This Week in Healthcare IT

M&A, Financial Reports and Funding

The Adirondack Regional Community Health Information Exchange in New York will merge with the Healthcare Information Xchange of New York...Analytix On Demand, a vendor of clinical and financial data analytics applications for health care providers and health insurers, has acquired revenue cycle management consulting firm Integrated Revenue Management for an undisclosed sum.

Computer Programs and Systems, a provider of health IT systems, reported a Q3 2011 net income of $6.0 million on $42 million in revenue, compared with a Q3 2010 net income of $4.9 million on $40.9 million in revenue.

MedVentive, a data analytics firm serving the health care industry, has raised $12 million in a funding round led by several new and previous investors.

Contracts

Notable Solutions -- a developer of document scanning, capture and distribution software -- has been awarded a $3.5 million contract by the U.S. Department of Defense to implement its software in a part of the Military Health System's health IT interoperability program...Premier Purchasing Partners has awarded Afga HealthCare a three-year, multi-source contract to provide Premier members with image management and reporting systems and services...Newton-Wellesley Radiology Associates in Massachusetts has deployed McKesson's revenue management applications.

Alexian Brothers Health System in Illinois and Harbin Clinic in Georgia have selected athenahealth's cloud-based EHR and patient cycle management services...the Virginia Department of Health has selected Community Health Alliance to manage the operations of and establish a governance structure and technical infrastructure for the state's health information exchange network...Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina has selected Nexidia's business analytics and data mining software...Tucson Medical Center in Arizona has selected MethodCare's health care analytics software.

The Colorado Regional Extension Center has selected Office Ally as an approved EHR vendor...Piedmont Healthcare operating in North Carolina and Georgia has chosen TeleHealth Services' patient education and interactive communication tools...Scripps Health in California will deploy Allscripts' EHR system...Seton Healthcare Family in Texas will implement dbMotion's clinical interoperability platform...Memorial Hermann Healthcare System in Texas will deploy T-System's emergency department information system...Carondelet Health in Missouri has selected eClinicalWorks' EHR and practice management system.

Revera Home Health in Canada has chosen GoldCare's home health care management platform...Catalyst Health Solutions, a pharmacy benefits management and IT services provider, has renewed its contract with SXC Health Solutions, a pharmacy technology services provider...Baylor Health Care System in Texas has chosen AT&T's health information exchange platform...the Raleigh Hand Center in North Carolina has selected ChartLogic's EHR tool.

Product Development and Marketing

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois and MEDecision, a provider of collaborative health management services, are working with Illinois-based Pronger Smith Medical Care to develop an EHR system for the facility's patient-centered medical home program.

The Healthcare Information Xchange of New York has connected its health information exchange to athenahealth's cloud-based EHR system to provide community health record access on InterSystems' exchange platform...the Kansas Health Information Network and eHealthAlign are working to merge their health information exchange technology contracts with health IT company ICA.

Personnel

Tejal Gandhi -- chief quality and patient safety officer for Partners HealthCare System in Boston -- has been named program director for the Harvard School of Public Health's executive education program for IT in health care...David Pectol -- former corporate controller for National Coal Corp. -- has been named CFO of PerfectServe, a developer of health care communications systems.

Awarepoint, a provider of real-time location systems for hospitals, has named Merrie Wallace -- a former executive at McKesson -- its executive vice president of product solutions; Chris Cosgrove -- former leader of McKesson's national clinical sales department -- its senior vice president of sales for the eastern U.S.; Greg Arthur -- former director of Microsoft's global and enterprise customer team -- its vice president of client management; and Carla Gallegos -- formerly of Cisco Systems -- its vice president of national account sales for the western U.S.

HealthTech Holdings, a health IT holding company, has named Alan MacLamroc -- former executive vice president at CDC Software -- as CTO. The company also named Geoff Roten -- former executive managing partner of NorthStar Technology Consulting -- as CIO.

