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social mediaYou Will Be

googled

 
Important advice regarding the job application process:

These days, the resume/cover letter by themselves rarely lead straight to an interview. If your resume and cover letter get you past the first cut of "possibles," the next step is one that many job applicants are unprepared for: 

You get Googled. That is correct. The second step taken by 80% of hiring personnel is to look you up on the internet. The results of that search are then used to make a third selection of those who will be invited for phone screenings or face-to-face interviews.  rep for dummies

To prepare for the crucial second step, you should Google yourself right now and begin to control your public image on the internet, especially social media. Focus on the first page of Google results. (Geek joke: How do you bury a dead body? Put it on page three of Google results.)

Certainly you should have a professional-looking LinkedIn profile, the number one site used by hiring managers. In the Google results, the most common hits will also be on your Facebook profile (number two site used by hiring managers), Twitter page, Google+ profile, Flickr page, Pinterest page, YouTube channel, Amazon profile, Instagram, Tumblr blog, and so on. 

Even your comments about articles you read on Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, Red State, Daily Kos, or other large sites can show in Google results, especially if you used your real name or a handle associated with your real name.

If there are results which you feel will hurt your chances of getting an interview invitation, you should start now to conduct reputation management (also known as reputation recovery).

You can pay someone to manage your online profile, but it is also easy to Google the procedures, put together your own toolbox, and do the work yourself. When you are in job-search mode, you should consider online reputation management an essential part of landing the job you want and, therefore, devote time to it each day.

Anonymity is dead.


tools icon
Online Reputation Management Toolbox
"If you don't manage your reputation online, someone else will."

Google--Belly of the Beast
If Google concedes this is a problem, you know it is. So the wizards of the innertubes provide some basic and helpful advice on how not to let Google ruin your life.
 BrandYourself--Sounds Painful
This for-profit company offers the free "Ultimate Guide" to online reputation management. Although you should be leery of anything with "ultimate" in its title, this is worth a look:
 Outspoken Media--Keep It Quiet
Another for-profit personal branding company. Their freebie is "The Online Reputation Management Guide." Better than the ultimate.
 Forbes--Thanks, Steve
A search on Forbes.com produced this outstanding list of 15 articles and web sites on reputation management where you can pick up techniques worth at least one day of a CEO's pay.
 LearnVe$t--Yes, It's Spelled That Way
This company devoted to helping you "make progress on your money" offers two freebies that will make you feel like you're making progress. Since social media--and LinkedIn especially--are the number one method of recruiting these days, these are valuable articles.