The Great Battle for Professionalism

I live in the Facebook age. The Myspace generation. The multi-tasking, technology-driven, Blackberry-toting, text-messaging generation of adolescents. And now, as we are graduating and pursuing high-profile public jobs, we are seeing the side effects of such social innovations... drunken pictures and nasty wall posts don't do much for our images.

I remember, back in English class sophomore year of high school, that my teacher mentioned getting professional email addresses. One of the students had a particularly juvenile account name, and so my teacher made a comment about adapting our accounts to professional stature... although not in such words. The point was made, though.

Naturally, a lot of us mature and begin thinking about our futures... at some point. There will always be a whole slew of students who have to spend the week after college graduation deleting embarrassing photos of themselves from the Internet. But we learn our lessons, for the most parts.

However, some of us don't. Recently, I have been contacting students about subleasing their apartments for the upcoming semester, as I will only be at my school for one more term. One of the responses I received was from the father of the student. He gave me some information about the apartment, the complex, and also the other girls living in the apartment.

That's all well and good. It is a little weird that he wasn't having his daughter handle the subleasing.

And then... the problem was made obvious. His email address. "Coochdoc."

Now, it's one thing that his last name is Couture. It's quite another that he might use that name (or his profession?) in such a low manner in a professional setting. Did he not think I would realize the inappropriate account name?

Honestly, it's fairly ridiculous. This man is a father.

And thus, that begins the whole argument about our actions and our image. I'm sure quite a few of us want to argue that our pictures, wall posts, and text messages don't have any effect on how we are viewed as professionals and career experts. However, those things CAN (but that doesn't mean they will) bite us in the ass.

Look at it this way: if the only thing a potential employer has seen of us is our resume, our email address, and twenty pictures of spring break with that Jamaican hottie, we aren't putting up a good front. Sure, it's not that I really like saying all that... I want to live my life and have no consequences from doing so.

But my parents have talked to me about weight, and its effect on my image. If my weight can lose me a job opportunity, so can all of our frat party mistakes.

I feel like I am relatively conscious of my actions. But I still have to ask... if a picture of me with a cocktail surfaces on a potential employer's computer, and that picture was taken after my 21st birthday... what's the big deal?

Are some employers judging too harshly?

And, if things like college partying and good times with friends weigh so heavily on future employment, why are we even allowed to enjoy those adventures? It's a balance. Have the fun. Hide the habits. And destroy the evidence.

Being a good employee and role model doesn't mean having to sit at home on Saturday night with a few cats.