Jackassalope

Identity Crisis

Yahoo just reported on the fact that employers are checking the Internet before they bring potential employees on board. That’s right, your Facebook profile and Blogspot can work against you. Once again, I would like to congratulate Yahoo for digging deep into today’s issues and reporting on the obvious. I don’t know what I would do without them. Then again, I still read all of their boiler plate articles, so I guess that makes me just as bad as them. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice and I’m the douche bag.

Anyway, the worst part about employers checking up on potential employees is the fact that they are simply going off of a name. I googled myself and the second person that came up on the list has a Facebook account in which they call themselves Lucas Burt. Whether that’s their name or not, it surely isn’t me. Because many employers use this web-checking technique as a way to narrow down résumés, you may be getting graded on someone else’s profile.

I’m just throwing ideas out here, but it might be prudent to start including your profile addresses on your résumé. This way at least you know what your potential employer might be looking at. It might also give you an advantage. Let’s say you’re applying for a job in the non-profit sector, it might be prudent to gear some of your profile interests towards that potential job. You can leverage the information floating around on the web in your favor. Interviewing is all about manipulation anyway, so why not become a pro at it?

As a general rule, I wouldn’t post anything online that you wouldn’t want your boss to see, but if you really need a platform for that picture of you puking off the roof of your frat house, simply create a profile using your nickname. This might make your complete web footprint harder to define. And to that other Lucas Burt out there, I’m watching you, buddy.