The Following Is an Excerpt from my NEW Book Job Searching With Social Media For Dummies:

Say a recruiter at your dream company sends you a friend request on Facebook. Not adding him may offend him, but adding him gives him access to your private data. What do you do? The answer’s simple: Add the recruiter to a Limited Access list in your Facebook account.

Head on over to your Facebook account, and follow along with me. This will literally save you from perpetual embarrassment and stress.

First, you need to create a Limited Access friends list:

1. Go to the Account drop-down menu and choose Edit Friends.
2. Click on Create a List and then enter a name for your list, such as “Limited Access.”
3. Add names of any friends you want to limit access to. Here’s where you want to add the recruiter’s name. You also may want to add any of your current friends who shouldn’t be seeing pictures of last week’s party.
4. Click on the Create List button.

Next, you want to set some custom privacy settings:

1. Go to the Account drop-down menu, click on Privacy Settings, and then choose Customize Settings.
2. Pick a category you want to limit friends’ access to. For example, you may want to hide your religious and political views or Wall posts left by your beer-bonging friends.
3. Click on the drop-down menu and then select Customize to edit the custom settings.
4. Add your new Limited Access list in the Hide This From section and click on the Save Setting button.

Watch the book trailer at Job Searching With Social Media For Dummies