Think employers can't see your Facebook profile? Think again!

Well, having insisted that my profile on Facebook was not viewable by people I didn’t know - today I was proven wrong! It turns out that quite a lot of it can be viewed, and the stuff that can be seen isn’t all that good. While my pictures are hidden away from any potential unknown stalkers, some of the lasting scars from my friends getting on to my account were not. There were some quite incriminating groups that I was unknowingly a member of, and an employer may have found them quite offensive if they were to try and find me.

I was also wrong when I thought that I hadn’t done anything in my life that was exciting enough to come up within the first ten pages if I Googled myself. Even with a fairly dull life and a common name I came up on the first page of search results, apparently having achieved as much as professors and film directors. Luckily for me it wasn’t anything bad, but it did show me just how easy it would be for someone to find out a lot about me with a quick ten minute search.

The information on Facebook was quite easy to hide and delete so that no one could see it; I just changed my privacy settings on the sections in question. However, I have not got a clue about how I would get something removed from Google, or if it is even possible. Having had this revelation that my life is visible to the world, I will definitely be taking more care to make sure I don’t do anything that will make employers turn me down before I have even got to an interview!

Rob (Student Blogger)

Careers Service

Careers Service

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