NEW YORK – People concerned about their careers should be extra careful about what they post on the Internet during a recession, career counselors say.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs and other venues present numerous opportunities to sabotage your hunt for a job or promotion at a time when employers can afford to be picky.

“With social media, you can be vapid, boring and annoying with alarming frequency,” Patricia Vaccarino, owner of a Seattle public relations firm, warned clients in a newsletter.

Vaccarino said many of her Facebook friends have posted “in great detail about their colonoscopies, dead teeth pulled, dead dogs, flatulence, adult acne, marital breakups, battles with mental illnesses and drinking problems.”

If this information can make friends cringe, she added, imagine the impression it would make on a potential employer.

Kurt Weyerhauser, an executive recruiter at Kensington Stone in Los Angeles, said one human resources department “found a picture online of a candidate smoking what appeared to be pot, and in another case a company found a few severely off-color jokes that a candidate had posted dealing with race and gender.”

Full Story: Reuters/Yahoo SG