What Does Google Say About You?

I'm working on a short ebook teaching people how to build a positive online presence, so I was interested to see this post at JobMob ("4 Things to Know and Do Before Employers Google Your Name"). According to a recent survey, these are

Information about alcohol or drug use (41% of managers said this was a top concern)
Inappropriate photos or information posted on a candidate’s page (40%)
Poor communication skills (29%)
Bad-mouthing of former employers or fellow employees (28%)
Inaccurate qualifications (27%)
Unprofessional screen names (22%)
Notes showing links to criminal behavior (21%)
Confidential information about past employers (19%)

The post goes on to explain how you can start to clean up your profile if need be. Read the whole thing.

I am giving similar advice in my eBook because it's amazing how many people don't know what their online profile currently says about them.

Google yourself and see what comes up. Is it all positive? Are there things that your friends would find amusing but an employer less so? Or maybe worse ... is there no mention of you?

It's no longer enough to describe yourself in glowing terms in your resume and make a great impression at the interview. Now employers are able to check for themselves just by typing your name into a search engine. Even a series of great references can't innoculate you from the power of a Google search.

So first, clean up anything that might hurt your chances of an interview. And second, start to build a strong web presence that demonstrates all the good things about you.

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Comments

[Jacob from JobMob]

Louise, thanks for the mention and I'm glad you liked the article.

Google is just the tip of the iceberg. As businesses become more friendly and integrate with social networks, it will be more natural for employers to look there first before using a search engine directly.

Stumbled this for you:
http://jobmob.stumbleupon.com/review/25680791/

[Honza]

Louise,

Thank you for the insightful post. I am just wondering whether the employers and HR executives can legally base their decisions about hiring / not hiring a candidate on their online profiles?

I would also like to remark on the nature of the Internet - it was started with an aim to be the the most free space of all where all humans can be what they want to be (pardon my cliche), yet the reality is different. Where did it go wrong?

[Tim Tyrell-Smith]

A great reminder and something I do at least once a quarter. I'm always amazed at the items that do and those that do not show up in Google. So far so good for me re: the survey results!

[Louise]

Honza, I don't think any of us know the legal implications yet. This is all so new.

But really, the way I see it is this: imagine you live in a small town and you're hiring a new employee for your business. Wouldn't you ask around town to see if anyone knows your top candidate? And wouldn't it affect your decision to hire them if a few people told you that your chosen candidate had a tendency to party late into the night and then call in sick to work the next day?

Well, the Internet has made the entire world a small town. So if someone writes a blog about getting drunk and then calling in sick the next day, you can bet it will impact their job search.