Once the preserve of college students, social network applications like Facebook have crossed the generational divide. However, with the wider interest in the technology new pitfalls have also arisen. Whether you are aware of it or not, chances are you have an online presence. Unless you manage this presence very carefully, you could find your chances in the working world influenced in a very negative way.

The dangers of Web 2.0

With a move toward more user generated content and user interaction with sites, the world wide web has changed to what has become known as Web 2.0. This differs from the earlier days of the Internet during which Internet users were passively taking in information rather than creating the content. Yet with great power comes great responsibility and the ability to generate content has for many not yet led to a greater awareness of how this content may affect them and others down the line.

The personal-professional divide

Information posted on the Internet can often be viewed by an unintended audience. This means that photos of Friday night happy hour could end up being viewed by your boss on Monday morning. The gap that once existed between the well-managed professional image and the private party animal is melting away faster than the polar ice-caps as your private and public personas become inextricably linked on the web.

“Before the Internet and social networks, unless a person was in the same place at the same time as an employer or co-worker, the likelihood of an employer seeing the private persona was minimal. With  the Internet and social networks being readily available and regularly used by companies to assess potential and current staff and their behaviours, it is very likely that their private persona will be revealed,” says Ciara Aspinall, partner and operations supervisor at SteppingStones, a local recruitment firm.

Photos or comments posted of you by other users can be just as damaging as anything posted by you. The Michael Phelps marijuana pipe incident dispelled any doubt about just how damaging a moment of indiscretion can be. A photo that showed Phelps inhaling from a marijuana pipe at a party was posted on the Internet, which in turn led to an international outcry, public apologies and the loss of an important sponsorship contract. With the advent of cameras in mobile phones, the danger of private moments becoming public knowledge has grown exponentially. The experience is somewhat similar to living in a small town, where everyone knows what everyone else is up to, only in this case the small town stretches around the globe.

Big Brother is watching

According to a survey commissioned by Microsoft, recruiters and human resources professionals around the globe are using the Internet to check up on prospective employees. The survey polled recruiters in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and France as to how often they use the Internet to check on prospective employees, which resources they use, and which percentage of people are rejected due to information found on the Internet.

The numbers make for interesting and rather scary reading.

In the United States, 79 per cent of the companies polled did online research on job applicants, while 75 per cent reported that it was company policy to do such checks. A whopping 70 per cent of companies also reported rejecting applicants due to information found in the Internet. It is also not just information about your professional life that may end up being used against you - even though 89 per cent of recruiters said it was appropriate to consider professional online data, 84 per cent found it appropriate to consider personal online data as well.

When it comes to managing a your online profile, it is also important to note how the recruiters went about checking up on applicants. Search engines like Google were used by 78 per cent of recruiters, while 63 per cent used social networking sites like Facebook. However, the more worrying statistic is that photo and video sharing sites like Flicker and YouTube (59 per cent) beat out professional and business networking sites like LinkedIn (57 per cent). Personal websites and blogs garnered just under 50 per cent, while recruiters also trawled sites like Twitter, online forums, online gaming sites and even classifieds and auction sites for information.

Local relevance

It might be easy to believe that the trends in the United States will not apply to Cayman. However, according to Aspinall, using the Internet to research prospective employees is accepted practice in the industry in Cayman as well.

“We do use search engines and social networking sites to check behaviour of prospective employees. This is a standard employment procedure that is used in addition to reference and background checks and often impacts our decision to recruit a potential candidate. It is not only standard for us as a recruitment agency but we know that our clients employ the same strategies when screening prospective candidates for positions within their organisations,” says Aspinall.

Reason enough to be rejected?

It is often debated whether an employee’s actions outside the office that has no real impact on the employee’s ability to perform their work should concern the employer. It could be said that as long as these actions remain in the private sphere it should not affect the employee’s position in a company. However, photos and opinions posted on the Internet are in the public domain. An employer can argue that any photos or opinions of the employee that can reflect badly on the company or do damage to the professional image of the employee can be a matter of grave concern to the company. One of the biggest problems faced by many Internet users is that they do onto have full control of their presence on the web. In fact, according to the Microsoft study, 43 per cent of rejections were influenced by inappropriate comments or text written by friends and relatives of applicants.

Not all bad news

Even though many recruiters will reject a job applicant based on negative information gleaned from the Internet, an even greater portion, 85 per cent, say that a positive online reputation will influence their decision on whether to hire someone. This means that a well-managed online presence can be highly beneficial.

Social networks as a job hunt tool

Although social networks can pose dangers when it comes to the job hunt, it is also possible to use them to your advantage. As these networks allow you to keep up contact with old friends and casual acquaintances, there might be someone on your friends list who can help you find a job.

Recruitment firms are also making use of social networks to build awareness of job opportunities.

“Social networks assist with our overall search engine ratings (which means more people are accessing our website since we started using social networks) this optimises the number and calibre of candidates that SteppingStones is able to attract. Social networks generate traffic to our business and allows customers and candidates to access information about international opportunities and our contact details,” says Aspinall.

Think before you post

It is vital that people consider the impact a photo or comment might have on their future employment.

“Be careful about what you post and what other people post about you,” says Aspinall.

“Think about whether or not this reflects your office persona, if it does not reflect your office persona then think about changing it as your image has the potential to be viewed by thousands of people and it could have an impact on your current or potential employment.”

Being aware of the possible impact of your digital self on your job prospects can set you on the path to a more successful career.

According to Aspinall, careful management of your online profile and careful consideration of what you post is vital.

“When providing careers advice to candidates, this is something that we cannot stress enough to them as it can and does cost candidates jobs.”