Resume has my qualifications. Cover letter states my intentions and goals within the job. Interview is for any other information relative to the job and shows my professionalism.

There’s nothing else you, as an employer, need to know.

The level of entitlement employers feel over our private info is insane. I remember my own employer sitting across me on his laptop, bitching endlessly over the fact the candidate whose Facebook profile he wanted to check had it set strictly to friends-only. He was serously annoyed her posts and photos and whatnot were not available for him, a total stranger, to see.

Just the previous day, he had gone on a rant about how women need to be Cautious in this Dangerous World and have a Responsibility to Keep Themselves Safe.

He did not see the irony.

I had a job interview where they insisted you hand over your social media links so they could look through your stuff to ensure you did not “reflect poorly on the brand”. I told them that I didn’t have any, and technically, if you use my legal name you will get three women. None of them are me (one is twice my age and runs an antique store in FL, one is 5yrs younger than me but has a PhD in something unrelated to anything like what I studied, the third lives in London and posts a lot about pubs), and the interviewer looked up my name. He showed me these three accounts, asked me which was mine. I told him the truth. None of them were me.

Your online experience should be yours to enjoy. I’d suggest using a nickname, handle, or pseudonym in order to help maintain that line. If you’re Nik Smith in real life, I’d suggest being like Nik Writes A Lot or Htims Kin. Keeps old high school classmates, annoying cousins, and nosey HR dudes from snooping.