Are Your On-Line Activities Hurting Your Job Chances?

The New York Times had an interesting article yesterday  about how students’ postings  on the internet can  sometimes redound to their detriment.   Here is an excerpt:  

Many companies that recruit on college campuses have been using search engines like Google and Yahoo to conduct background checks on seniors looking for their first job. But now, college career counselors and other experts say, some recruiters are looking up applicants on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Xanga and Friendster, where college students often post risqué or teasing photographs and provocative comments about drinking, recreational drug use and sexual exploits in what some mistakenly believe is relative privacy.

The full article is here.    The difference between students and (most) academics is that academics hide behind pseudonyms and anonymous postings when they want to act out.  

For some smart observations on blogging by law profs (and junior faculty especially), see Blogging While Untenured and Other Extreme Sports  by Feminist Law Prof Christine Hurt and Tung Yin.

-Posted by Bridget Crawford