RSSDon’t Let Your Social Networking Affect Your Job
Social networking has become the most common way to proactively present yourself online. Millions of people use social networking sites for everything from business, dating, making friends and for fun. In this highly competitive job market, how you present yourself online can affect how employers see you. In certain cases your online identity can damage your real world job hunting. So what is the best way to utilize social networking in such a competitive world?
Control of Information Shared
The first rule to using online social networking sites, is to carefully manage the content that you place online and what others say online about you. Many social networking sites’ information will show up in a routine Google search. So, to make sure that your online reputation stays positive, you should always think about what other people will think when they see it. In many cases it is wise to either use security settings to protect information you don’t want others to see, or to avoid placing these things online in the first place. All of these things should be part of your online reputation management plan. Having a plan to control your online reputation is important for everyone, but it is especially important for people searching for a new job.
Select Usernames Carefully
Anything that may appear in the public view online should be carefully selected and edited before you post it. So it may not be a good idea to use a username called ‘Drinks All the Time’ on your social networking site. A Google search of your real name may end up alerting potential employees to this name. This could make you look bad. It is also not a good idea to use social networking sites to post negative, slanderous or false information about your current employer. This will also make you look bad. If you are especially worried about your online reputation, the best way to proactively control it is to hire a reputation management company. These companies are responsible for removing negative or false information relating to your name before it can do you any harm.