Employment expert warns: Clean up 'digital dirt'

Experts at Ozarks Technical Community College's Career Employment Services Center are warning jobseekers to be cautious with the content they post to social-networking sites. It could cost them a job at a time when offers are scarce.

"More and more employers are using (social sites) as an avenue to check an applicant," Career Employment Services Director Kathy Christy said in an OTC news release. "It's a hot topic in career services."

Job hunters who have a tendency to use Facebook, MySpace and Twitter to post questionable or risqué personal information, photos and messages - what Christy calls "digital dirt" - could end up being turned down for a position based on what an employer discovers online.

"If you have any digital dirt, get rid of it," Christy said.

She notes, however, that such sites can be used to the job seeker's advantage and offers these tips:

• Update your online professional profile on a regular basis.

• Be aware of how you will be perceived by businesspeople in your online social network.

• Post content relevant to your job search with a description of who you are and what you do.

• Don't post controversial content on your profile that would damage your reputation.

• Don't mention your job search if you're still employed and want to keep your search below the radar.