6 Ways to Maintain Your Online Reputation
When hiring executives, most employers and recruiters will search a potential candidate’s online reputation before making a final hiring decision. In a competitive job market your online reputation or image could be one of the final determining factors for employers and recruiters. Potential clients or affiliates may search your reputation as well to determine if you are appropriate to develop a business relationship with. Here are 6FigureJobs.com’s 6 Ways to Maintain a Professional Online Reputation.
1. Keep It Professional, Not Personal
Always ask yourself “Would I want my boss or coworkers to see or know this about me?” Be mindful of how information is released on the job boards and especially the social networking sites you join. Employers and recruiters should notice your professional information such as your experience and accomplishments. One’s personal information such as date of birth and social security number should never be made available openly on the Internet.
2. Search Yourself
Have you searched your name on Google lately? When you run a search of yourself you may not find any information. A recruiter may have to make a decision between you “candidate anonymous”, and another qualified candidate who yielded more transparency with their online search. Or perhaps you found a great deal of information about yourself, and realize that you would not want an employer to see the results your search query yielded. Take action to combat inappropriate information and continue to monitor your search results often.
3. Networking Caution
Networking is extremely important while searching for a new position, but use caution with social networking sites and blogs. Often you have no control or ability to remove yourself from a discussion. So keep your posts professional. If you have a profile on a social networking site be aware of what is posted by you and others. You do not want your future employer coming across inappropriate pictures of you from your college spring break.
4. Create Your Own Website
One way to control your own image is to create your own website or profile about yourself. This is also a great way to combat any negative information, or to differentiate you from others with the same name. Your own personal site gives you the opportunity to display your professional image with content you control.
5. Keep It Current
Make sure the information out there is current. Be sure your public profiles have your current or most recent employer, job titles or clients listed. The information you provide on your resume should be supported with what an employer or recruiter identifies from their search. Check this information often to be sure it is current.
6. Professional Help
A positive professional online image has tremendous value for executive jobseekers. It can aid in landing a highly competitive position. Often, the more high profile your position, the more likely you have information connected to your name either positive or negative.
Combating negative information about yourself to protect your image is crucial. Unfortunately, you may not be able to control all of the negative information that surfaces. There are professionals who specialize in online reputation management and their services may be needed to address some issues.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Recent Comments