A recent survey found most employers search online to check on job candidates. As more people turn to social networking websites such as MySpace, Friendster and Facebook to connect with friends and write about their personal lives, employers and recruiters are following right behind.
There's an explosion in the amount of personal material being launched into cyberspace by people who seemingly have no qualms about sharing all their personal information.
Job seekers have reason to worry: In some cases, employers and recruiters are using the information to weed out candidates. Three quarters of 102 executive recruiters surveyed last fall by ExecuNet, of Norwalk, Conn., said they use search engines as part of the process to uncover information about job candidates. More than a quarter said they have eliminated candidates due to what they found about the person on the Internet.