Blogger Beware:Employers are watching your Space

An interesting article by Diane E. Lewis of Boston times talks about the trend among recruiters to go through candidate’s bloc before offering job positions. Employers hoping to gain insight into the character and personalities of job applicants are increasingly likely to peruse blogs.

''For potential employees, it is not uncommon for senior executives to have a media search conducted that would include all public statements the individual has made," said Tal Moise, chief executive of VerifiedPerson, which performs online background checks for US employers. ``What the public needs to understand is that whenever information is in the general domain, assume it is not private."

Social networking sites could be immensely valuable to employers looking for the kind of detail they can't get from a resume or in an interview, said Bruce M. Sabin, director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness at Webber International University in Babson Park, Fla.

''The opportunity to glean the kind of information students willingly post on MySpace is a potential goldmine for employers," Sabin said in an online posting. ''Employers would probably not be impressed to find . . . students discussing their 'booty calls,' or posting self-portraits that could only be described as soft porn."

Umhh.. Interesting trend for sure, on a personal note I feel one need to take a hard look at the content and nature of the blog before making any serious decision about the candidate. Some people like to blog on personal issues or even trivial day to day stuff which may not be a relevant stuff for employee selection. However I think blogs are in some way reflections of our personality, interest areas and attitude.So it may be a valid indicator for some positions. We are definitely going to see more action in the days to come.