Chapter 5

Do Due Diligence, Ditch Digital Dirt

In This Chapter

Waking up: More employers trolling for online dirt

Going all out when your reputation screams for repair

Sidestepping future digital damage to your good name

Proactively building a good name for yourself

A 40-something job seeker in the Northeast felt as though life was kicking him to the curb after four weary months of chasing job after job and never being called to interview. Eventually he discovered he was being mistaken for another man with the same name who had serious digital dirt: His namesake was involved in a Supreme Court obscenity case.

A 30-something single mother in the Midwest was fired from her job at a nonprofit organization — for something she did on her own time — the day after her boss Googled employees and discovered the mom was writing a sex blog.

A 20-something banking employee in the South was disappointed to learn that his good friend, who was interviewing for a job in the bank, lost out to another applicant because the interviewer checked the friend’s Facebook page and was turned off by photos of the candidate drinking and cavorting with buddies.

These three incidents reflect a new reality in today’s world: Your online image has become as important to your career as your customized resumes and your carefully managed references.

This chapter examines in understandable, low-tech terms, how your digital footprint can make you or break you.

Online Life Is an Open Book

The digital boom has given social media recruiting a prominent seat at the meet-up table where employers and job seekers connect. Recruiters who chase data on social networks now have the tools to add their own insight to the formality of information fed to them by candidates. As they click through the pages of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other sites, hiring authorities discover hidden areas of people’s lives, and the outcome of social search isn’t always to a job seeker’s advantage.

The numbers of employers using social search keep heading higher. At least half of employers questioned in recent surveys now use online information to screen job candidates.

A look at the dark side

In a recent CareerBuilder survey, 35 percent of employers said they decided not to offer a job to a candidate based on the content uncovered on a social networking site.

From most to least common, the following are reasons employers cited for not hiring a candidate:

Posting provocative or inappropriate photographs or information

Posting content about drinking or using drugs

Bad-mouthing previous employer, coworkers, or clients

Showing poor communications skills

Making discriminatory comments

Lying about qualifications

Sharing confidential information from previous employer

Some research shows that even higher percentages of hiring authorities search for online information about job candidates. A recent Microsoft study found that 79 percent check out potential hires online, and of those, 70 percent said they have rejected candidates based on what they found.

As a job seeker, you have a real chance of being prejudged or eliminated if digital dirt stains your reputation. Why take that chance?

A look at the bright side

In the same CareerBuilder survey, 18 percent of responding employers reported they found content on social networking sites that caused them to hire a candidate. From most to least common, those reasons include

A profile that provided a good feel for the candidate’s personality and fit

A profile that supported the candidate’s professional qualifications

Creativity

Solid communication skills

Being well-rounded

Good references

Having received awards and accolades

Why Clean Up Your Act

Perhaps you’ve heard the joke about young people having to change their names on reaching adulthood to disown youthful hijinks stored on their friends’ social media sites. It’s a gag, but an important gag because we live in an age where your posted past can haunt your real-life future.

I asked Susan Estrada, a preeminent Internet pioneer and authority, this question: “What happens to all the data that floats in cyberspace? Is it possible to totally erase information that you or others have posted about you on the Web?”

Estrada’s candid answer: “Nope. So much of the stuff, once in the cloud, is out of control. You should figure it will live forever. I have stuff out there from the ’80s and ’90s that I can’t touch.”

Google CEO Eric Schmidt agrees; he once told pundit Stephen Colbert: “ . . . just remember that when you post something (online), the computers remember it forever.”

Moreover, here’s a wild card: What eventually happens to your posted information on a social site remains legally unclear when, by its rules, the site claims ownership of your personal data and everything you share on its space. Reading a site’s privacy rules is a good idea.

Moving to other places on the Web and starting all over again as a virgin may be difficult, but do the best you can to shape up your hirable image before you head out to search for a job.

Restore Your Online Reputation

A recent Pew Research Center Internet report cements the general belief that search engines and social media sites now play a central role in building a person’s identity online. The majority, 57 percent, of adult Internet users say they have used a search engine to look up their name and see what information is available about them online.

Many users in the Pew study refine their online reputation as they go by changing privacy settings on profiles, customizing who can see certain updates, and deleting unwanted information about them that appears online.

