Do you know a man named Chris Bigelow? His post: “Have You Googled Yourself Lately” caught my attention because, I immediately answered “NO”. Followed by the question…”Should I?”
After a little further online searching, I did find myself, or rather, I found entries online that were really about me. My facebook page, twitter and Linked In….my old My Space page were all there for everyone to see. That made me wonder….do I really know how that content will be interpreted by others? I don’t do keg-stands but if I did, I don’t think that is the impression I would want my potential employers to get about me. Photos of you wasted are not really the most flattering and photos of you passed out…..hmmmmm……what are employers to make of them? They should not pry into your personal lives but they likely will and if you aren’t getting work, maybe you should look at your “personal brand” or the name you have made for yourself. Did you save a man from a burning building or are you on the front page of the paper for having donated blood at the Red Cross? THOSE are great items to show you’re a person of good character…..partying (drinking or recreational drug use), scantily clad garments or dancing in provocative You Tube videos is probably going to come back to haunt you. If you’ve already done this, try to clean it up….if you haven’t done this, DON’T! You risk a future employer making a snap judgment about you regardless of your stellar résumé or other credentials. One way to get around this is to build a personal website and add content to it that you definitely want someone to find. Links to your photo debuts in any newspaper or press releases etc. Do a little exercise and pretend you are a potential employer and google you, then search the online communities, viewing the content through the filter of an employer. Would you hire you based on that?