HispanicBusiness

A few months ago there was a small outcry when it was revealed that employers, in the process of screening job applicants, wanted to check out would-be workers' Facebook pages. The screeners were looking for any kind of red flag that a social network site might yield.

They were actually asking for applicants' Facebook passwords, and much of the protest came from the people at Facebook themselves. They see the passwords as confidential, along the lines of a Social Security number.

Apparently this does not bother many recent college graduates. A study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, which tracks recruitment efforts among college seniors, found that 41 percent of the class of 2012 used social media sites in their efforts to find jobs.

That's a 33 percent increase from 2008, when Facebook and other sites were newer and considered very cool.

Whether you share a password with a potential boss or not, job-hunt counselors remind young applicants that too much sharing sometimes creates a problem. A photo on a Facebook page of you eating a snake at a dorm party will probably not help get you hired.