Creating the right image about yourself for career purposes used to be easy. Now the internet is creating its own world – a virtual world – that makes it a lot tougher to maintain a high quality individual image, one that always ensures that you look good. Problem is, in all likelihood, there are things posted online about you that may be making you look bad, or worse yet – that could even devastate your career – even if these postings are only affiliated to you or were put there by someone other than you.

Online Information May Reveal More about You Than You Think

The main reason that you need to be concerned about such possibly intimidating evidence is that others in your career arena may find this information distasteful, incriminating, and unprofessional, etc. – and then use it against you. The wrong kind of information – whether written or graphic – could cause you to be fired, prevent you from being promoted, or destroy your career altogether. The only way you can be prepared for it is to know what is posted out there about you and what is out there that may affect you in some negative way. You need to also be aware that the amount of information about you is always growing, too, especially if you use social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs, etc. So regular internet health checkups should become an important part of life – just as important as your annual medical checkup – as what you don’t know is being posted about you on the internet can be very unhealthy jobwise.
In a recent study that was conducted by Harris Interactive for CareerBuilder.com, they discovered that as many as 45 percent of the employers questioned pre-screened candidates by looking at the candidates’ social networks. This was more than twice the number from the year before. The same survey, which asked more than 2,600 managers, found that as many as 35 percent of them did not hire someone based on the information they found from those networks. It was also discovered that 22 percent of supervisors were also checking up on their employees through the same social networks. Using Google to look for your name can also be very revealing to a potential employer who may follow individual breadcrumb trails to learn what others are saying about you on the internet. It is extremely important that you know what a hiring manager, an HR person, or your bosses will find out about you on the internet, especially if you are looking to change jobs, get a promotion, enter into a new career field, etc. It really is not that uncommon for company staff members to regularly search online to discover what is being said about their company, a manager, other employees, etc. You can also be sure that if it is negative then someone is going to be affected by it – sadly, it will often not matter whether or not the information is true.
The survey by Harris Interactive also listed some reasons as to why employers chose not to hire a candidate after searching for information about them online. They reported that the primary reason for not hiring (53%) was that the pictures or comments were inappropriate. Another 44% found pictures or information related to drinking or using illegal drugs. 35% said they found the candidate bad-mouthing a previous employer. Others found things like candidates who had poor communication skills, lied about their own qualifications, or shared what was considered to be confidential information from a previous company. And these were just the findings based on the candidate’s own individual postings. Imagine what more they would have to consider if they saw what others were saying about you.

How to Search Online about Yourself

In order to discover what there is online about you, it will be necessary to take some time to do it right, and to be thorough about it. Here are some things that you need to do in your searches.

Use your real name in searches, along with any nicknames that others use when referring to you. Check your maiden name, too, along with any a.k.a.’s. There may be things you posted years ago that you had forgotten all about – remember that party when you turned 16 – or that Spring Break? Now imagine all the pictures of you taken by others tagged with your name on them.
Use multiple search engines to get different results – Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask, Dogpile, etc. They really do use different algorithms and will often produce different results.
Use variables with your search. This could include a fellow employee or friend’s name with yours, your name with your current or past company or affiliation’s name, etc. You will probably be surprised at the different results you will get if you try creative search strings.
Find out what is being said about people with your same name. While it may not be you – others may not know that it is not you. You need to be aware of what is being said, nevertheless, and actually read the webpages. If there is a reference to some kind of undesirable or illegal activity, you should be prepared to offer an explanation that proves it is not you. Remember that a potential employer may not know what you look like.

Other Places That You Should Perform Searches

It is quite possible that the main search engines will not bring up every occurrence of your name. This will mean that you need to perform individualized searches to see what may be there.

The most common places where changes occur daily are Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, and Blogsites, etc.
Perform checks for pictures or videos on places like Google Images, YouTube, and more.

Actionable Ways to Improve Your Virtual Reality Image

Many things online can affect how others perceive you. Unfortunately, many of those things you will not be able to change. The good news, however, is that there is a lot you can do to make sure that a possible employer finds the good things – the things that you want them to find. Here are some things you can do to market yourself in a good light.

Close down any social sites that you are not using or keeping up. Remove pictures or comments that will cast you in a negative light or make you appear less than professional.
Erase old resumes that are not current or do not have information that will do you justice.
Make sure that the privacy settings on Facebook will prevent the public from viewing your pictures and content. Using a nickname will also help, instead of using your real name. Be careful whom you friend.
You may even want to pay for a background check through providers such as Radaris. This will let you know about things that may cause trouble. And there are even services that will offer to help you clean out derogatory information and postings, but always remember “buyers beware.” Don’t pay for these services just because they promise – seek proof of their success first… Even on Google’s own blog, they recommend that you get proactive about your own online reputation. They advise you to do this three ways: by removing bad publicity (contact webmasters for material you do not control); think twice about anything you do post; and by creating enough good content about you that will enable the search engines to find more good content than bad. Learn about the Deepnet – where some surprisingly real deep secrets about you can be found. For more information about this, see the article by Money.CNN.com called “Employers may do creepy web searches about you.” It is sure to be a real eye opener.

References:

New York Times: More Employers Use Social Networks to Check Out Applicants
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/more-employersuse-social-networks-to-check-out-applicants/

Career Builder: Forty-five Percent of Employers Use Social Networking Sites to Research Job Candidates, CareerBuilder Survey Finds
http://www.careerbuilder.com/share/aboutus/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?id=pr519&sd=8/19/2009&ed=12/31/2009&siteid=cbpr&sc_cmp1=cb_pr519_&cbRecursionCnt=2cbsid=42e6d8ca5c414cbc9218b4dcf894541e-335108370-w8-6

Google: Managing your reputation through search results
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/managing-yourreputation-through-search.html

Money.CNN: Employers may do creepy web searches aboutyou
http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/14/news/economy/employers_creepy_web_searches.fortune/index.htm