What is Personal Online Reputation?
Online Reputation is easy to understand when leaving a Yelp review for dinner last night or browsing through customer comments on Amazon. Businesses have to manage their online reputation all the time in order to be successful.
So do you!
There is no real online privacy anymore, so it is becoming increasing more important to manage your personal online reputation.
Related: Interview Mistakes to Avoid
Social Media
This is the big one. How are you representing yourself online? Once upon a time employers used the emerging platform of LinkedIn to see if your resume rang true and lined up with what you were reporting about your education and job experience. They didn’t really care what you did in your free time.
This is not the case anymore.
What you say and post on Social Media platforms WILL be considered when you apply for jobs. The groups you join, the pictures you post, the commentary you share all paint a picture of who you are.
Will employers like what they see when they peek into your life?
Don’t assume they will only go back a couple of weeks or months. Profiling people online has become so easy that it would be weird if a potential employer didn’t at least look at your Facebook page.
Have you Googled Yourself?
If this thought alone scares you, you might have some serious reputation management to tackle. When you do Google yourself (because you will), if you see anything you don’t like on the first two pages of results you should address them.
There are companies that you can pay to “make things go away” which may or may not work. You can also manage your own online reputation for free.
Of course, it would be best to not post anything that might harm your career in the first place. But if you are like most people, you may have one or two things you need to get rid of. Never fear, there are tools that can help you.
Join Our Discussion
For more insights and a community of like-minded professionals join our LinkedIn group Resume Help and Advice for Professionals and Executives.