What’s the Internet buzz about you? If you discover your reputation is crippling your job search efforts, I offer suggestions to help kick those skeletons out of your online closet.

Your first move requires research to uncover exactly what, if any, reputation problems are holding you back. Google your name and see what turns up. (In the vernacular of discussion threads, this is called “doing a self-Google.”) Check Bing and Yahoo, too. And don’t forget Pipl (www.pipl.com), a people-search engine where you may discover forgotten clues to your behavior on sites you no longer use.

When the news is bad, first try simple remedies. When you find something you don’t like, e-mail the person responsible and ask that it be taken down.

Sometimes asking nicely is all you need to make negative news about you disappear. If not, here are additional steps to consider whether your online distress is self-inflicted or someone else is out to get you.

1. Vacuum any crime scene.

Remove photos, content, and links you control that can torpedo you in an employer’s eyes. If you don’t control the posting site, ask the individual who does control it to ditch it. When in doubt, take it out.

2. Overwhelm the bad stuff.

Smother indiscretions you’ve committed with a lot of new and favorable photos, content, and links — and endorsements from upstanding people (teachers, clergypersons, employers, coworkers, for example.) Google searchers normally read only the first few pages of results, not page 38. When you can’t convince a site owner to make harmful content go away, your best bet is to entomb the hurtful data six feet under on page 38, 39, 40 — or deeper.

3. Call in a SWAT team.

Some people become the victims of malicious smears and psycho-talk that can wreak all kinds of damage even if it is patently false. In an age when the Internet does not forget, active self-defense is the only way to protect your online reputation.

In worse case situations, you may have to turn to professionals, such as Defend My Name (www.defendmyname.com) or ReputationDefender (www.reputationdefender.com). If the substantial cost is too much for your budget, study advanced techniques to clean up your own act. Start with a reputation management book written by experts.

The best book I’ve seen about surviving a rough-and-tumble Internet is Wild West 2.0: How to Protect and Restore Your Online Reputation on the Untamed Social Frontier (AMACOM) by Michael Fertik and David Thompson.

Fertik is chief executive officer, and Thompson is chief privacy officer, of ReputationDefender, a comprehensive online reputation management and privacy company. They’ve had a lot of experience helping people for whom the Internet has become an indelible scarlet letter.

Keep Watch on Your Online Reputation

Your digital good name comes from everything you do online that can be viewed by others. Anything and everything! This includes social media like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. It includes blogs, forums, and Web sites where you leave comments. It even includes the kinds of products and services that interest you.

Don’t fool yourself with wishful thinking — “Oh well, my online reputation isn’t the real me.” Real or not, it is you, and your digital presence indicates how employers are likely to perceive you. Perception rules. As inconvenient as it is, in the online world, perception is reality.

Staying out of trouble online

Think down the road, and think twice before engaging in a flame war or lighting one up with firecrackers that carry your name tag. How do employers and recruiters ferret out your faults? They search for your name on various Web sites and search engines. The following recommendations help you put your best digital footprints forward.

Set up a free Google Alert on your name

The alerts you receive offer early warnings about identity mix-ups — those evil twins who have your same name and are out there online ruining it. Go to Google.com/alerts and type your name (surrounded by quotation marks) into the “Search terms” box. Select “Everything” as the “Type.”

To be double-sure you’re free, clear, and clean, perform a daily search for your name on Google or a search engine of your choice. Even if an employer doesn’t check social networks or blogs, you can bet a basic Google search is part of how you’re researched. Pages from social media and blogs may appear at the top of such a search.

Beware the overshare

Don’t post trash you don’t want everyone to know — no one cares how drunk, stoned, or loose you were last night. Don’t post anything about your dating life. Don’t post your birthdate. Don’t post anything that may embarrass you five years down the road. Unless you’re posing with the president of a nation or the Dalai Lama, don’t post your name on party photos. Don’t mix business and personal details online.

Most of all, if you’re employed, don’t post news of your job search in tweets or status updates, which is as dangerous as the boss finding your resume in the office copy machine.

Select Facebook friends with caution

To friend or not to friend bosses and coworkers? The jury’s still out on that question but remember this: No matter whom you allow past the velvet rope and into your Facebook life, lock down privacy filters to create different levels of friends, such as professional and personal, and to select how much information each group can see.