Read more: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2011/10/28/health-it-business-news-roundup-for-the-week-of-october-28-2011.aspx#ixzz1c6WoqK5Z

Hot Job Alert - Tell Your Friends Edition

All successful HIT Sales professionals have a talented friend who would love to get into the business--this could be your chance to help make that happen!  One of our newest and HOTTEST clients (these guys are motivated to hire) is in need of two Sales Associates to support their top territories. This individual will be responsible for identifying, qualifying, and closing new business in the 1-5 provider space selling EHR, PM and imaging solutions.  This position is open to candidates with direct experience as well as those who have sold other products into the small group practice market--including device and pharmaceutical reps.  Call Kate for more details or send your resume to kharlow@mr-monticello.com!

Desired Territories:

• ARIZONA - Phoenix Area
• OHIO - Columbus Area preferred, All Major Cities Considered

How Recruiters Use Social Networks to Screen Candidates

by Erica Swallow

Over the past few years, we’ve seen social media used in the job market in a number of ways — startups, small businesses and large corporations alike are diving into the socialverse to find top talent, and job seekers are likewise getting creative with social media.

Social media monitoring service Reppler recently surveyed more than 300 hiring professionals to determine when and how job recruiters are screening job candidates on different social networks.

The study found that more than 90% of recruiters and hiring managers have visited a potential candidate’s profile on a social network as part of the screening process. And a whopping 69% of recruiters have rejected a candidate based on content found on his or her social networking profiles — an almost equal proportion of recruiters (68%), though, have hired a candidate based on his or her presence on those networks.

Check out the infographic below for more results from the survey, including what details on a candidate’s social profile make recruiters tick.

 

Zappos CEO on How to Hire Top Talent

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Most job search advice is offered by so-called 'experts' who aren't actually responsible for hiring anyone. But hiring managers at major employers are on the front lines of the job market crisis. They screen thousands of applicants a week and are in a unique position to reveal what job seekers are doing wrong, and what candidates can do to get hired now, even in an ultra-competitive job market.

The following are edited excerpts from an interview with Christa Foley, senior human resources manager at Zappos.com. The e-commerce site hires over 30 new employees every month from February to October.
CNNMoney: You see tens of thousands of applicants. What is the biggest mistake made by candidates?

Christa Foley: That's easy ... they apply to too many jobs on our site, and when the jobs are unrelated, as they often are, it makes the candidate look too desperate, and not serious. Choose the open position that you are really best qualified for, and draft a strong résumé for that position. I think that maximizes a candidate's chances of success. Simply applying to every open job on our career page does not.

What's the best question a candidate has asked you in an interview?

"Which employee do you think best represents the Zappos culture and why?"

What's your favorite question for a candidate?

Stole this from Tony Hsieh, our CEO, but I love it: "What's the biggest misperception people typically have about you?" It can give me clues about how sincere and honest they are. I like the question because HR managers need to get candidates talking about themselves in unscripted ways, so that we can see if the culture fit is there. I'll give you an example of a poor answer to this: "People don't have misperceptions of me. What you see is what you get." That raises flags about arrogance, and a lack of self-awareness, it's just not a great response.

What is more important, a relevant college degree or great work experience?

Great work experience. College is fabulous and I encourage everyone to get their degree but outside of a few positions where we require a degree, largely we are looking for work experience and as always, culture fit.

'I have the best job in America!'

Dispel the myth that older workers aren't wanted by newer tech companies.

I can't speak for all tech companies, but for Zappos I say hogwash! We have employees who range from fresh out of high school to retirees coming back to work at Zappos. For example, we hired a retired school teacher who has been with us five years. She is working out great and is a manager for us now.

Yes, employees need to be computer savvy, but of course many older people are. And when we look for 'culture fit' it's not a code for 'younger,' it's a code for 'skilled, motivated, friendly people who are in line with the Zappos Core Values.' I urge older candidates not to disqualify themselves from the so-called 'new economy' jobs."

So many candidates are worried about the "stalker" label. Is there a way to follow up that is helpful without scaring an employer away?

