Google yourself right now. Do you like what you see? You better!
The Internet is like a mirror. Take a good look into it. Why? Because the image it portrays is the one that your potential next employer is looking at.
So, do you have a neglected LinkedIn profile, a half-baked presence on Quora, and a resume on Monster that’s from 2009? Not good.
This is the deal. It’s a pain to constantly update your profiles online. Hell, you probably don’t even remember half of your passwords. But you need to take the time to look at what others are viewing. People are judging you based on what they see on the Internet, and often perception is reality.
So if you’ve got an array of poorly managed or abandoned social-media properties bearing your good name, that’s bad news. And it can happen to the best of us.
I Googled myself not too long ago and realized that my Mashable Connect profile was ranking very high. The problem was that I signed up for it but never uploaded a picture or filled out a description. A missed opportunity. I fixed it immediately. Then I dug deeper into pages three and four of my “Kenneth Hein” Google search.
Aside from discovering that I share my name with an insurance salesman and a friar in Idaho (there’s a joke there somewhere), I found a couple of loose ends that I needed to take care of. I did so and have since continued to take a regular online temperature check.
So this is what you need to do:
1. Create a Google alert for your own name. (And create a Google alert for your current and past companies, too. It’s enlightening.)
2. Google yourself once a month to see what rises to the top. (New sites pick up blog posts and other search-worthy items, people comment on things you’ve written, and in general things change . . . . you need to see what they’re saying about you.)
3. Publish more content. (If you’ve got some unfavorable posts about you, you should push it down with new content.)
4. Make everything consistent. (Keep your story straight across all mediums.)
5. Get a second opinion. (Have someone else Google you and see what they think. I’ll bet they point out a few things that you missed.)
These tactics are important for your own personal brand: the first thing people looking to hire you are likely to do is to check you out online. You need to tighten everything up — and to do it right now.
[Photo: R-O-M-A/Shutterstock]
