Managing Your Online Image & Visibility

Employers will often do a preliminary search of the names of job applicants. They use the internet to complete most of these searches: most will use Google and then have a closer look at social media profiles, images, anything out of the ordinary. Job seekers, then, should regularly ask themselves: "What is my online visibility and my reputation on the internet?"

1- Do a Preliminary Search

All that's required here is to follow a simple procedure, preferably using the same steps a potential employer might follow: go to google.com and complete a search by entering your name (as it appears on your CV) into the search bar. If your name on your CV says "Pat Smith", search for "Pat Smith". You should do this regularly, a few times a year.

Now you'll have to take inventory of the results. Let's start by concentrating on the first page, which means approximately the first ten results. Do the sites listed talk about you? Do they lead to your social media profiles, to a blog or website talking about you, the site of a former employer, a school you attended, a newspaper article quoting you or talking about you, to a criminal record? Do they lead to pages talking about someone with the same name as you (a homonym)? Are there no results about you at all? ?

Now let's evaluate the results. You should take note, for each page that comes up, if they:

1. talk about you
   
2. talk about someone with the same name as you,
3. have no relation to you or your name at all.

You should now take the time to consider if an employer will positively or negatively interpret the information they find. If you think the results might bring up mixed responses (some viewing it positively but others viewing it negatively), for the purposes of this exercise let's consider that they will see it in a negative light. You should complete this exercise even for those sites that aren't about you specifically but in fact a homonym. You know that these sites are related to someone else who shares your name, but the employer can't be expected to know or guess this information. For them, the first impression (whether positive or negative) can be a deciding factor in their judgment of your credibility.

Finally, ask yourself how you could improve your image (if there are too many negative elements) or your visibility (if there aren't many sites that talk about you). To improve your image, you'll have to limit negative content and/or increase positive content. To increase your visibility, you must ensure that positive content referring to you (rather than a homonym) appears as high as possible in search results. Technophiles refer to this process as SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

2- Strategies to Control Your Image

If you feel that what is found in your name online doesn't reflect you in a positive light, you should take a few quick steps to resolve the situation. First, for all negative elements, if it's you that put them online, you should try to remove or at least hide them. If they're on a social media site, rather than remove them entirely, you could simply opt to restrict your privacy settings or block public search results on search engines. If you've lost your password, try to regain access to your account so that you can either close it or simply remove negative content (of course, you can always leave content online when it portrays you in a positive light!).

If ever you find negative content in your name that was put online by someone else (other than one of your homonyms), you could ask them politely but firmly to remove the content by explaining that it's harming your job search or your online image.

3- Strategies to Increase Online Visibility

If negative content in your name was put online by a newspaper, magazine or government agency, your chances of getting it removed without legal recourse are unfortunately pretty slim. The only way to hide the content is to increase your visibility (SEO). By focusing on positive content that will come up high in search results - specifically social media sites and blogs - you can rest assured that the first visible elements when completing a search in your name will be positive and controlled by you.

To increase your visibility, one of the simplest solutions is to create a LinkedIn account and complete it to 100% (or as close as possible). To do this, consult our training material. Another approach is to create a profile on Google+. We don't discuss this site in our material, namely because the uses for job-seekers are limited at this time with the exception of increasing visibility. Click here to find a detailed online resource discussing how to create a Google+ profile (as well as the functions of the site, etc.). In completing your profile, remember that the goal is to present yourself positively and professionally.

Finally, if you enjoy writing and are willing to commit some time to it, you could consider starting your own blog. To do so, have a look at the free resources on wordpress.com, blogspot.com, tumblr.com, as well as many other free blog platforms.

4- Additional Considerations

If ever, despite trying all of these measures, you feel you still have issues maintaining a professional image on the internet, you might want to consider including a link in your CV or email signature leading employers directly to your professional profiles online, or to the most positive elements of your online activity.

Once you've finished this, you should have a look at the Image results page and follow the same steps - identify positive & negative content, identify content representing you and not a homonym, identify content over which you have control, etc. A diligent, disciplined search would also analyze content found on search engines other than Google, such as yahoo.com, bing.com, etc. (though this goes beyond the needs of most people). This strategy is most often employed only for web sites or professional blogs.