiring manager may look at it differently. Today, most companies pride themselves on their diversity (both with hiring employees and their current clients). If there are any borderline racist or discriminatory remarks you might be deemed a mismatch to the company's values.

Past Job Talk: When a company hires an individual, they want to be sure they will maintain a certain image and keep their business in a good light. There is nothing more unattractive to a hiring manager than seeing remarks about a past job online. Whether it be bashing your boss or a coworker or sharing private company information, don't do it. It doesn't matter if you are the most qualified candidate for the job because most companies will not hire you if you are bashing or sharing information from a past job.

So there you have it: some things you want to not leave as an online footprint. Don't make the mistake of assuming companies don't check on potential new hires. All it takes is about five minutes worth of time and a standard internet search with your name. You might consider it a waste of time, but lots of companies consider it the best five minutes ever spent.