Think Before You Post: Job Background Checks [Infographic]

It has long been said that what you write online today will always be there in the future. This could be taken as a warning or as pure inspiration. Knowing that later generations will be able to browse and page through what you write today should be initiative enough to keep you writing for that blog you just started. The world will always be watching, no matter if it is in a large or small attendance, if you know what I mean. But of course, with every new service that is launched, we get put even more under the microscope when applying for a new job. As most employers know today, our lives are now on the Internet, and they are not going to waste any time trying to dig up everything in order to decided who to give their position to.

A sound piece of advice would be to stay exactly as you are, right? However, if you are an outspoken and an in-your-face kind of person, things could get just a little bit complicated at some point. So another piece of advice would of course be to try and hold back on that personality of yours if you want to come across a little bit less combative. A new infographic (put together by Charles Vesley, David Lamb, Samantha Turner and Paul Murray) published for Professor Johnson’s Social Media Innovation Course is a reminder of why it is ever more important to keep your fingers off the keys when you get annoyed, irritated or just want to lash out at someone.

Of course most background checks are done on Facebook, which I am sure is to no one’s surprise. However, it should surprise you that Twitter is actually after MySpace when it comes to the percentage of background checks that employers do. To me, that sounds really odd since I keep wondering what could possibly be on MySpace that an employer needs to know more than just being nosy. Then again, there are a lot of different aspects and facts that employers weave into their decision making when hiring someone… I guess. I will never understand how a MySpace page could be more interesting than a Twitter profile page. Anyone?