This probably varies from company to company but candidate follow up is totally fine on our end. I think problems arise when the candidate isn't listening to the feedback we are sharing which is a big red flag from a communication skills standpoint. 

For example, if I tell you the hiring manager is reviewing your résumé and I will have an answer for you by the end of the week, don't follow up with me before the end of the week. Also, please don't email the Director of HR, the CEO, and the VP of Marketing about your résumé. Instead, apply through our career page. If you actually know the VP of Marketing then have at it and feel free to have him put in a good word for you. Basically, showing your passion and enthusiasm for the job is great but be sure not to cross the line.

What is most creative thing you have seen a job seeker do to get hired?

Oh boy, we see lots of stuff. I will say that in general, I'd really rather candidates not send things to our office and certainly not things that are expensive. But, a few creative candidates that stand out in my mind include a person who sent us a box of donuts. He'd pasted a URL link inside the box which took us to a Youtube video from him and why he wants to work at Zappos. Oh and one person created a Twitter account called @hiremezappos. We hired him.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/19/news/economy/hiring_zappos/

The Five Drivers of Happiness at Work

I am in a wood-paneled boardroom of a large multinational waiting to make a pitch. My stomach lurches as I anticipate having to use the “H” word to the CEO. It just feels too “new-agey” to associate with the hard-numbered world of business.

“We’re here to talk about happiness. Happiness at work.” The words sound so flaky; “happy clappy” and “happy hippy” ping into my mind even though the numbers tell their own story.

We’ve all had to face and deal with a very different working world, especially since the financial crisis and ensuing recession.

Data which we’ve gathered since 2006, shows that people everywhere feel less confidence, motivation, loyalty, resilience, commitment and engagement.

And whether your local economy is in a state of boom or bust, employees are experiencing similar pressures and bosses can only squeeze until the pips squeak for so long.

But imagine a mindset which enables action to maximize performance and achieve potential in these tough times. At the iOpener Institute for People and Performance, we understand that this is another way of describing happiness at work.

Our empirical research, involving 9,000 people from around the world, reveals some astonishing findings. Employees who report being happiest at work:

• Stay twice as long in their jobs as their least happy colleagues
• Spend double their time at work focused on what they are paid to do
• Take ten times less sick leave
• Believe they are achieving their potential twice as much

And the “science of happiness at work” has big benefits for individuals too. If you’re really happy at work, you’ll solve problems faster, be more creative, adapt fastest to change, receive better feedback, get promoted quicker and earn more over the long-term.

So how can you get to grips with what it’s all about?

Our research shows that there are five important drivers that underpin the science of happiness at work.

1. Contribution.

This is about what you do, so it’s made up of some of the core activities which happen at work. Like having clear goals, moving positively towards them, talking about issues that might prevent you meeting your objectives and feeling heard when you do so.

You’ll do all this best when you feel appreciated and valued by your boss and your colleagues. So it’s not just about delivering: it’s about doing that within collaborative working relationships too.

Here’s what Daniel Walsh, executive vice president at one of the world’s leading transport and logistics organizations, Chep, said about his insight into the value of his colleagues’ contributions:

“I was very task-focused and goal-oriented early in my career and I delivered significant deals. But afterwards it would take a few weeks to mop up the wreckage because I was more gung-ho than I needed to be. I had a meeting with my mentor who said, “look this has got to stop. You’re delivering fantastic results but you’ve got to take people with you.

“Now I try to create an environment where people feel their opinions or views matter and I appreciate what they bring to the table. I can’t do my job on my own.”

2. Conviction.

This is the short-term motivation both in good times and bad. That’s the key point: keeping going even when things get tough, so that you maintain your energy, motivation and resources which pull you through.

Key to doing this is feeling that you’re resilient, efficient and effective. In fact, our data clearly shows that we’re much more resilient than we are aware but we’re much less aware of how variable our motivation is and how to manage it.

Actively deciding to do this can make a huge difference.

