Not only are some companies doing this now, many have been doing so for years. As far as these employers are concerned, anything you write online is simply more data about you as a person and potential employee.
When you post comments on a blog or on various networking sites, you probably take pride in crafting clever, caustic, or creative verbiage. The only problem is that although there may be cadres of readers who hang on your every word, there may be other readers who could use your words to hang you out to dry.
You need to be very careful about what you write online, as anything you write can conceivably be accessed for many years. Revisit your online entries and reread them from the perspective of a potential employer. If your writings can be interpreted in a way that reflects negatively on you, that is exactly what will happen. Perhaps it is time to do some online editing. And as long as you are in the virtual neighborhood, enter your name in some of the major search engines and see what happens. If you don't like what you find, neither will a potential employer.
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