Should you blog or not?

Employees have been fired when their employer construed their blog posts as sharing confidential information, making inappropriate comments about the company, or both. Posting company news, pictures, and even making positive comments about a company have cost bloggers their jobs.

How about job seekers? Can having a blog, a personal web site, or an account on a social networking site impact your job search, for better or for worse? It could. One blogger posted recently that he lies in interviews. That wouldn't thrill a prospective employer if they knew about it. Another job seeker's blog mentions that she loves to party all night, drinks to excess on a regular basis, and steals on occasion. Again, not a profile that would thrill most employers.

Should prospective employers be reading your personal information? Maybe not, but, if you put it on the Internet and it's readily accessible, they can and they might. Some people list their personal web site or blog on their resume and most of us Googlers (my own term for people who use Google to find answers for anything) we're interested in knowing more about. There's nothing to stop a hiring manager from doing the same.

Even if it's not on your resume, if your blog, web site or profile contains information on your real identity, the people you least expect, and those that you certainly don't want reading it, may find it. Not only your boss and prospective employers, but, also your customers, colleagues and coworkers.

Keep in mind that just about anything that is online can be read by someone - or everyone. If you don't want the world to read what you've posted, make sure they can't. Don't put it online or post it anonymously.

Blogging can become a passion, but, don't let that passion hinder your employment prospects. Keep blogging, but, blog safely, securely and carefully, so your current or future career opportunities aren't jeopardized.