What is Written About You on the Web?

December 19th, 2007 by bill.hutchison · No Comments

With over 70% of organizations doing a web-search on job applicants, and around 40% not hiring applicants based on the results of the search, what are you putting on the web about yourself? And what are other people putting on the web about you?

I have seen some pretty dubious stuff on people’s Facebook and MySpace pages. With sites like this you don’t even have full control about what is put up about you. Your “friends” could put up pictures of you that you would rather not see made public. They can also make comments about you or that could put you in an awkward position if you don’t remove them fast enough.

So what is written about you online?

If you do a search for yourself online, what results come up?

To be honest I am a bit disappointed that I don’t show up so well in the search results. Not so long ago I remember ranking quite well at number 2 for my own name on Google, but somehow my personal blog got slapped back to page 5. There are quite a few other sites about me or that I contribute on before my personal blog, but my personal blog doesn’t have much favour with Google at the moment.

If a potential employer looked you up on-line what would they find?

This can’t be limited to just the search engines any more either. You also need to look out for what is on MySpace, Facebook and any other social networking site out there. I know some of the pictures and comments that I have seen on there of people would almost instantly make me hesitant to hire them.

Below are a few good articles that I have been reading about how to manage your on-line reputation:

The number one suggestion that I would have is to use common sense.

Think before you write and before you post photos. If you have any concerns or hesitations then just don’t post it. E-mail it to your close friends if you really want to, but having something public and on the web is not always your best option.

Technorati Tags: online reputation, facebook, myspace