{"id":6739,"date":"2018-01-28T08:56:30","date_gmt":"2018-01-28T12:56:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=6739"},"modified":"2018-01-28T08:56:30","modified_gmt":"2018-01-28T12:56:30","slug":"5-key-moves-to-manage-your-online-reputation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=6739","title":{"rendered":"5 Key Moves to Manage Your Online Reputation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>With the rise of social media, employers can gain a lot of information about you from your online presence alone.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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This article was adapted from\u00a0Great Jobs for Everyone 50+: Finding Work That Keeps You Happy and Healthy \u2026 and Pays the Bills<\/i><\/a>\u00a0by Kerry Hannon (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2018), available at\u00a0aarp.org\/greatjobs<\/a>\u00a0and bookstores.<\/p>\n

Job hunting is a two-way street. While you\u2019re researching potential employers and learning all you can about the hiring managers who\u2019ll be interviewing you, they\u2019re checking you out, too.<\/p>\n

According to CareerBuilder\u2019s social media recruitment survey, 60 percent of employers use social networking sites to\u00a0research job candidates, up from 11 percent a decade ago, when the survey was first conducted.<\/p>\n

\u201cTools such as Facebook and Twitter enable employers to get a glimpse of who candidates are outside the confines of a resume or cover letter,\u201d points out Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer of CareerBuilder.<\/p>\n

And employers put stock in what they find \u2014 or don\u2019t. More than 2 in 5 employers said they are less likely to interview job candidates if they\u2019re unable to find information about the person online. And nearly half of hiring managers who\u00a0screen candidates\u00a0via social networks said they\u2019ve found information that caused them not to hire a person, according to the CareerBuilder survey.<\/p>\n

So have you paid the proper attention to your online reputation? Simply put, if you\u2019re looking for a job, you ignore the digital \u201cyou\u201d at your peril.<\/p>\n

Invisibility indicates that you\u2019re not up to speed with technology and the online world. And digital dirt, well, that can really give the wrong impression. The biggest turnoffs that CareerBuilder cited were inappropriate photographs or videos; signs that the candidate is binge-drinking or using drugs; bigoted comments related to race, religion or gender; bad-mouthing of previous employers or fellow employees; and poor communication skills.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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So to put your best foot forward online, here are five things you need to do:<\/p>\n

Know your digital identity<\/h3>\n

Chances are your digital identity is pretty complex. Some of it you create \u2014 at a minimum, you should have pages on\u00a0LinkedIn\u00a0and Facebook. Some of it is created by your friends when they post comments and photos you\u2019re in. And some of it is created by total strangers \u2014 the staff at schools you attended, the DMV, former workplaces, the local newspaper, et cetera.<\/p>\n

Your first task is to know what\u2019s out there. So do what employers do when they begin researching you online: Conduct a basic search of your name and its variations, such as with and without your middle name or initial. If your name is not unusual, you may get mainly material about other people who share it. So be creative in drilling down to material about yourself \u2014 try your name plus your school or hometown or last employer.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019ve narrowed things down, click on the top 10 to 20 links. Read carefully. You\u2019re looking at what a prospective employer can see.<\/p>\n

Now, some of the other people who popped up during your search may seem to an employer to be you, though they\u2019re not. \u201cPay attention to avoid a mistaken online identity,\u201d says Susan P. Joyce<\/a>, an online job search<\/a> expert. \u201cYour reputation and job search can be damaged by that person.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an extreme case \u2014 someone with your name, say, was convicted of fraud in your town last month \u2014 you may want to be proactive and inform a potential employer that you\u2019re not this person.<\/p>\n

But keep in mind that if your doppelg\u00e4nger\u2019s entry appears far down a search results list, it\u2019s probably not going to bite you. Still, if you\u2019re troubled, think about creating a \u201cclean\u201d professional name for your social media sites. It might be JohnHannon, JohnWHannon or JohnWilliamHannon. You do this by searching variations of your name until you find one without anything negative associated with it. Then claim it on LinkedIn and other social media sites. Use it going forward on your resume, email address and job applications.<\/p>\n

