Miami Herald recruiter Rick Hirsch talked today at McCormick Tribune about how the Internet archives every piece of information you put on it – and that employers aggressively look for that info.
That’s mainly Facebook, MySpace and blogs, becuase they are gather so much info but he said to be aware that instant messages and even e-mail can turn up in public. So assume everything you do on the Internet will be made public some day.
Besides obvious things like alcohol and drugs, he said that taking strong stands on politics makes it harder to get reporting jobs. You never know when you’ll have to cover local government, and you don’t want to appear biased.
His argument was that journalism is like running for office – the very public responsibility means you need a clean record, because even small things hurt your credibility.
It was a good, if somewhat frightening, talk. On a more positive note, he said to remember to spotlight all the good stuff you do – volunteering, activities, extracurriculars – ’cause employers look for that as well.
Update: The Daily ran its story about this today.