As Adam Parr, CEO of Williams F1 said, “a driver who gets out of a car when it’s spun off or he’s been hit and it’s all gone horribly wrong and reminds himself that he’s privileged to do the work and there’s a job to be done—that takes him to another level.”

3. Culture.

Performance and happiness at work are really high when employees feel they fit within their organizational culture. Not fitting in a job is like wearing the wrong clothes to a party—all the time.

It’s hugely draining and de-energizing.

If you’re in the wrong job, you’ll find that the values mean little to you, the ethos feels unfair or political and you don’t have much in common with your colleagues. What’s interesting about our data is that employees like their organizational cultures a lot less than they did in pre-recession times: in particular “generation Y-ers” or “millennial” workers really don’t seem to like what they’re experiencing at work.

So any business which wants to attract and retain top young talent and find the leaders of tomorrow, needs to start addressing this issue today.

4. Commitment.

Commitment matters because it taps into the macro reasons of why you do the work you do. Some of the underlying elements of commitment are perceiving you’re doing something worthwhile, having strong intrinsic interest in your job and feeling that the vision of your organization resonates with your purpose.

We’ve seen commitment decline for the majority of employees post-recession as leaders and organizations think that tuning into this soft stuff is a waste of time.

It isn’t.

It’s how you enable your employees to understand why they should make a greater discretionary effort for you. What is important is to recognize that the five factors work as an ecosystem.

That means if one of the five drivers isn’t functioning well, the others will be affected. For example if you don’t feel high levels of commitment, it’s likely that your contribution will be affected. When contribution goes down, conviction, especially the motivation part of it, tends to go down with it. And that obviously has an effect on your confidence too.

5. Confidence.

Confidence is the gateway to the other four drivers. Too little confidence and nothing happens: too much leads to arrogance and particularly poor decisions. Without greater levels of self-belief, the backbone of confidence, there will be few people who’ll take a risk or try anything new. And you can’t have confident organizations without confident individuals inside them.

Here’s what Dr Rafi Yoeli, founder of Urban Aeronautics, the leading Israeli fancraft aviation entrepreneur said:

“We’ve built a flying machine that’s half way between a Harrier jump jet and a helicopter. We work very differently here, it’s organic engineering. You need a high level of curiosity and of expertise if you’re going to make something extraordinary. And you need an even higher level of confidence to put it together.”

And finally, understanding what makes you happy at work and how that affects your performance offers a whole new way of managing yourself, your career and your opportunities.

And by the way, the CEO at the beginning of the piece told me that, “when you said happiness, it really resonated with me. I’m so unhappy in my job, I hate what I do and I can barely bring myself to come in every day.”

*Read the original article here.

Hot Jobs Alert!

Hot off the presses!  We have a brand new client with three immediate hiring needs.  The company is an established, well-regarded vendor providing a range of clinical and financial solutions for the physician market.  They have thousands of current users and an impressive successful adoption rate.


Open territories: 
(1) OK MO AR KY TN
(2) DC, VA, MD, DE, 
(3) GA, NC, SC


Requirements:

• Experience selling software to physicians groups (5+ providers)
• A successful track record of meeting and exceeding sales goals
• The ability to travel up to 70% within a regional territory

Email Kate to apply or call for additional details: kharlow@mr-monticello.com  |  434.817.5300 x 220

What To Say On LinkedIn When You've Been Laid Off

Many people who’ve been laid off feel like crawling in a hole, rather than broadcasting their new job status (or more accurately, lack-of job-status) to the world at large. But if you want to find another position, that’s precisely what you should do, says Sandra A.VanGilder, an executive coach with her own firm in New York.

In the current economy, with so many talented people being let go, there is “absolutely no shame whatsoever” in clearly indicating that you are out of work,” she says. “You exude confidence by not being ashamed that you’re between jobs.” LinkedIn, which functions as an electronic resume, is a valuable tool to help you spread the word.

