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A college graduate pursuing a high school teaching career posted a photo on her social-networking profile with a caption suggesting she was drinking heavily.

This photo made it difficult for the new grad to find a job, says Eileen McGarry, executive director of career services at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The school district considering her believed that because she would be working with high school students, who use the Internet often, the picture could negatively portray the teacher.

Such stories are increasingly common not only within school districts, but within government agencies and large and small businesses.

Companies now ask hiring departments to check job applicants' profiles on MySpace, Facebook and other social-networking sites, along with candidates' resumes.

"Employers who use these sites are checking them as the final process before hiring, mostly after the reference checking stage after the interview," McGarry says.

According to McGarry, a 2008 survey reported that 29 percent of businesses used social-networking sites as a tool to recruit for their company.

But some people post questionable content on their personal Web sites, sometimes making companies leery of pursuing them for employment. Companies scan such sites to protect their image, because business could suffer if customers see employees posting questionable content on the Web.

"A profile would hinder me if it included anything that showed unprofessional behavior, or anything that might seem embarrassing if a client saw it," says Cheryl Bella, senior vice president of The Firm Public Relations. "We deal with the media. We deal with clients. We deal with some of the top companies in Las Vegas. So if a high-level executive came across something that's questionable, it could be troublesome for us."

Some of the heaviest Internet users, teenagers, do not understand that a personal profile can provide a pathway for future communication and connections in business.

Bella says she uses social-networking sites not only to keep in touch with family and friends, but also with professional sources.

"People get job leads from online sources, even with connections from friends on Facebook," Bella says.

Because MySpace, Facebook and other social-networking sites were created for adults to communicate, teenagers should try to maintain a noncontroversial social-networking page.

"If younger people are going to take part in the MySpace social-networking system, they should either have good judgment about their actions or their parents should be regulating their activities on said sites," says Natasha Lejbman, a junior at Palo Verde High School.

McGarry, who works daily with UNLV students and alumni to help them find jobs, tries to teach students that what they post on the Internet can affect their personal image.

"When we work with UNLV students and alumni in the job search, we remind them to think about the fact that when they post information on these sites, they are public," McGarry says.

According to McGarry, people need to fully utilize their privacy features and remove content involving bad or self-deprecating language.

Nevertheless, what a person posts will let other people know, whether they are hiring companies or friends, who that person is and generally what they are about.

"People should be aware because the information (they are posting) is public and can be accessed, one way or another, by practically anyone on the planet," Lejbman says.