Article: Paul Majendie from Reuters
Image: Ablestock

Don't be tempted to boast about it on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, or worse provide pictures of yourself behaving like a complete buffoon. For would-be employers could be digging for digital dirt. Readily available – and possibly embarrassing – information is just a mouse click away.

"The best advice is – don't put anything on your profile you wouldn't want you mother to see," said Andy Powell, director at the international recruitment agency Badenoch & Clark. He warned social networking devotees not to post pictures of debauched parties, to go easy on details of romantic trysts and never to complain about their current job or boss. "More and more recruiters are taking note of 'net reputations,'" Powell said.

"The social networking site Viadeo ran a survey which found that one in five employers were already using the internet to search for information on candidates," he said. "Our advice is to exercise caution," he said. "Be careful about the more trivial stuff – photos of you in a drunken state, talking to friends about how you dislike your employer."

Badenoch & Clark's own research, which marked the fourth anniversary of Facebook's launch, showed that almost two thirds of British executives – 62% – were signed up to social networking sites.

Its survey showed that Londoners were the most prolific social networkers in Britain – 38% said they accessed the sites during office hours.

Public relations consultant Stephanie Bailey, cited in the survey, said: "I came off Facebook after about six months as the internet is such a public space and I felt extremely uneasy about people, including my employer and prospective employers, knowing my personal business."

The survey prompted an editorial in The Times newspaper under the warning headline: "Online, everyone can hear you scream."

It said: "This sort of snooping is legal. But it carries the upsetting risk of mass self-censorship in the one arena where ordinary people, unlike Reality TV freaks, had begun to feel comfortable wearing their hearts on their electronic sleeves."

But Powell warned against being too frightened to sign up in case Big Brother was watching. "It can be a positive and reinforce what you say about yourself in your interview," Powell said. "Just be sure you are consistent."