You can't see pictures of Kristen Fahnestock taking shots on her 21st birthday on Facebook anymore. In fact, if you aren't her "friend," you can't see her profile at all.

It's not that all of a sudden Fahnestock (senior-public relations) has dropped from the social scene.

She is just applying for jobs.

"I took down the pictures because it might not look so good to employers," Fahnestock said. "You never know how someone's going to take it."

Fahnestock has reason to be concerned.

According to a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), more than one in 10 employers said they had plans to review social networking profiles when looking at job candidates, and 40 percent said they were undecided.

However, that doesn't mean you have to "yank the plug" on your Facebook or MySpace profile, Bob Orndorff, associate director for career counseling and planning, said.

Online profiles can sometimes work to a student's advantage if they show off achievements and best qualities.

"Similar to an e-portfolio, online profiles are an opportunity for employers to get to know you," he said. "Students should say, 'Let me think if there's a positive spin I can put on this. Maybe there's a blog I have that's helping inner-city youth, or some pictures of me working with Habitat for Humanity.' "

The problem is, not everyone has "positive" profiles.

Because of the potential consequences of online profiles for students on the job hunt, Penn State is calling attention to the issue. Last week, Student Affairs sent out a Penn State Pulse Survey titled "Net Behaviors" to find out how students use social networking sites. One of the questions asked students if they manage their Facebook or MySpace profiles differently during a job or internship search.

Career Services is also counseling students about the consequences of their online profiles on an individual basis and in job workshops. And Career Services included a warning in this semester's edition of Career Planning News, which appeared in September as an insert in the Collegian, titled, "Will your Online Profile Ruin your Job Search?"

Making your profile positive

Jack Rayman, director of Penn State Career Services, said students should treat their online profiles like a job résumé.

"Keep them brief, direct, to-the-point, with nothing outrageous and nothing that calls attention to anything," he said. "If you think it's going to help you, put it on. If you think it's going to hurt you, take it off."

Rayman said students should be extra cautious about the information that people can access about them online because the recruiting process in general is a very intense and negative one.

"Employers are looking for reasons not to hire you," Rayman said. "So what they're looking for is anything that can be potentially embarrassing or dangerous to them."

Orndorff said students should use common sense when deciding what to put on their profile.

"Don't put something that you wouldn't want said about you on the front page of a newspaper," he said.

Positive online profiles can especially help out students whose résumés and grades might not set them above other applicants, Orndorff added.

"This is a great opportunity for students whose résumés are not working for them," he said. "They might not have the best GPA, but here's a place they can showcase all the great things they have done."

Why they are looking

Employers might think the pictures and statements on your profile reflect who you really are, Rayman said.

"The most obvious things that work to your disadvantage are drinking and sexual exploits," Rayman said. "You might put them out there to be outrageous, but these are not necessarily characteristics that employers are looking for."

Employers might also look at your use of grammar, language and profanity, Rayman added.

Although Rayman said college students do not have to terminate their social networking accounts, they should be careful about what information they include.

"Generally, technology brings out in people things they would never otherwise do because they think there is some kind of artificial privacy," he said. "But really, they have less privacy."

Mike Deaven (senior-electrical engineering) said he doesn't think an online profile is an accurate reflection of a person's work ethic.

"It bothers me that employers are concerned with what a potential employee would do in their off time, rather than while at work," Deaven said. "Online profiles have very little to do with productivity in a work environment."

Who is checking

According to a NACE "quick poll," service sector firms, such as financial and insurance companies, are the types of employers that are most likely to check online profiles or "Google" candidates.

Capital One Chief Human Resources Officer Matt Schuyler wrote in an e-mail statement that although the company does not necessarily look at social networking sites, students should be careful about the information they include on their profiles.

"Capital One doesn't necessarily look at MySpace profiles or other social networking sites as a matter of practice," he wrote. "However, for any job candidate, it would be smart to think of the big picture and not include things in your profiles that could potentially take you out of the running for a job."

Fahnestock said she does not think checking online profiles is necessary when reviewing candidates.

"Just because on my 21st birthday I got drunk and had fun, it doesn't mean I'll come into work drunk," she said.

Some companies said they do not need to check online profiles.

A representative from Allstate said the insurance company uses more traditional means of reviewing candidates.

"We'll call the Registrar's office to confirm education, and we would certainly call references," said Robin Gorneau, Allstate communications specialist. "Those Web sites tend not to guarantee honesty, so we go the old-fashioned route."

Even the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which is known for its extensive background checks, said it only uses formal recruiting methods and does not check online profiles.

"Background checks are done formally after the student applies online," CIA spokeswoman Michele Neff said. "If your application is accepted, you will be notified, and then a formal background investigation begins with formal background officials."

The question of privacy

Because social networking sites are designed for a social and not a professional setting, questions have arisen about the legality and ethics of "character checks."

Although Facebook requires a college e-mail address to create a profile and access the accounts of other users, according to NACE, some companies circumvent the system by using the e-mail addresses of employees who are alumni or recent college graduates.

Attorney Andrew Shubin, who specializes in employment law, said employers are legally allowed to do this because the information on social networking sites is considered "public domain."

"In and of itself there is no right to privacy, even if you limit the access to, say 300,000 college students," he said. "The courts are very reluctant to create zones of privacy because the images on the many personalized Web sites are available to the public."

However, Shubin said students could sue on the grounds of discrimination if an employer discounts them based on their race or nationality, which the employer might have discovered from their online profile.

Even though reviewing social networking sites may be legal, not everyone agrees that it is right.

"There are legal ways to get all public information somehow," Orndorff said. "But I think if it gets back to students it could be perceived as sneaky because they didn't initiate the information."

Kathleen Carey (senior-microbiology) deactivated her Facebook account because she is applying to medical schools and feared that, like job applicants, she could get rejected if pictures on her profile were misinterpreted.

"I don't think it's ethical," she said. "Whoever is looking at the pictures can interpret the information any way they want."

Director of Graduate Enrollment Services Cynthia Nicosia said she has not heard of graduate schools reviewing applicants' online profiles.

Collins said NACE's Principles for Professional Conduct Committee is taking a look at the issue right now to get a sense for how widespread the practice is among employers. The committee's purpose is to review ethical issues related to recruiting and hiring. In the past, if it found a practice is unethical, the committee has issued a position paper about where it stands on the practice.

In the meantime, Collins said students might want to consider using privacy settings on social networking sites to limit who can access their profiles.

They should also realize that the interactions they have with their friends are very different than the interactions they have with an employer, Collins added.

"The rule is, if you have something on it that you wouldn't want your mother or grandmother to see, then you don't want a potential employer to see it," she said.