So, you’re applying for a job and are requested to submit to a background check. You know you’re credit is good and you’ve never had as much as a speeding ticket. You think you’re good, right? Think again.

A large portion of employers are now conducting a type of background check that’s less formal and doesn’t cost a dime. All they need is a computer, a working internet connection, and a username. Then all the information they’d never be legally allowed to pry from your lips, or you’d be too smart to give, is at their fingertips. And many are giving them exactly what they don’t want.

With the rise in popularity of online social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, employers have found a completely legal way to look into your personal life. Quickly becoming one of the mot commonly used tools in a background check, these sites are giving hiring manager a good reason to toss stacks of resumes in the trashcan.

These sites allow employers to see everything from your sexual orientation to the drunk pictures from your last spring break. Since you’ve posted this information in a public domain, accessible to anyone signed on, you’ve given them the right to silently discriminate against you based on what they find.

But even if you’ve dedicated your own personal page to telling the world about your volunteer work with disadvantaged youth and how much you love working overtime, employers may still find a reason to disqualify you. Since a public profile often gives links to your friend’s pages, you aren’t really in complete control over what is posted about you. One click on your number two in your top eight and employers could end up seeing that racy photo from the only drunken night you’ve ever indulged in that your friend couldn’t resist putting out there for everyone to see.

Since employers have gotten plugged in and signed on to the newest net trends, it’s important for jobseekers to keep their profiles either professional and PG rate or private. By doing this you avoid having to reconstruct your site or having to waste time worrying what incriminating photo you’re college roommate decided to post.

After passing a background check and securing a job, you may have a boss who wishes to add you as a friend on one of the various social networking sites. In the end the decision to do so or not is your choice, but doesn’t having the option of deleting all possibly damaging content from your page before they see it beat losing out on your dream job over something your did in your off hours private life?

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