Have you ever thought about what a future employer might read about you on the internet? If you are high-school age or younger, you may not be thinking that far ahead. But with powerful search engines like Google able to find just about anything, you must think very carefully before putting anything personal about yourself online.

Before you post details about your life on MySpace, FaceBook or any other social site, think carefully about the privacy consequences. I don't just mean details like your full name and address, or a phone number. Most people know to keep the obvious things secure.

What I'm referring to is the kind of thing that seems fun or harmless now, but could come back to haunt you later. Like a post about a night of drunken partying during which you got behind the wheel. Or maybe a post about "toilet papering" or throwing eggs at a neighbor's house. Maybe you've gone to one of those "confessional" sites and confided that you once shoplifted something from a store. Even if it was something small - even if you went back and paid for it - just try to imagine yourself 10 or 15 years later applying for a job. If the person interviewing you did a simple Google search, what would they find?

I've actually learned this the hard way. If you Google my name you will get thousands of hits! Most of them are professional in nature, but some of the highest-ranked links lead to posts I made to a disability message board years ago that I had no idea would be archived pretty much forever. I wrote about my fears of one day possibly becoming too disabled to work.

Now I realize that a possible future employer could do that same simple search and find out a lot of personal information about my physical condition. They aren't supposed to discriminate against a person with a disability, of course ... but it does happen, and you can imagine some employers might not want to hire a person who is uninsurable, can't walk far, can't lift heavy items, or who talks about being fearful of becoming disabled.

So the next time you want to share a slightly "naughty" story with some friends using the internet, you might want to just think it over first and at least make sure you're using a secure site ... if a truly secure site exists.

Learn more about this author, Robin Mayhall.
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