It can take some time to redo what you already have in place, but the basic change can be as simple as replacing your middle name with an initial, according to Joyce.<\/p>\n

Scrub your social media<\/h3>\n

Look over everything on your\u00a0social media timelines\u00a0and remove any dirt that you wouldn\u2019t want employers or recruiters to see. If you can\u2019t delete it yourself, contact the site manager and request to have it removed.<\/p>\n

Check out Facebook posts that you\u2019re tagged in and untag yourself if the post contains any content, including photos, that is unprofessional.<\/p>\n

On Twitter, you can review mentions on your profile name and discover tweets by others that mention you. If you can\u2019t remove an uncomplimentary comment or photo, you can at least prepare a response should a potential employer ask you about it.<\/p>\n

Just because you\u2019re being vigilant with what you put online about yourself doesn\u2019t mean your friends are. Keep an eye on what others are posting on your profile and what you\u2019re tagged in. Consider asking for cooperation from people who are serial offenders in terms of putting up offensive stuff.<\/p>\n

Create a free Google Alert for your name so you\u2019ll be notified via email whenever anything is posted about you (or someone with your name) online.<\/p>\n

Fine-tune your privacy<\/h3>\n

Though you want to be visible online to a potential employer, every social media and networking channel has privacy settings that let you restrict how visible you are. In some cases, you can limit what other people share about you. With most services, you click an icon in the upper right corner of the opening screen for a menu that includes a privacy settings option.<\/p>\n

Social media sites change their privacy systems often, and sometimes this leads to a change in your personal settings. It\u2019s good practice to review the privacy settings for all of your accounts regularly.<\/p>\n

Be active<\/h3>\n

Make a point of posting comments\u00a0or articles, retweeting, or sharing on your social media sites daily to keep them current and relevant. This shows that you\u2019re up to speed with your industry and connected with leaders in your field. Be certain, though, that the content you\u2019re sharing (or even clicking \u201cLike\u201d on) supports the image you want to deliver to a potential employer. Never share something without reading it carefully first.<\/p>\n

Adding fresh content regularly has a second payoff: It helps assure that when someone searches for you by name, the top of the search results page will include links to content that you posted.<\/p>\n

Although you need to be careful about what you post, you don\u2019t want to be so reined in that prospective employers can\u2019t find a playful or creative side to you. Hiring managers look for a proper professional image, but they also want to get a bead on what makes you run and your level of comfort and engagement on social media channels.<\/p>\n

Calculated posts on your accounts at Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter and even Pinterest can craft a richer picture of you. About a third of employers who screen candidates via social networks found information that caused them to hire a candidate, according to LinkedIn, and this included content that showed personality and interests confirming the person was a good fit for the company culture.<\/p>\n

For me, I might retweet an article by\u00a0New York Times<\/i>\u00a0sportswriter Joe Drape on horse racing, or one about the sports teams of my hometown, Pittsburgh. I also periodically pop up in pictures of where I\u2019m traveling on Facebook.<\/p>\n

Taken together, these posts can help people understand who I am and decide whether I\u2019m a good fit for their company culture. It also might give a hiring manager an icebreaker for interviews. I had a great interview with someone who became a new client after we both commented on pictures of our Labrador retrievers that we had posted on Facebook. I\u2019m not sure how dogs fit in with personal branding, but they\u2019ve always seemed to work well for me.<\/p>\n

Tout your accomplishments<\/h3>\n

Bragging online is not in poor taste if it\u2019s properly presented. For instance, there\u2019s a place on your LinkedIn profile to add all those sweet bits, from professional acknowledgments to awards.<\/p>\n

Kerry Hannon,<\/strong><\/a> AARP jobs expert, is the author of\u00a0<\/i>Great Jobs for Everyone 50+: Finding Work That Keeps You Happy and Healthy \u2026 and Pays the Bills<\/a>,\u00a0<\/i>Getting the Job You Want After 50 for Dummies<\/a>,\u00a0<\/i>Love Your Job<\/a>, and\u00a0What\u2019s Next? Finding Your Passion and Your Dream Job in Your Forties, Fifties, and Beyond<\/a>. Follow her on Twitter\u00a0@kerryhannon.<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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