Nannies: Posting Unprofessional online Profiles...

"It may seem private but an unprofessional online profile can damage your chances in finding your next family," warnes EL APOSTOL Centre Director of A-PRO Caregivers & Nannies Inc -a childcare & household staffing agency in the Vancouver area - A suggestive e-mail address or revealing post on a Myspace profile - Facebook or Friendster can kill a person's chance of landing a job. "We've seen it happen to a number of nanny candidates, and it's why we're raising the red flag."

Apostol recounts the story of one set of parents that did an Internet search on a nanny they wanted to hire. It was a rude awakening when they found her Friendster account with details of drunken, all-night parties on her most recent long weekend. But the real deal breaker was that she had written at length about the family she used to work for, listing things she didn’t like about them and the job.

APOSTOL says her agency has added one more thing to its screening process - an Internet search of each potential job candidate’s name. “We will not represent candidates who have an unprofessional online persona. We advise them to keep their private lives private.” Candidates who make it through A-PRO’s screening process are reminded to mind their online P’s & Q’s forever.

Here are the tips A-PRO gives to the people it sends out for job interviews:

• If your e-mail address is suggestive or otherwise unprofessional, change it.
• Make sure your voicemail greeting has only a brief, professional message during your job search.
• If you have an Internet page or profile, make it private and available only to pre-approved viewers. (It’s a simple setting on MySpace, Facebook, hi5 or Friendster.)