February 8, 2007 11:45 AM

You are what you write
Posted by Douglas Eisenhartat 11:45 AM

Question: have you ever posted anything on MySpace? FaceBook? YouTube? Or have you ever communicated with a prospective hiring company via e-mail?

Well, my guess is that just about 100% of you would say "yes" to the above. And career management guru Peter Weddle has some advice for you:

A recent survey of human resource professionals found that over one-third have visited social networking sites to look for information about employment candidates. Personal pages and videos posted on MySpace.com, YouTube.com, FaceBook.com and similar sites are now fair game when employers conduct “background checks” on job applicants. With concerns about office security, employee theft, and malicious behavior on the rise, they want to learn as much as they can about the character of a person as well as their capabilities on-the-job.

This assessment, however, is not limited to what can be found on social networking sites. It also encompasses virtually every interaction you have with an organization online. To put it another way, your evaluation now begins with the first e-mail message you send and continues through every subsequent communication you have with the organization. From an employer’s perspective, then, you are what you write.

Read the entire piece, the lead story from Weddle's latest newsletter. It includes his "three simple rules to help make sure that what you write is you at your best."