11/05/2006
Friend or Foe?
Using the Internet to find a job can be an enormous help. However, it can also be the thing that keeps you from success. In this Consumeraffairs.com article, the writer suggests that too much of our personal lives are easy to access for a prospective employer.You need to take careful inventory of available information about yourself online. While it’s helpful to have a web site with a portfolio (as I’ve learned the importance of being a freelance writer), it can be damaging as well.
So, as you’re on the job hunt, Google yourself to see what comes up. Even if someone else published photos of you online, it could be incriminating enough to turn an employer off. Apparently many of them are doing this nowadays so you need to pay attention.
- Google your name to see what comes up. If possible, try to “clean up” those elements that might make you look bad.
- Be careful with what you make available online (like in your Myspace.com account. I mean, some of the things I’ve seen people put up on there is outrageous!). This also goes for postings you may have put on other people’s web sites and blogs. Anything that might be referenced back to you could be found by a prospective employer.
- If you provide an email address on your resume (which is pretty standard these days), be sure to use a name or a simple (read: professional) variation of it. I’ve seen resumes with the nuttiest names attached to them (meloveUlongtime@email.com). Let me tell you, I didn’t call them back. When appropriate, especially if your work calls for it, keep a professional-looking web page online as a resume/portfolio. I’ve learned this works especially well for writers and artists.
This is just another issue where using your brain comes into play. I know this is a challenge for some of us, but this is why I’m pointing it out. I want to see good things happen for you.
Good luck and happy job hunting!
