Job Search News

According to a Microsoft reputation study, while only 30% of job seekers worry about their online reputations, 70% of recruiters in the USA have rejected an applicant because of what they found online…without knowing for sure that it was the job seeker they found.  The names were the same, and that was enough “proof.”

So, even though you may be leading a blameless life, avoiding Facebook and other social media, and feel you have no reason to worry about what is online about you, you could well be wrong.

The actions of someone else – who has the same name you have – could be sabotaging your job search.

Recruiters who Google the name you put on their application or in your resume will be unaware that the “bad” person Google showed them is not you.  Result: opportunity lost!  Perhaps, many opportunities… (more…)

We are probably all vulnerable to mistaken online identity, unless we have a really unusual name.  And it is a serious online reputation management issue, probably a larger problem than most people know.

In January, 2011, it would have been terrible to be named Jared Loughner and be looking for a job right now.  Jared Lee Loughner’s name and image dominating the media spread across the media as the shooter of (now former) Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.  And the name Loughner is going to be in Google associated with this horrible event forever.

A good portion of personal branding is personal marketing, and that’s good.  However, if your name is Jared Loughner, but you are not THAT Jared Loughner, how do you handle this situation?

This is an online reputation management crisis for everyone named Loughner, even if  you aren’t related to him.

Don’t Relax – You’re Not “Safe” Either
The media does a good job, usually, of making sure that they use the complete name of the accused in most situations. Stories about the Arizona shooter immediately referred to him as “Jared Lee Laughner” just like you always see President Kennedy’s assassin’s name as “Lee Harvery Oswald” – not just “Lee Oswald.”  Bet he was known as “Lee Oswald” and very few people knew his middle name.

Media usage of middle names provides us all with a lesson these days.  Have you Googled yourself recently?

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Job seekers can and should monitor their names using Google Alerts.  Someone else with the same name who has done something shocking, unusual, or disreputable can negatively impact YOUR job search.

[Google has changed, of course, so this article was updated October 18, 2012.]

The vast majority of employers (79%!) do Google job applicants, and they won’t know if you are the person who robbed the bank or posed nude, but they probably won’t want to take a chance hiring that person.  So, you will lose out, even if you were not the person who showed up in the Google search. The best defense in this case is knowledge!

Put Google to work for your job search! (more…)

Employers are Googling you.  Do you know what they are finding?

Recently a colleague shared a very scary story about one of her clients that many job seekers should know about because recent research has shown that this is very likely not an uncommon event.

My colleague prepared a very professional resume for her client which he used in several months of job hunting.

After absolutely NO response to resume submissions in 4 months, they decided to Google him to see if something there might be causing a problem.  BINGO!   (more…)