Does your boss read your Facebook page?

Career management company Vault.com recently released a survey indicating that 82 percent of employers surveyed will let online profiles influence their hiring decisions. In English, that means the next person to interview you might be checking out your Facebook page first.

At first glance, this seems a little unfair. For most of us, Facebook is where we go to hang out with our friends, play games and brutally Vampire Bite people. Facebook is not corporate clothing. Facebook is casual Friday. Heck, it’s weekend wear.

But have you ever made a date with someone, then done a little research on their Facebook profile before meeting up? How about party invitations? Ever checked out someone’s friend list to see if there would be cool/attractive people at her party? After all, they posted this information on the internet, right? It’s not like you’re invading their privacy.

Let’s face it, putting your life on the internet isn’t like living life in your house. Like it or not, the internet is a public space, and that means everyone from potential employers to the future mother of your children is going to be checking out that video of you drunkenly vomiting all over the Mayor’s shoes.

Does this mean you should take down your Facebook page? Definitely not. But it might pay to be a little cautious. You don’t wind to wind up like the folks in this Washington Post article. One guy lied to his manager to get off work, but was betrayed by pictures on his Facebook page showing him at a party that day. The manager not only busted the guy, he also forwarded the pictures to the entire company. (This is being a dick above and beyond what is required, I think, but then I am not a manager.) The article also talks about a Facebook group featuring pictures of girls in various stages of drunkenness – not the images you necessarily want floating around on the internet. (I’m not going to link to that one, because I feel kind of ishy about adding to these girls’ embarrassment.)

If you don’t want to adjust your page then you shouldn’t have to, say I. Damn the man and all that. But if you want to clean up your online image to impress future bosses, here are three easy suggestions for things you can do to keep your page work-friendly without totally selling out:

• Avoid photos of you looking conspicuously wasted. Pictures of you drunkenly hugging your friends and grinning are fine: no employer that isn’t owned by the Mormon Church should have a problem with social drinking. But images of you vomiting, looking cross-eyed and queasy, or doing something generally horrible/scandalous/criminal should probably be reserved for your private collection.
• Swear words on your page are okay. Racial slurs and sexist or homophobic remarks aren’t. This isn’t a moral regulation: it’s business. Employers need to know you can work with all kinds of people in an office without raising a fuss because of your personal belief that people from Yemin smell like brie. (Note: I do not personally believe that people from Yemin smell like brie, though I admit I have never met anyone from Yemin.)
• Be reasonable about the groups you join. A group called “kill all middle managers” is funny, but might, you know, send the wrong message to an interviewer.

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