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Preparing to be Googled by Prospective Employers
Since 81 percent of employers will Google prospective job candidates to sniff out their reputation both online and off, according to Joshua Waldman, founder of CareerEnlightenment.com, it is prudent for job seekers to prepare themselves for the results they and employers will find.
As you Google yourself, Waldman suggests taking note of how many times the real you appears on the first three pages of search results when you search under your first and last name as well as first name, middle initial and last name combinations. Next, job seekers should search Pipl, a comprehensive people searching site commonly used by recruiters, to find out if the real you pops up and what records and addresses pop up. From there, you can begin to rebuild your personal brand online.
In order to bury old results and other “yous,” you must employ traditional search-engine optimization to ensure content you want to be seen from highly reputable websites appears highly on the search page. Additionally, you must push your professional portfolio items on as many sites as possible, including SlideShare.net for PowerPoint presentations, EzineArticles.com for published works, YouTube for videos, and link all these resources back to your LinkedIn profile. Additionally, make sure you have online portfolios established on LinkedIn, Facebook, Plaxo, Xing, VisualCV.com and any other valuable site you find.
All of this should not be done the night before you interview for a job – as SEO and building an online reputation you can be proud of takes time. Be consistent over a long period of time with Googling yourself and building up positive content, taking on a few tasks each day or week depending on what time frame you are working from to find a job. And even if you are not seeking a job at the moment or in the near future, remember you may need to at any point so protect your image on Google and across the Internet.
