Post At Your Own Risk: Today's Fun May Be Tomorrow's Nightmare

By The Signal Staff

Spring break. Time to get together with your friends or family and go on that well-deserved road trip, cruise or beach house extravaganza. Time to kick back, relax and enjoy the thought of not having to think much about school.
College students may, however, want to think twice about posting their fun and action-filled spring break photographs on their Facebook and MySpace profiles. Facebook and MySpace, popular social and networking Web sites, have been gaining popularity among potential employers as a way to do “homework” on prospective employees.    
Those photographs, representing fun times and excitement, may put your career at risk. Personal photographs that can be considered questionable or inappropriate, especially when the action involves alcohol, sexual innuendo, reckless behavior, illegal activities and any other type of act deemed as irresponsible by your employer, may result in your ticket to unemployment. For anyone who thinks that they are exempt from a ticket to unemployment, well think again. This could result in termination for anyone who is already employed. Keep in mind that, yes, even internships may encompass this realm as well.
Every year, a growing number of employers search through Facebook and MySpace to see how potential candidates conduct themselves away from the office. How do they represent themselves and their friends? Is it in a positive way? Will they be a good fit for the company? If we hire them, is this the way we would want our company represented?     
These are some of the standard questions that come to mind for many employers, and this not only pertains to new-hire candidates but also to current employees. A growing number of human resource personnel are also jumping on the bandwagon by implementing this practice, even for their current and veteran employees. A simple word of caution: Think. Think twice and ask yourself if your personal profile pictures depict you in the way you want your employer to see you?
Make sure that you really think through and mentally process each photo and what the photo is really showing and saying. For that matter, think twice before posting anything you would not want your own mother or anyone else to see either. Remember, it’s all just a click away.