Myspace versus Workspace

Okay, I know the Myspace reference is a little outdated, but it was easier to rhyme than Facebook.

As an emerging professional it is important to clean up your trail on the internet. College was fun, the parties were great, the pictures are hilarious. You don't necessarily have to get rid of all of that, just make sure it's pretty well covered. Your potential employers will search for you on the internet. Chances are they did the same things in college that you did, but they didn't have the internet to deal with. Tighten up the security settings on your online profiles. Create new - more professional online profiles with Twitter, or Foursquare. You might even consider creating a new facebook account - as I did. You can keep the old one, but change your settings so that you aren't searchable and nobody can see your information except for your own friends. Then create a new account, that is professional. Add your professional contacts as friends on the new account, and keep your old (Private) account for your friends.

Another tip is to run some searches on yourself. Google your name, search through several pages of hits - don't assume that your name won't come up if your not in the first three hits. Try looking yourself up on yasni.com. It's one that many employers use. If you find results that you don't want your employers to see - deal with it then and there.