Earlier this month, Laurie Ruettimann wrote a nice piece for TLNT.com entitled, "Are You Googling Job Candidates? When You Do, Everyone Loses."

As always her advice was spot on, but it really hit home today when I arrived at work and received an e-mail from a former student who had run into a troubling situation where the personal and professional often crosses - romance and work.

This former student was romantically involved with someone outside of work.  However, the ex was none too pleased that my student was involved with his/her former flame, and began to engage in some despicable behavior. To wit, attempting to hack into my student's Facebook and Twitter accounts.    

However, the straw that broke the camel's back this morning was discovering a duplicate LinkedIn account created with my former student's name and location, with a false profession (think bank robber or prostitute).  Now, when someone does a LinkedIn search for that former student's name, not only does his/her real account show up, but the fake account shows up as well with a false title and false interests (i.e., defacing public property or sleeping around).

Given that this student is trying to establish him/herself in a new position and growing his/her network, this is extremely troubling.  His/her colleagues may want to connect on LinkedIn, and could come across this less than flattering profile.  Or, he/she may want to start looking for a new position, and future employers could look up my student and dismiss him/her based on this profile.

So, as always, listen to Laurie - be careful out there when googling candidates....you may come across a false profile or two.

Note:  The scenario has been changed to protect the innocent.  Don't bother searching my LinkedIn connections - this former student is not among them.