One of the hot debates in the human capital world is how much should recruiters review the online profile of new employees — especially those who have recently graduated from college and most likely to have less than professional content on their Facebook and MySpace pages.
Anastasia Goodstein and I discussed this recently in a study we wrote for New Paradigm’s Net Generation study. An excerpt:
 

Decide whether or not to look. If you do look at social networking sites and blogs, create specific corporate criteria for what constitutes a red flag. Recruiters or HR professionals should not be rejecting people according to their own personal biases.
Context is key. Everyone has different personas for different situations. You’re not the same person with your boss as you are with your friends. If you’re searching for information about a potential candidate, consider the context in which it is posted.
Let them explain. Instead of ruling out a potential candidate right away because of a questionable post or photo, use the opportunity to ask them about it. Check the date of the post. If it’s from high school, their thinking has probably evolved. Use the interview as an opportunity for them to explain themselves to you—even talking about their mistakes can reveal a lot about character.
Partying can be a job skill. If you’re hiring for a position in sales or marketing, finding a N-Gener’s profile full of party pics could indicate that they have a skill set that might be help them do their job.