Until they are laid off, some folks either don’t know how to use LinkedIn, or have a very skeletal presence on the site, VanGilder says. Perhaps they think of it as a job search tool (a mistaken assumption) and either aren’t looking or don’t want their bosses to think they are. Others are too busy.

Still, while three years ago, senior people thought LinkedIn was for lower-level employees, now everybody is connected and checking each other out. Often, the first thing people do when they are asked to interview someone – or even just network – is to look the person up on LinkedIn.

If you suddenly find yourself out of work, develop a “robust, 100% complete LinkedIn profile,”  VanGilder advises. This site is so user-friendly that even newbies ought to be able to find their way. Those who need guidance can rely on LinkedIn’s online tutorial or enlist help from an experienced friend or tech-savvy teenager.

In creating a new profile or editing your current one, be very public about the fact that you’re looking for new opportunities,” VanGilder says. These are issues she suggests you address as you wind your way though the key sections of the LinkedIn template:

Professional Headline

In this line, which goes under your name, give a generic description of what you do or a sample job title (for example, Chief Administrative Officer, Chief Human Resources Officer). Label yourself as what you would like to be, rather than feeling limited by what your last job title was.

Current Position

Since you’re now out of work, the “Current” heading should be deleted. Before you do that, though, cut and paste your previous company and job title into the “Past” section. Then click “edit” and “delete,” and make the “Current” heading disappear. Don’t be concerned that your job shows an end date. It’s very acceptable to be in between jobs.

Summary

In a couple of short, pithy paragraphs, emphasize your key skills and examples of accomplishments. Conclude with a sentence that says “I am currently looking for new opportunities in a couple of specific functions and industries.”

When trying to fill positions that are now open, both headhunters and in-house folks with responsibility for filling a job routinely comb LinkedIn for people who are out of work; it saves them the trouble of having to convince someone who is currently employed to switch jobs. So it’s to your benefit to indicate that you’re open to new opportunities.

For example, someone who previously worked as a chief administrative officer could write, “Actively pursuing chief administrative officer or chief human resources officer role in a dynamic, collaborative environment.” An experienced broker looking to reposition his career into investor relations could say something like, “Currently seeking to leverage my Equity Floor experience and education into Investor Relations.” (Alternatively, you can put “Actively seeking new opportunities” in your professional headline.)

Experience

Make sure your descriptions of past jobs adequately convey what you did. Standard rules of resume writing apply here: use active verbs, amply convey your responsibilities, and show results. Since words are scarcer in social media, aim for punchy (think soundbite). Get recommendations from your current or most relevant jobs that reflect varying perspectives — for example from a manager, a colleague and a client.

Education

A perennial question is whether people should include graduation dates, which are a tipoff to their age. VanGilder, who says most of her clients are between their mid-40s and early 60s, discourages them from trying to mask their age. “It’s just one more data point around which people connect,” she says.

How do you know when you’re finished? When you’re in “Edit Profile” mode on LinkedIn, there’s a metric that shows the percent of profile completeness. It will make suggestions about what you’re missing — whether it’s a photo or recommendations. Keep revising until you hit the 100% mark. Then proofread vigilantly.

Once you have found another position, you’ll no doubt be eager to update your LinkedIn profile to show where you’ve landed. But don’t neglect it after that. This social media tool is great for sharing updates about what you are doing; your entries on the home page appear at the top of your profile. So think of your LinkedIn page as an active site. You won’t want it to go stagnant.

 http://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2011/10/11/what-to-say-on-linkedin-when-youve-been-laid-off/

Steve Jobs' legacy will live on in healthcare

 by Mike Millard, Managing Editor - Healthcare IT News

It's hard to overstate the impact Steve Jobs, who died Wednesday at age 56, has had on technology for the past 30 years. In hardware, software, communications and design, Apple's contributions have been incalculable – not least in healthcare.

The online reactions last night – with many responses no doubt tapped onto iPhone screens or typed into MacBook Pros – attested to the far-reaching accomplishments of a man many have likened to a modern Thomas Edison.

