It's one thing to check references when you're trying to hire someone. It's another when you go on an Internet fishing expedition to see what you can dig up on a job applicant.
News Directors can be like Woodward and Bernstein when it comes to checking backgrounds. Yes, they can pay a few bucks to find out if you've got a lead foot and shouldn't be driving a live truck, or if you've got a police record. They can make you take a drug test.
But many times the most damaging things they can find are out there on the Internet.
If you've just graduated, now's the time to erase your wild party past and clean up your digital footprint.
Photos of you getting drunk at a frat house? Outta here.
Social networking sites talking about your drug use? Those had better be gone.
YouTube videos of you acting like a party animal? Erase.
Political or religious statements of any kind? Hit the delete button.
Bad language on a personal site? Clean it up.
News Directors want to hire adults for entry level positions, not college kids. They know that college is a place to let your hair down, but they don't want viewers to find out anything unprofessional about you. You may be the best candidate for a job, but if you come off looking like Charlie Sheen online, you're gonna have a hard time finding a job.
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