Warning: You will be Googled
Anyone looking for a job today needs to understand that he or she will be investigated before being hired. For any savvy editor — print, broadcast or online — that means a Google search on your name. A survey by CareerBuilder tells us the results:
Of those hiring managers who used Internet search engines to research job candidates, 51 percent did not hire the person based on what they found. Of those who used social networking sites to research candidates, the majority (63 percent) did not hire the person based on what they found.
The first step to managing your online reputation is to Google yourself. And use some other search engines too, while you’re at it. Use your nickname, use your middle initial or not, and make sure that you don’t see any compromising information.
Consider setting up a page for yourself at claimID (it’s free and it’s easy). Learn about the OpenID specifications. Read more about this stuff at if:book (the blog of the Institute for the Future of the Book).
Here’s my claimID page, for example.
You might also want to buy a domain name and put your resume online. If you use your full name as the HTML title for the page, after a few weeks that page should come up first when someone Googles you. See an example — that linked text in the search results? It is the HTML title of the Web page.
I don’t want to go into detail about what I find when I Google students. In some cases, it’s awful. I also look them up on Facebook and MySpace. It may be that an editor wouldn’t reject you over a few drunken party photos. But what about that photo of you at a political rally, holding a sign in the air? Your integrity as a journalist immediately comes into question. I’m not inventing this — editors have told me so.
It’s not just about sex, drugs and alcohol. If your politics — of any stripe — are on display, that might be considered a breach of your ability to take a reasonably objective stance in your reporting.
It could cost you a nice job.
So Google yourself today. Before you send out those resumes.
Technorati tags: jobs | journalism | journalists | search | identity
I had seen several student journalists at UF openly list political affiliations and even membership to interest groups in their Facebook profiles. One prominent editor was listed as being part of a Palestinian activist group. Another was listed as being in the College Republicans.
Now I don’t want to get into the whole “objectivity vs. letting-it-all-hang-out” debate here. One could make a case that the cards should just be layed out on the table. But the point is those students hadn’t even given a thought to the fact that putting that on their Facebook profiles could raise issues from readers.
October 31, 2006 at 4:02 pmwhen i receive a resume, i do the same thing, first i check in Google for the name. and then make an appointment.
October 31, 2006 at 6:32 pmI’m pretty paranoid about this type of thing for myself. I even go so far as asking my friends not to post party pics with me on their pages.
Thanks for posting Mindy…I sent this to my friends as explanation for my paranoia.
October 31, 2006 at 7:49 pm