Long gone are the days when people could easily separate their personal and professional lives. The internet, and especially social media, changed all that and there’s no going back. If you’re looking for a new job and want to ensure your online reputation is stellar, you should consider personal reputation management.
Here are five ways your online reputation can affect your job search and how online reputation management can boost your appeal as a candidate.
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1. Unprofessional Presence on Social Media Accounts
As a job seeker, you’ll want to evaluate years of your content carefully because it’s almost a certainty employers will be looking. Statistics suggest the majority of employers (90%) consider a candidate’s social media presence in their hiring decisions. Furthermore, a not-so-insignificant 79% of employers have rejected a candidate based on what was viewed in social media content.
2. Controversial, Negative, or Vulgar Appearance
When people post online, be it social media, forums, or other online spaces, they tend to talk like they would in “real life” and sometimes forget their comments are very public. Employers tend to steer clear of people who have made controversial postings, used obscenity, or have talked about their jobs, bosses, or colleagues in a negative light.
3. Unflattering Photos
Those fun party posts from college may have received lots of laughs, comments, and shares 10 years ago, but they don’t look so great on a profile now. Before you submit resumes, go through your profile and remove any unflattering images. Unfortunately, that might not be enough, since others have undoubtedly forwarded the photo or uploaded their own and tagged you over the years. It’s not as easy to remove personal information from the internet as you’d think.
4. Random Google Details
Employers will seek you out on search engines to verify your credentials and determine if you’d be a good fit within their organization. They typically don’t search for dirt, but if it’s there, it’s almost a guarantee they’ll see it. Most people are surprised when they Google themselves and find details about themselves they didn’t know were online. Depending on what’s out there, Google/search engine results could really hurt your chances to land that dream job.
5. Same Name as Someone Else
Another hurdle job seekers run into is that they share a name with someone else, and that person doesn’t care about their online reputation. If an employer were to search out your name, they might mistake their character as being yours. Online reputation management can mitigate this and ensure people see you, not someone else.
Unfortunately, many internet footprints are hard to suppress. Fortunately, online reputation management is an option. Our removal experts at RPI work diligently around the clock to correct negative appearances on Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Furthermore, they’ll help build a positive online reputation, along with deleting or suppressing negative content related to you.
To learn more about how online reputation management works, contact RPI today for a free removal consultation.