 |
 |
 |
|
| The Online You: Employers Are Checking |
| The Online You |
 |
| posted: 12/6/2007 |
by: Janet Farley |
 email
 print
 rss
|
|
Go ahead. Admit it. You’ve Googled others. It should, therefore, come as no surprise that potential employers may be Googling you, too.
Those who crave the public spotlight understand the importance of having a marketable image, free from damaging misinformation or perceptions. Today, for better or worse, everyone has the potential to be in that public eye — compliments of the Internet in general and social networking sites in particular. And everyone means you.
According to the Society for Human Resource Management, 15 percent of human resources managers surveyed in 2007 reported checking social networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, to see what kind of information a job candidate had posted. Another 2006 survey, conducted by ExecuNet, reports that up to 77 percent of executive recruiters use search engines to learn more about potential candidates.
Translation: Worlds are colliding between the online you and the professional you. If you want to maintain that upper edge against the competition for your next job, you may have to do a little early online spring cleaning.
Why employers do it
Without question, employers are increasingly using the Internet as a means of applicant screening, and why not? After all, information, such as your credit history and your personal Web page complete with your overly zealous ranting on the state of the world in general (or lack of it), can be indicative of the way you manage your personal affairs. It wouldn’t be a stretch to think you would handle your professional affairs any different.
Employers aren’t the only ones checking candidates. The National Association of Colleges and Employers report that college admissions officials also check potential students to see if they are a fit for their school. What they uncover plays a role in whether acceptance letters are sent out or not.
In your quest for employment, it’s critical to pay attention to how you are perceived online either as a result of your own postings or about you from others.
Like it or not, value judgments often are made within 30 seconds of a face-to-face interview, and now they can be made before you ever show — courtesy of your late-night ramblings on any blog spot or online hot spot. The circle of life, perhaps? Unfair? Maybe. The way it is? Definitely.
Call it advancing technology, evolving job search techniques or whatever you’d like. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, unless you harbor potentially image-damaging skeletons in your cyber closet. |
|
|
|
|
|
Next Page: Busted
|
| In This Article: |
| The Online You |
| Busted |
| Online Damage Control |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
 |
|
| Post your own comment |
| Login Here to post |
| Click Here to register |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
