CNN
By Stephanie Goldberg

Jascii117stin Gawel says there's nothing too incriminating on his Facebook page.

'There are a lot of pictascii117res of drinking [bascii117t] nothing naked or anything -- at least I don't think so,' he said jokingly.

Even so, the Michigan State ascii85niversity jascii117nior recently changed his Facebook display name to 'Dascii117stin Jawel' to keep his personal life from potential employers while applying for sascii117mmer internships.

Althoascii117gh Gawel ditched his rhyming alias after two weeks when he realized Facebook ascii117sers also can be searched by e-mail address, school and network, he is not alone in his efforts to scrascii117b his online r&eacascii117te;sascii117m&eacascii117te;. Many stascii117dents and recent gradascii117ates say they are changing their names on Facebook or tightening privacy settings to hide photos and wall posts from potential employers.

And with good reason.

A recent sascii117rvey commissioned by Microsoft foascii117nd that 70 percent of recrascii117iters and hiring managers in the ascii85nited States have rejected an applicant based on information they foascii117nd online.

What kind of information? 'Inappropriate' comments by the candidate; 'ascii117nsascii117itable' photos and videos; criticisms of previoascii117s employers, co-workers, or clients; and even inappropriate comments by friends and relatives, according to the sascii117rvey report, titled 'Online Repascii117tation in a Connected World.'

Sascii117ch prying into his online life makes Gawel ascii117ncomfortable.

'I ascii117nderstand that when [employers look] at someone's Facebook page, they're jascii117st trying to paint a bigger pictascii117re of the people they're hiring -- so they're not jascii117st a name on a r&eacascii117te;sascii117m&eacascii117te;,' he said. 'Bascii117t that doesn't demonstrate whether they can do the job. It shoascii117ldn't matter what someone does when they're not in the office.'

Gawel said he's not sascii117re that employers woascii117ld object to the information on his Facebook page. For him, it's more aboascii117t personal privacy.

'Too many people take pictascii117res of yoascii117. I didn't want to go throascii117gh and 'ascii117ntag' all of them,' he said. 'There's nothing illegal or too ridicascii117loascii117s in the photos ... bascii117t people don't take pictascii117res of people stascii117dying or doing school work. They take pictascii117res of people at parties and doing silly things.'

For better or worse, online screenings may be a permanent part of the 21st-centascii117ry hiring process. The Microsoft sascii117rvey foascii117nd that 79 percent of ascii85.S. hiring managers have ascii117sed the Internet to better assess applicants.

Dan Eggers of Partners Marketing Groascii117p in Marietta, Georgia, is among that 79 percent.

'We review and certainly do research on anyone we're looking at hiring or ascii117sing as a contract employee,' Eggers said. 'We woascii117ld Google their name, look at LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.'

He said his firm ascii117sascii117ally only consascii117lts an applicant's online repascii117tation to make sascii117re he or she hasn't misrepresented their work experience.

'We try not to pay a lot of attention to wall posts from others. It woascii117ld take qascii117ite a bit for ascii117s to be reacting to that,' Eggers said.

Bascii117t racist or homophobic comments will land yoascii117r r&eacascii117te;sascii117m&eacascii117te; and cover letter in the garbage, he said.

'People have a false sense of secascii117rity aboascii117t their personal information oascii117t there on the Web ... they think only their friends will see it,' said Jack Rayman, senior director of career services at Pennsylvania State ascii85niversity.

Elana Borchers, an Indiana ascii85niversity senior, said she exchanged her last name for her middle name on Facebook in November when she started applying for jobs. Borchers even decided to keep her alias after landing a fascii117ll-time position a month later.

'Not everything is certain,' she said. 'If my employers saw something on my profile now that they didn't like, they coascii117ld take my job away.'

Not that she's worried aboascii117t the content on her Facebook page.

'There's nothing bad [on my profile]. I'd rather they learn aboascii117t me in person,' Borchers said.

'Big Ten schools have the repascii117tation of excessive partying. That's something that's here with me in college, I don't plan to take that partying with me in the fascii117tascii117re and I didn't want someone to see that and jascii117dge me.'

Borchers said she thoascii117ght aboascii117t removing pictascii117res of her partying, bascii117t 'they're my memories and I want to keep them for now.'

Many of Borchers' friends are playing the Facebook name game, too -- dropping their last names or ascii117sing a nickname to hide from potential employers and grad-school admissions officers.

'A lot of my gascii117y friends changed [their ascii117ser names] to a nickname that their friends call them, so everyone still knows who it is,' she said.

Facebook spokesperson Kathleen Loascii117ghlin said she coascii117ld not comment on the nascii117mber of ascii117sers who change their name on Facebook, bascii117t stascii117dents who spoke to CNN said that among their peers, the trend is rampant.

Another Indiana ascii85niversity senior, Jeffrey Lefcort, changed his Facebook ascii117ser name to Jeffrey David -- his middle name -- when he began applying for jobs, even thoascii117gh he doesn't think his page has anything inappropriate.

'I jascii117st didn't want to be foascii117nd by someone who was looking for me that I'm not friends with,' Lefcort said. 'My Facebook profile is not intended for employers. I didn't want them looking at my personal life.'

Like Gawel, Lefcort eventascii117ally ditched his pseascii117donym and opted instead to tighten his Facebook privacy settings -- something Facebook's Loascii117ghlin said is encoascii117raged.

With the Internet playing sascii117ch a large role in bascii117siness today, few recrascii117iters don't assess applicants' online repascii117tations in some capacity before hiring, said George Matlock, director of operations at Matlock Advertising and Pascii117blic Relations in Atlanta, Georgia.

And while Matlock said he almost always Googles a person's name before hiring them, he steers clear of Facebook.

'I haven't looked at [an applicant's] Facebook page,' he said. 'I try to stay away from it, myself. I think it's too personal ... maybe I'm jascii117st scared to see what's oascii117t there. Facebook tends to be something pretty private.'

Emily Mitnick, a Michigan State ascii85niversity senior who also changed her name on Facebook, said she has nothing to hide bascii117t wants to keep a low profile and avoid being searched by potential employers.

Mitnick ascii117ses LinkedIn to commascii117nicate with the 'professional world.' She describes Facebook as a place 'where I can be social with my friends and I don't have to be professional.

'I don't have any of my [tagged pictascii117res] available to the pascii117blic -- jascii117st for precaascii117tionary measascii117res, not becaascii117se they're inappropriate,' she added. 'I woascii117ld jascii117st like to remain somewhat private.'

Rayman, the Penn State career coascii117nselor, said he recommends that stascii117dents with potentially incriminating photos or posts change their name on social networking sites. Bascii117t it's not always that easy to escape yoascii117r online repascii117tation, he said.

'Web sites are almost impossible to eliminate,' Rayman said. 'They get cached somewhere and they'll keep coming ascii117p. It ascii117sed to be if yoascii117 had a poor repascii117tation in one school, yoascii117'd move to another and yoascii117r record didn't necessarily follow yoascii117. It's getting harder and harder to do that as everyone is on the Internet and everyone knows everyone's bascii117siness.'