Friday, July 11, 2008

Clean Up Your Digital Dirt Before Applying For That Job

According to some research out there, more than three-quarters of recruiters and hiring managers are Googling your names to find any digital dirt on you, before considering you for the job. The harsh reality is that it can be these digital daemons that are found that can be the difference in your getting a job or not.

Here is an interesting online article on the topic.

So what unwanted digital dirt am I referring to? Keep in mind what may be "dirty" to one, may not be to another. Belonging to an organization or being affiliated with a certain group may ultimately have an impact on a hiring manager or recruiter – again, the harsh reality. You running a "side business" with a website may lead a hiring manager to think your mind will be elsewhere. And worse, sometimes that website may be old or run by another member of your family (i.e., wife) and the perception is that it is your moonlighting business. And the list goes on as I am sure you can imagine.

What should you do? The first step I recommend is to Google your name. And to be more specific, Google your name with the state abbreviation at the end of the search phrase. And place your name in parenthesis. For example, -- “John Smith” + CT -- The reason to add the state is that there more than likely will be more than one person with your exact name in the world. And the quotations are necessary so that you don’t find every “John” and every “Smith” separately.

If you have never done this before, you may be astounded by the results. The next step would be an attempt to clean anything up that you see as either falsely reported or something you want private. If, for example, you find that your name is included in an article that you have not approved and want it removed, try to find the contact information on the web site’s owner and contact them directly and explain your situation. If you find something that you cannot have removed and that may have a negative impact on your hiring, you may want to be prepared on how to explain yourself and in some cases bring it up first.

You see all of this, I am still learning, leads to my growing understanding that having a job recruiter is necessary these days. Having someone that already has a connection with a hiring manager at an organization you want to be employed at can be critical. A hiring manager may not discuss something they find about you that can be seen as digital dirt, if you even make it to the “prospect” pile. But a hiring manager who has a relationship established with a recruiter may bring it up where they can speak quite openly about these things.

Either way, the bigger point of this post is that in our fast paced, digitally connected world, you need to stay abreast of your personal brand (online). It is becoming more and more important with regard to your career and I strongly encourage you to familiarize yourself with these things.