By now, you should know how important it is to keep tabs on your online presence. Before you start your job search, you should take a few moments to review your online accounts and make sure that there isn't anything that you don't want everyone to see, before it starts being seen by recruiters and potential employers. Almost any employer will do a basic web search and take a look at your profiles on social media sites to get a better idea about who you are. It's your job to make sure that it's spotless.
Here are some places to start:
LinkedIn:
- Check your profile for accurate and updated information.
- Make sure you put keywords in your profile that will be important in your job search. Try to work them into your descriptions to make it easier for recruiters to search for you.
- Be sure to check the "contact me" option. Often, recruiters will search LinkdIn and only show results for job seekers who are interested in being contacted.
Facebook:
- Review your profile for accurate information. Then, update your work history.
- Just like you did with LinkedIn, insert keywords that are relevant for the job you're looking for.
- Click on the "Privacy Settings" option. If you're interested in being found by potential employers or recruiters on facebook, set your visibility to "Everyone on Facebook". If you prefer to keep your Facebook personal, make sure your settings reflect that.
- While you're in the privacy settings, check your "Public Search Listing". This will create a search listing so that anyone doing a websearch for you can find you on Facebook.
- Make separate friend lists for your private and professional contacts.
- In the privacy settings, be sure to change the "Photos Tagged of You" setting to be visible to only you so that you don't have to worry about any of your friends tagging you in embarrassing photos.
Other online profiles:
- Take a look at any other social network sites, like MySpace, where you may have an account that you haven't used in a while. Either make sure that they are updated, or delete them all together.
Google:
- Search your own name to see what comes up. It's a good idea to try using different terms along with your name to see if it changes the search results.
- Set up a Google alert for your name combined with any other terms that you've used in your search. This will allow you to be notified any time new information is posted on the web with those terms.
Photo and video:
- Take a look at photo sites like Flickr, Photobucket, or tinypic. Search for your name to see if your friends have any embarrassing pictures of you. Be aware that, in most cases, you'll have to contact the owner of the photo in order to have it removed or deleted.
Twitter:
- Do a search on Twitter for your name and see what people are tweeting about you. Whether you use Twitter or not, your name may be involved in conversations that you'd rather not have an employer see.
If you have found anything on the Internet that you don't want to be public, there are several things you can do to clean it up. You can fix it by deleting it or updating it, you can contact the website directly and ask it to be removed or, you can be prepared to defend it in an interview. Either way, it's better to know what you're up against, so take a look at your online presence and see if you need to do some housekeeping.
Are you looking for a job in Education? Be sure to visit EducationJobsite.com
By: Melissa Kennedy
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