By Google thy (may) become undone

This story broke last week, but I've hardly had chance to do any blogging recently.

The news that employers are increasingly judging job applicants on 'Internet reputations' came to me as I lay in bed half-a-sleep listening to the news on BBC FiveLive (BBC FiveLive covered the same story in September - see here).

Later in the week Personnel Today reported on the very same issue - see Employers use 'internet reputations' to make decisions about job applicants by Mike Berry.

It appears that employers have reacted in a negative and positive fashion to (mainly) young people who use social community sites such MySpace and Facebook.

The positive responses surround content that is said to be 'appropriate' and 'presented in the right way'.

Negative responses concern rejecting applicants base on 'dubious personal information found online'.

The article contains more details than reviewed in this post.

My advice to those who would prefer an employer NOT to find out about their 'on-line life' would be to avoid letting any employer know your on-line nickname.

What is more, it would be unwise to use a web-based Internet email address used in such situations as a way of communicating with employers - email addresses can also be Googled!

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