Smoking may cause cancer.

Don't drink and drive.

Never talk to strangers.

They are valid warnings we've heard all of our lives to the point where they've become clichés. In 2009 alone, how many have died of lung cancer? How many alcohol-related accidents occurred over the holidays? How many people were attacked on the streets? Yet most of us never heed the warnings. With that in mind, here's a worthy candidate for another clichéd warning:

Once you put it on the web, it's there forever.

A few months ago, I was on a panel speaking to a group of college students interested in advertising careers. One of the panelists told the students that human resource personnel, recruiters and potential employers may check out things like your Facebook profile before hiring you.

Some of them freaked. I don't think they heard anything we said after that.

I kept my "professional" demeanor, but I was on the verge of laughter. I can only imagine what these people were posting about themselves. On second thought, maybe I can't, even though I take pride in having a damn good imagination. Some of those students cornered me during the reception.

"That's an invasion of privacy," one student said.

"Privacy?" I responded. "We're talking about Facebook."

"I gotta a website, too." she continued. "Will they look at that?"

"All anyone has to do is Google you to find it," I said. "What are they going to find anyway?"

It was a dangerous question, but she baited me and curiosity took over.


Turns out, she's into piercings – nothing pornographic she claims and I took her word for it. I told her I work with people with multiple piercings. I'm pierced myself – nothing pornographic, just an ear. That didn't make her feel any better.

Is it legal? Background checks are common in the hiring process, so why wouldn't your social media be fair game? Nobody is asking you to succumb to "The Man," lose your individuality, and become the corporate drone. You have the right to express yourself. And people also have the right to hold you accountable for the things you say and do. You don't have to sensor yourself, but you can police what's out there about you.

1. Google yourself. You won't be able to control all of the content you find, but take care of business where you can.
2. Check credit. I don't understand why companies check your credit. If you don't have a job, you can't pay your bills and that usually leads to poor credit. Anyway, you can get one report free per year to check for inaccuracies and other problems.
3. Limit access. If you really feel inclined to share your freaky side with the world, consider password protection for some of your sites. No, it won't keep you from being "discovered," but if you have adult content, I think people will respect you more for being the adult and keeping objectionable material from minors.

Every speaking engagement, I meet a new crop of college students and grads worried about being haunted by pictures of spring break and frat parties and general overuse of their phone cameras. Can Facebook keep you from a job? That's debatable. Honestly, you will never know for sure. But since everyone is looking, why give them reason to turn away from you?
Top image courtesy of stock.xchng (not the student).