2008 Woodie Awards
Employers check potential job candidates on MySpace Web site, business chair says
Law enforcement also uses MySpace to catch minors drinking alcohol.
By Lauren Kendrick
Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: News
Originally published: 4/17/08 at 8:00 PM CSTLast update: 4/17/08 at 8:59 PM CST
With so many students having an account with MySpace.com these days, it is not hard to see why employers are logging onto the popular social networking Web site to check out potential employees' pages.
Val Calvert, interim chair in the business department, gives advice to students about what they post on their personal MySpace pages.
She recently spoke to high school and middle school students about the negative effects the popular Web site may have.
"I don't look down on having a MySpace page, however, I do advise students not to put anything on there that they wouldn't want their parents to see," Calvert said.
Calvert said most large employers check MySpace to see what information applicants have posted, and sometimes they will not hire someone because of what is on the page.
"If the employers see your page full of risqué pictures, they are going to think you do not have good judgment," Calvert said. "Things you tell your best friend should not be put on your page.
"You wouldn't air your dirty laundry in the backyard, so why would you air your dirty laundry on MySpace?" Calvert asked.
Some people seem almost addicted to posting all of their personal information online, she said.
The obsession to post personal pictures and other information may be part of a celebrity-obsessed world.
"Sometimes, people think putting things on MySpace about themselves will make them popular, even if it is not true," Calvert said.
Calvert also talked about the safety of users on MySpace, saying that there have been many sex offenders caught trying to meet underage people on the Web site.
"As the students mature, they will eventually understand the effects of putting risqué pictures online," she said.
Mass communications freshman Angelica Pacheco admits to getting in trouble for being on her MySpace page at work.
"One time, my boss got mad at me for being on MySpace and asked me to get off and do my work," Pacheco said.
There also have been incidents when the police have caught underage students having parties with alcohol.
In the fall of 2006, The Ranger reported that 26 minors were given tickets for underage drinking because of a MySpace posting.
The San Antonio Police Department managed to access the MySpace page of the student who was having the party and saw the exact time, date and place of the event.
Once police officers saw minors with alcohol in their possession, they apprehended them.
Val Calvert, interim chair in the business department, gives advice to students about what they post on their personal MySpace pages.
She recently spoke to high school and middle school students about the negative effects the popular Web site may have.
"I don't look down on having a MySpace page, however, I do advise students not to put anything on there that they wouldn't want their parents to see," Calvert said.
Calvert said most large employers check MySpace to see what information applicants have posted, and sometimes they will not hire someone because of what is on the page.
"If the employers see your page full of risqué pictures, they are going to think you do not have good judgment," Calvert said. "Things you tell your best friend should not be put on your page.
"You wouldn't air your dirty laundry in the backyard, so why would you air your dirty laundry on MySpace?" Calvert asked.
Some people seem almost addicted to posting all of their personal information online, she said.
The obsession to post personal pictures and other information may be part of a celebrity-obsessed world.
"Sometimes, people think putting things on MySpace about themselves will make them popular, even if it is not true," Calvert said.
Calvert also talked about the safety of users on MySpace, saying that there have been many sex offenders caught trying to meet underage people on the Web site.
"As the students mature, they will eventually understand the effects of putting risqué pictures online," she said.
Mass communications freshman Angelica Pacheco admits to getting in trouble for being on her MySpace page at work.
"One time, my boss got mad at me for being on MySpace and asked me to get off and do my work," Pacheco said.
There also have been incidents when the police have caught underage students having parties with alcohol.
In the fall of 2006, The Ranger reported that 26 minors were given tickets for underage drinking because of a MySpace posting.
The San Antonio Police Department managed to access the MySpace page of the student who was having the party and saw the exact time, date and place of the event.
Once police officers saw minors with alcohol in their possession, they apprehended them.
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