[See also: Slideshow - Steve Jobs (1955-2011)]

"He changed the way each of us sees the world," said President Obama.

Federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra called Jobs "a true visionary."

"In some ways, his death seems like Faustian bargain – revolutionize the world with products beyond our imagination, then die too young," wrote Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center CIO John Halamka, MD.

Chilmark Research analyst John Moore put it simply: Jobs "wanted to make computers actually fun to use."

That's the key. From the start, Apple has made products that people felt they just needed to have – cool and fun and exceedingly useful.

Physicians and clinicians like smart functionality and sexy design as much as anyone. And that's a huge reason why, in barely three years, the iPhone and the iPad – and the dozens of other smartphones and tablets that have followed Apple's lead – have found such a foothold in hospitals and physician practices.

Just this week, at the launch of the new iPhone 4S, Apple CEO Tim Cook noted that "80 percent of the top hospitals in the U.S. are now testing or piloting the iPad" – using the device "to access patient records, to review medical images, to administer bedside care."

In a healthcare sector that's taken decades to digitize on a scale comparable to other industries, Apple's mobile devices have been adopted in impressive numbers. The interest from care providers is immense. (Of the stories with my byline on healthcareitnews.com, the three most popular so far in 2011 are all about the iPad.)

The innovations speak for themselves. Many big-name electronic health records vendors have developed iPhone or iPad access capabilities. There's also an increasing number of iPad-native EHRs. The devices have proved their worth from the get-go when it comes to telehealth – and the new iPhone 4S (with its 8 megapixel camera and 1080p HD video capabilities) looks to be even-better suited for remote diagnoses in time-sensitive emergencies. The galaxy of self-monitoring, smoking cessation, fitness and assorted other mHealth apps in Apple's App Store have helped bring about a new era in personal health.

And amazingly, so many of these innovations are on fronts most of us never envisioned.

It's often said – and rightly so – that health IT systems should be deployed carefully, with plenty of input from doctors, nurses and other care providers.

But Jobs, the bold visionary, took the opposite approach. As he said famously: "It isn’t the consumers' job to know what they want."

Its a testament to his genius that so many people were happy to find that out from him.

Wall Street Journal technology columnist Walt Mossberg wrote about Jobs that, "the dominant tone he struck was optimism and certainty."

As the U.S. continues the herculean task of transforming the healthcare system for the 21st century, it would be wise to follow his example.

Read the rest at healthcareitnews.com

More Than 100,000 Health Providers Sign Up for Meaningful Use

As of the end of September, more than 100,000 hospitals and physicians had registered for the meaningful use incentive program, according to CMS, Government Health IT reports.

Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health records can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.

Of the total 114,644 registrants:

• 88,399 physicians and hospitals signed up for the Medicare incentive program;
• 24,030 physicians and hospitals signed up for the Medicaid incentive program; and
• 2,215 hospitals signed up for both incentive programs.

As of August, 90,000 health care providers had signed up for the meaningful use incentive program.

During the Health IT Policy Committee's meaningful use work group meeting on Tuesday, Robert Tagalicod -- director of CMS' Office of eHealth Standards and Services -- said that as of Sept. 30, CMS had doled out more than $850 million in meaningful use incentive payments, including $357.4 million under the Medicare program and $492.6 million under the Medicaid program.

Since April, 3,722 physicians and 158 hospitals have received Medicare incentive payments for successfully attesting to the meaningful use of EHRs, Government Health IT reports. Health care providers participating in the Medicaid program do not have to attest to meaningful use criteria in their first year in the program, but they receive payments for adopting, implementing or upgrading certified EHRs (Mosquera, Government Health IT, 10/5).

Read more: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2011/10/6/more-than-100000-health-providers-sign-up-for-meaningful-use.aspx#ixzz1a7R1KXh9

First Friday Preview - October

Hot Jobs is Back! Check out our new look.

