Have you ever Googled yourself? Well, you’re not the only one Googling you. These days, employers spend a lot of time online cruising the Internet for bits and pieces on job candidates. I’ve even been guilty of googling friends just to see what kind of information pops up about them, and I’m always a little shocked by some of the content I find on line. Once it’s on the web, anyone can find it. Everyone is guilty of posting a less than flattering comment or post. I know I have. So what do you do when something crops up on the Internet that could damage your reputation or chances for getting a job? Here are three helpful hints to get you started on your way to having a great online image.
1. Keep up with your online profile. Type your name into several search engines on a regular basis to see what comes up.
2. Ask to be deleted. If you want unflattering content about yourself removed, send a nice message to the site’s webmaster and ask for it to be taken down. Make sure you explain why the content is damaging. This also goes for friends. A large majority of people don’t really give any thought to what they’re putting on the web. Send messages to your contacts on social networking sites to set some guidelines to work within.
3. Create good content. Join online communities like www.LinkedIn.com and be sure to keep your profile updated.
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I googled myself once. I lead a pretty uninteresting life.
We did a round of ‘google-us’ at work a couple of months ago. There was still some stuff on my college thesis online (over 5 years old), but also a teenage girl with the same name as me who was on myspace calling herself HawT ChIcK… ehem. Everybody at work is on facebook (I’m in IT), and that’s actually why I’m not. My manager has pictures of himself in a speedo & sombrero on there. I want to keep my private online life & work life absolutely separated (not that either is very spectacular or something). I am very careful with online exposure, so hardly ever use my full name or real email – maybe I’m a bit paranoia. (But I see I’ve used my real mail address here, as I’m pretty sure you won’t sell it to online marketeers
)
Actually I’ve never thought about it.
I present the same views like Kim and understand why she didn’t want to be on facebook. I signed up on facebook because I didn’t want to be on the most popular social network in Poland which is called “Nasza klasa” (Our class). I keep my real life and online life private. My friends know nothing about my e-mail, blog and communicators.
I’m not afraid that my boss can find some information about me here in the Internet. I’m a bit more afraid of my stalkers. The Internet is full of maniacs.
***
By the way, Kim can I ask you what is IT?
some of my previous dates tried to google me, all they got were my paintings and photographs.
lol
Great idea, Carrie. This is why I no longer use my “vanity” domain. It’s not only employees who should worry. Employers and HR people should watch what is Googleable about themselves. Do they want a prospective employee to see their comments on a porn site?
I know some one who does the background checks for the county fire department. She told me that people never realize that employers check out the internet now. She told there there were two or three potential fire fighters who did not get hired because of what they had posted on MySpace. When they were told why they were not hired, they had a hard time understanding. She used my MySpace page as an example of one that is safe. I have two different MySpace pages and both of them are safe for work. The one is fire related and the other is me but neither of them have my photo on them. Same with FaceBook.
I figure if I don’t want it to be on the front page of the paper, I won’t post it on the internet. Some people have problems understanding this concept.
Oh yeah, Matt. We are all just bored to tears hearing about your adventures! ;-P
Kim,
Although my life seems to be an open book on-line, I try to be careful about what I post or comment on. Lately, I’ve had a few problems with on-line stalkers, so that might change in the next little while. I find Facebook to be a great means of keeping in touch with friends back home. People are much more apt to keep in touch through Facebook than through e-mail. However, I’ve also had to send out messages to friends asking them to be careful about what kind of photos they post of me. I don’t want photos on-line like the one you described above. It still amazes me what people think is OK to put up on the Internet.
Hi K,
I’m the opposite. I started my blogs because I wanted to keep in touch with friends and family back home and I got tired of writing emails and never hearing from anyone. Some of the jobs I’ve worked in have been a direct result of my website, so good things do come out of ‘putting yourself out there’.
Michelle,
Well I guess you can’t complain about that!
Stevo,
Yep. I agree. I like the idea of being able to check up on my employers, too. I especially like the whole concept behind LinkedIn and with their new apps, it has become even easier to keep in touch with like-minded professionals.
Hi Kryzstof,
IT means Information Technology: I work as a webmaster in the IT department of an international company. So all my colleagues work with computer stuff & all internet trends/hypes/gimmicks catch on fast here, so literally everybody is on facebook, linked in, and all the other social networks (well, I guess everybody but me).
Online stalkers also sound very scary. The thought never occured to me before, I was only mildly worried about old ex-boyfriends tracking me down
. But yeah, I do remember some nasty comments on here from a certain stalker. They can really be a pest.
I understand your point of view Carrie. It depends on your attitude. If I were you I would do the same thing. When you are far away from home, a page is a better solution than e-mail.
Thanks Kim. Now I understand. I didn’t know that facebook could be so popular in big company. I thought that ICQ or Messenger were much comfortable to communicate with other people.
Mia,
Great case in point. I would certainly use the Internet as a tool for assessing potential employees. That said, I would also check out potential employers.
That’s why I think Facebook is evil at times. People just don’t realize what they’re putting out there for anyone to read. What really gets me are the folks who post their home addresses and home phone number for anyone to see. Since FB seems to be a popularity game for so many, folks have thousands of contacts, some of whom they haven’t seen since childhood. You never know what people are like. I had a psycho ex-boyfriend pretend to be my friend back in December and then he got onto John’s profile page and started hounding the two of us, my family and my friends with completely false allegations about me. It was horrible.
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