Not all Dartmouth students are perfect. But then again, not all Dartmouth students advertise their lives in a candid online forum accessible to the public.
As more students form their own weblogs and job search time rolls around for seniors, some are questioning the effect personal disclosures could have on future employment.
For the tech savvy, Xanga.com is a haven to meet and greet those who share a passion for life and disclosing all its aspects. A search for Dartmouth on Xanga.com turns up four categories of online diaries for current or former students. The most general category, Dartmouth College, has 235 blog listings and the brazen label "cuz real ivy iz green, bitch."
Students said they use online blogs as tool to connect with friends and as an online record of their lives. Scott Lish Th '06 said his online journal, started four months ago, serves as a way to capture everyday life and share it with his friends.
Lish, however, primarily steers clear of the more revealing issues in his life. Xanga.com will show that not all writers are so noncommittal about their entries - which range from song lyrics to details about a student's Friday night sex life.
It is the anonymity of these online diaries that can lead to such disclosures, but many students wonder what purpose online "blogs" serve, especially because their presence can pose a risk for their future aspirations. Each blog is detectable simply by Googling the writer's name making them easily accessible to recruiting companies.
"I have an online blog because it makes it possible to keep in touch with friends that I can't see or talk to on a daily basis," said Duke Lee '05. Lee said he hadn't considered the possibility of potential employers viewing his blog.
Luckily for bloggers, the majority of companies currently seem to be steering clear of the Internet as a character reference for their applicants.
"As a recent college graduate I know that we are not all innocent," said Heidi Simmons of Montgomery and Co., an investment banking company. "If we had communication with one student we might Google their name but would steer away from reading someone's online journal."
Similarly, Tracy Amico, the recruiting manager at L.E.K. Consulting, said her company does not Google names of applicants as a recruiting policy. Even if they did, she said, company representatives would not consider blogs when making hiring decisions.
The majority of students with online journals declined to comment, showing a certain level of uncertainty about their online entries.
"I am not worried about people reading too much into what I write," Lish said. "Future employers are welcome to read all about me. I don't have much to hide, and write about my dog most of the time."
