Monday, October 03, 2005
I know what you did last night...
When was the last time you looked yourself up online? Been awhile? Okay, when was the last time a potential employer looked you up online? If you do not know the answer to that, then perhaps such is the reason why the other guy got the job and not you. Now are you sufficiently paranoid? Good... With so much easily-accesible information on the web, a recruiter can visit a few search engines (the poor man's background check) and discover embarrassing data on you or worse, someone with the same name as you.When deep into a jobsearch (or in general for that matter), it never hurts to have all of your bases covered. Here is what I suggest you do to keep your virtual identity embarassment free.
1. Search on your name in the big 3 searchengines (MSN, Google and Yahoo) and see what comes up.
2. If something comes up that you rather potential employers not know about, email the owner of the website and ask them to remove it.
3. If the webmaster will not remove it, or if you can not contact that person at all, prepare a statement and file it in your mental rolodex. If you are ever questioned about it, at least you have the advantage of being prepared ahead of time.
Hope this helps...
9:57 PM
