Managing your online presence...

What you write and post on the internet may be detrimental to your business future. Pictures friends post on social networking cites could cost you that job. What you write in your blogs should always be carefully considered, especially disclosure of sensitive personal information. Try to refrain from writing about your bad breakup with your boyfriend or girlfriend, instead, talk about what's going on in current events. Show the world that you're keeping up with its pace, not telling it to keep up with yours. For a great article from your Loyola University Career Development Center about how to secure your online presence, check out Roberta Kaskel's editorial this week in the Maroon.

Myspace has a feature where you can only add someone if you know their email address or last name. Do you use it? Also, Facebook allows you to add people with limited profile information. This is what I do when students or clients request to add me as a friend. I don't want to exclude them from my social domain, but I certainly don't want them to know everything about me. Part of learning to be professional is understanding how to have a sense of tact about what you put out there. If your life is an open book, you may want to consider keeping a few chapters closed to the world of cyberspace. Not everything should be shared with everyone, and I would hate to see any of my students fall into the traps that tricky HR departments have for obtaining personal information. Think before you write, though it may be censorship its a practical lesson for business professionals.