Committed to the professional growth and network development of young professionals.
Monday, December 30, 2013
Have You Ever Googled Yourself?
Well if you are applying for jobs, you better! It is no secret that recruiters and hiring managers regularly perform Google searches on potential hires to ensure that there are no apparent surprises. Despite what you may think, you do not have to be famous to come up in someone’s results when your name is searched. While the solution to this may seem relatively simple, I can assure you it is not. Of course there are obvious things you can do such as not putting (or allowing your friends to put) anything inappropriate or even suspicious online. my final year of law school, I even went as far as deactivating my Facebook account in hopes of insuring that I would have no surprises. I thought to myself, “I’ve never been arrested, posted naked pictures, or put anything inappropriate online”, therefore I’m fine. Problem solved, right? WRONG!
The real questions are: What will come up when your name is Googled, is there someone else on the world wide web with your name and is it possible for their inappropriate content to be mistaken for yours? The unfortunate answer to all of these questions is yes. This was exactly what happened to me; and to make it worse, it happened in the middle of a job interview. I felt like a deer in headlights and I froze with no response.
The worst part about it was that I Googled myself before and saw all that could have been mistaken for me or belonging to me. Yet, I disregarded it because I knew it wasn’t me and wasn’t posted by me; however, this is typically not the case for interviews, especially when you’re applying blindly to jobs.
You may be asking yourself, “How can I be held accountable for something that is beyond my control?” First, this situation is by no means beyond your control. The value of this experience reinforced the importance of CONTROLLING my virtual presence. You may be asking, “How can I do that?” There are two ways you can prevent yourself from feeling like a deer in headlights:
Career Eportfolio - A great website for tips and suggestions on how to create is Eportfolio California. The site states that, “At its most basic level, a career ePortfolio is similar to an academic ePortfolio. However, a career ePortfolio is unique in that it focuses on accomplishments, skills, and qualifications acquired in preparation for the workplace and beyond.” Eportfolio California directs someone interested in building a career ePortfolio to free and commercial tools that they may wish to use in building their career ePortfolio.
Professional Website - Another route is to register a domain name and create a personal website. This is the route I chose because I could use my name as the domain name, ensuring a potential employer would likely click a site named after me and know it was me. This also shows potential employers that I care about my reputation and understand how to use Internet software. Even if you don’t have website building experience, there are numerous sites that will provide simple templates and walk you through the process to create a website to use as your online portfolio. I chose GoDaddy because it has the GoDaddy Website Builder, which is quick, easy to follow, and you can have a site up in a few hours all on your own.
If you would like to see an example of what your online presence should look like, feel free to visit my site at www.DeAndreMorrow.com. Good luck in your job search!
Written by: DeAndre Morrow
Twitter: @MrDMorrow
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