It seems like the professional job market these days is getting tighter and tighter as the number of college graduates each year increases. Couple this with the fact that virtually everyone’s got some piece of themselves posted on the information superhighway, and it looks like Corporate America has found yet another filter for potential hires.

Many managers are now running searches through MySpace and Facebook to see the “other” side of employees. According to one expert, “It’s a big problem when someone’s Facebook profile says that her favorite thing is to get shitfaced on a Saturday night.”

I don’t buy it for a moment. Even if taken from a purely pragmatic perspective, what a person does with their free time should have no impact on how they perform in the work place. I mean, most of the rock stars I know work hard and play hard. I know a lot of guys that drink heavily or smoke copious amounts of gange. They still show up at work every morning and kick all manners of ass.

But this goes beyond pragmatism - its a matter of principle. In my mind, its like the separation of church and state. Your personal life is exactly that - personal. It’s bad enough that most people bring their work home in the evenings and put in time on the weekends. You spend enough time in the office dressed and acting as they want you to. Now on top of all that, you’ve got to censor yourself online?

The US government would never be able to get away with this. So how is it that the corporations can?