Make Your Myspace and Facebook Profile Private or an Employee Reference

Myspace and Facebook have become popular social networking sites for many people. They've also become a popular tool for employers wanting to check out their prospective employees. Talk about a personal reference. We all want to separate our personal lives from our work lives, but by publishing your private life online, it pretty much makes it public to not only friends and strangers, but to employers as well.

Becoming a popular person in these social networking sites may be your goal, but if you're hunting for a job, it might be best to set your profile as private. The only way someone can view your profile if it is private is by signing up on Myspace or Facebook and requesting you as a friend. Of course they will still be able to view your default picture so if it's a picture of you acting in an unbecoming way, you might want to consider changing it.

To set your profile to private on Facebook, you go to the Privacy page, click Profile and adjust your settings there. By selecting All Friends, only your confirmed friends can view your profile. This is the most private setting you can use. You can also prevent people from being able to find you. On the Privacy page, click on Search and adjust your settings there.

To set your profile to private on Myspace, click on Settings and then Privacy. Selecting "Profile Viewable By My Friends Only" is the most private setting. You can change how people can find you by changing your name, age and location. However, this will prevent people that you want to find you from being able to find you.

Probably the best course of action would be to make your profile employer friendly. Having your employer view your Myspace profile or Facebook profile could work in your favor, but it will take a little work on your part. You can brag about your past accomplishments and even upload photos where you participated in different events. Also, because Myspace and Facebook are networking sites, it could potentially work in your favor and other companies that you haven't even thought about applying with might contact you.

Asking yourself what your parents might say if they were to view your profile, might help you decide about what not to put on your profile if you're unsure. Ask your friends and family to check out your profile and make suggestions that would make your profile more appealing to an employer. They might have ideas that you haven't thought about.

If it still bothers you that a potential or current employer might be accessing your profile on Myspace or Facebook, your options would be to refrain from posting things you don't want them to know, delete your profile or find a job with a company that doesn't use computers. Although, you still will never know if your boss is hiding a computer in a closet and spends the wee hours of the night browsing the internet to find you.