Google yourself
Google yourself
October 22, 2012
If I were to make a guess, I would say that I use Google six to eight times every day—on days that I have access to a computer, anyway. Search engines have changed the way we access information, connecting people with facts all over the world, and delivering what we need almost instantaneously.
But this unparalleled access to information also poses risks to our privacy. Open access to massive amounts of information sometimes also means access to personal information about individuals. This is something employers are starting to take advantage of—and who can blame them? If you could use Google to find out more about an employee you’re about to hire, wouldn’t you give it a try?
Managing your online presence is serious business nowadays. Personal and professional worlds both exist online, and unfortunately there isn’t a clear separation anymore. The best advice I can give you is to take some time to Google yourself and see what you find.
To make sure prospective employers don’t see information you want to keep private, be sure to activate the privacy settings on all the social networks and online services you use. Facebook and Twitter come up in Google searches, so if you don’t want strangers or your next boss checking out your profiles, make sure to mark them as private. This preference is usually found under the “settings” or “profile settings” of most social sites.
Incidentally, I’m writing from personal experience. At my current job, a colleague Googled me to conduct a little office experiment. He didn’t find anything too embarrassing, besides some slightly silly photos on a friend’s Web site, but it was still an eye-opener for me. I didn’t even know those pictures were on the Internet! I also didn’t know about some of the other Web sites he found that mentioned my name.
In short, you should always conduct yourself in a respectful way online. If you’re writing or publishing something on the Web with your name attached to it, consider it as serious as if you had said it out loud.
And remember: since Google is your online “first impression” to prospective employers, be sure to make it a good one!