A little more control in the job search can only be a good t

By now, surely no-one out there needs to be told that Facebook, MySpace and their ilk can seriously derail a job search. One weird comment, a dubious hobby or interest or—heavens forfend—an inappropriate photo of a job seeker, and a prospective employer may very well just turn to the next resume in their stack, writing off an otherwise suitable candidate in the process. While it's possible to control much of your own online image via privacy settings, self-censorship and common sense, there is always the possibility that someone else is inadvertently hampering your chances by posting photos with you in them to their own profiles.

While the possibility of a recruiter or interviewer taking the time to go through the profiles of your connections to find pictures of you, it is conceivable that they might inadvertently see them mentioned while visiting your own profile. And even if the risk is infinitesimally small, does anyone enjoy the feeling that you don't know exactly how much of your life is currently living online? Fortunately, there is the beginning of a solution—at least for those on Facebook. A new application for the social networking site allows users to search for photos of themselves using facial recognition technology. You read that right: the app will scan the internet for you and pull up any and all pictures that may contain your visage, so that you're at least aware enough of them to request that they be taken down. Oh…and it does it for free. Need I say more?

--Posted by Phil Stott, Vault.com