Online communities can hurt job prospects...

This is a great summary of what smart recruiters have ben doing for a while and how it's impacting recent grads... With the explosion of online search tools that can quickly turn up information on a person, being Googled is expected. However, some employers are even checking Facebook and MySpace for info on potential candidates.

Two cautionary tales:

Online Remark Can Now Sink Job Candidate

When a small consulting company in Chicago was looking to hire a summer intern this month, the company's president went online to check on a promising candidate who had just graduated from the University of Illinois.

At Facebook, a popular social networking site, the executive found the candidate's Web page with this description of his interests: "smokin' blunts" (cigars hollowed out and stuffed with marijuana), shooting people and obsessive sex, all described in vivid slang.

And even worse, perhaps....

Curious about the candidate, Ms. Homayoun went to her page on Facebook. She found explicit photographs and commentary about the student's sexual escapades, drinking and pot smoking, including testimonials from friends. Among the pictures were shots of the young woman passed out after drinking.