The Collegian

Issue date: 10/17/06 Section: News

Media Credit: Courtesy of www.myspace.com

The next time you decide to upload that photo of yourself half-naked with a dazed expression on your face and a beer can in your hand to your MySpace or Facebook profile, you might want to stop and consider the possible future ramifications of such a seemingly innocent act. Your friends and peers are not the only ones with access to your profile anymore. Employers are now utilizing websites such as these to conduct background checks on applicants as part of their hiring process.

Ranked respectively as the number one and two most trafficked websites in the United States, MySpace with nearly 200 million registered members and Facebook with over 10 million members, they are rapidly increasing in popularity with the expansion of features that allow users to establish an extensive social network of friends all over the world. The main appeal that these sites have, with users ranging anywhere from 13 to 30-year -olds, is that they allow users access to post photos and to disclose personal information, as well as the ability to interact with other users in many ways. Users are given free reign to create an identity that may or may not be compatible with their real-life personalities. A close surveillance of a user's profile reveals more information about them, either positive or negative, than they might think.

While employers will not go so far as to base the chances of an applicant entirely on his or her profile, they will use an applicant's profile as an additional factor that could make or break their chances of becoming employed with the company. According to Ed Biglin, chief technology officer of Computer and Technology Services (CaTS), the Internet is a crucial component of the screening process to determine whether an applicant is a positive or negative match with the company.

"They do those checks because they don't want to inadvertently hire someone who is untrustworthy or who, for various reasons, they wouldn't want working with their clients," Biglin said.

Implementing this procedure has proved an effective and resourceful means of gathering information about potential employees at Saint Mary's College. Biglin recalled a time when the school unsuspectingly hired an applicant with a history of embezzling.

"We want to make sure that tuition pays for education, not thievery," Biglin said. "A routine Web search" would have prevented that mistake, according to Biglin.

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