Facebook + Your Job Search (by the numbers)

Your Background Check Is Now with Facebook

The next time you apply for a job, don't be surprised if you have to agree to a social-media background check. Many U.S. companies and recruiters are now looking at yourFacebook-Inc" target="_blank">Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and other accounts and blogs -- even YouTube -- to paint a clearer picture of who you are.
"Almost all employers do some form of background screening because they have to avoid negligent hiring," said Max Drucker, chief executive of Social Intelligence, a consumer-reporting agency. "An employer has an obligation to make the best effort to protect their employees and customers when they hire."
And now the Federal Trade Commission has decided that companies that research how you spend your personal time and what your passions and hobbies are do not violate your privacy. The agency recently investigated Social Intelligence, which scours the Internet for the information, pictures and comments you freely share with the world and sells that data to your potential employers. The FTC found the company compliant with the Fair Credit Reporting Act. In other words, the Internet is fair game.
"When someone puts their public life out there publicly, it's there to be evaluated," said Kim Harmer, a partner at Harmer Associates, a Chicago-based recruiting firm. "You find out lots of things about people just by Googling them."
It's not the party photos
You can breathe a sigh of relief about those party pictures plastered all over your Facebook -- most employers and consumer-reporting agencies will look past them, unless, of course, you're underage.
"I look at their Facebook and see how they approach what they put on it," Harmer said. "Is it immature? Appropriate or inappropriate? I'm not judging their activity but looking at how they communicate what they do and their thoughts and their judgments to the public as a reflection of what they will do with clients and team members."
Drucker said he only searches for what the companies direct him to find and stays away from giving employers information that might be considered discriminatory to the hiring process. Employers, for example, cannot legally make hiring decisions based on race, religion, marital status or disability. But they can make decisions based on whether or not they like your attitude or your ethics.
A Social Intelligence report to a company would include racist remarks, sexually explicit photos or videos, or flagrant displays of weapons or illegal activity, Drucker said. And your decision to post a naked picture of yourself might not go over well with a potential employer.
"That might not be relevant to the job, but an employer gets to determine if that's the kind of person he wants representing his company," Drucker said."We don't make the decisions. We just generate the reports."
He said he has been surprised by how many racist comments and flagrant displays of drug use people post online. "It's not just smoking marijuana. It's snorting cocaine, talking about doing Ecstasy on Twitter or a forum or message board, showing it in photos or video-sharing sites," he said.
Some companies are mining photo- and video-gathering sites using facial-recognition software. If you were among those rioting in the streets of Vancouver after the National Hockey League championship, for example, a potential boss could find you the same way the police tracked down those responsible for some of the bedlam -- in the pictures.
"We are going from the Web being a place of extraordinary anonymity to a place where your every movement could be traced if someone's taking pictures of you and posting them," said John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement-consulting firm. "Job seekers need to be careful because of that," so they don't make a mistake and lose a job as a result, he said.
They also need to know that not all companies use reporting agencies like Social Intelligence. Some take a hodgepodge approach to mining your data.
"People are slowly becoming aware of the consequences of posting too much information on the Web," Challenger said. "But they shouldn't wait until they make a mistake and lose a job because of it."
What you should do
Here are some tips:
-- Make every effort to find out what's out there about you. Anything that may be taken out of context should be taken down.
-- Be concerned about the accuracy of what's gathered. Drucker said his company looks at layers of social media to determine if the John Brown it is looking at is the same John Brown that the company is considering hiring. If his identity was stolen, John Brown's information could be "correct" but inaccurate.
-- Remember that bits and pieces of you are at a number of other sites, like LinkedIn, Craigslist or Foursquare, not to mention blogs, forums and wikis that you might visit.
-- Check -- and frequently recheck -- your privacy settings on social-media accounts like Facebook and Twitter.
-- Create a positive online presence by putting up your resume on a site with your domain name or getting it on forums of charitable organizations that you support.
-- If in doubt, consider hiring a company like Reputation.com to help you present, well, a better you.
Jennifer Waters is a reporter for MarketWatch, where this story originally appeared. Write to herhere.