All the security settings under the sun won’t protect you if one friend decides to share your content with the rest of the world. Ignoring friend requests isn’t rude, and gathering friends competitively opens you up to privacy problems. But it is a myth that you can see who has viewed your profile — that’s technically impossible.

Keep an eye on MySpace comments

Remember that you’re not the only writer on your account. Any of your friends can comment on your profile, which other friends can read. Daggers have been known to slip in among the diamonds.

Network building is a worthy pursuit, but a huge number of pseudo friends doesn’t count for much in your career world and creates needless risk. Moreover, becoming online pals with celebrities and politicians isn’t always a hot idea: It may cause employers to wonder whether you’re too full of yourself and will be overly demanding.

Don’t go naked on Twitter

Letting it all hang out on the tweet line invites everyone to follow and see what you’re up to. That’s not only unsafe, it’s uncool. Instead, open multiple free accounts (no limit) and make sure the one with your real name on it is pure as a falling snowflake. If you feel you must pass on frisky questionable links, use an alias account.

List respected groups on LinkedIn

Give thought to which interest groups and associations claim you as a member, and give deeper thought as to whether all of them do you proud on your professional profile.

In the United States, civic groups such as Kiwanis and Rotary contribute to your good name, but Vampire Cretins of America cause pause because . . . well, it may lead some people to perceive you as a weirdo. (Chapter 8 tells you more about the kinds of organizations that look good on your profile.) Unlike data that search engines dig up about you, information in your profile is under your control.

Bird-dog your blog tracks

If you’re blogging on your own creation and other blogs, be mindful of what you’re saying (and have said) as it relates to your job life. Maybe you ranted something you regret, like a previous depression or law case, and would like a rematch. If you haven’t already done it, use Google Blog Search (www.blogsearch.google.com) to see what’s up and what you’d like to take down. If the search engines aren’t indexing your personal blog, look into registering it with the likes of Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

Keep mum on grievances

Bellyache elsewhere when you please, but not in the land of cyber-please. Stay positive. And don’t overlook specific accomplishments that boost your brand. (See Chapter 2 for more about branding.)

Remember that turnabout is fair play

Don’t sabotage others by indiscreetly spilling unsavory beans, or playing jokes that can provoke injury to a friend. For example, don’t comment online to someone starting a new job, “Congrats! Hope you break your record and last three months!” Blabbing “state secrets” invites reciprocal action.

Join the right armies

Participate on forums, discussion threads, groups, and so on that create positive content and jibe with your career plans. Comment on Web sites and blog postings with high traffic.

For example, adding your profile to LinkedIn, which has a high rank with search engines, pushes your profile higher in Google search results. You can also publish your profile on Plaxo (www.plaxo.com) and VisualCV.com (www.visualcv.com) and connect them to each other. Check possible cross-reference links on each Web site where you post a profile.

Not only does being seen in the right places give you online credibility, these mentions help crowd out dirt and relocate it to the back of the line.

Looking like a champ online

If the Internet is one giant resume, as comedian Stephen Colbert says it is, use online reputation management to boost your appeal as an ideal job candidate. The rise of social media and advances in technology can make favorable words about you sound like confidence, not bragging. The following tips deal with your routine behavior when you open doors to the way you think and what others think about you.

Make cheerful comments

Even when you’re down and out and suffering a bad case of the blues, don’t make those feelings part of your online persona. Employers aren’t looking to hang crepe. They try not to hire Gloomy Gus or his sister, Dora Dour. Instead, employers look for new hires who radiate a positive attitude. To paraphrase your mother’s admonition: “If you can’t say something nice, say nothing at all on the Internet.” (Or use a screen name.)

Mention popular traits

Although they may be clichés, certain keywords for personal attributes and abilities have not outlived their usefulness. Major job search engine Indeed.com analyzed millions of job ads on its site over a six-month period in 2010. The object of the analysis was to find out which popular traits employers ask for again and again.

In descending order, expressed in keywords, the top 15 professional attributes or abilities employers want in the people they hire are

Leadership

Interpersonal skills

Problem-solving

Motivation

Efficiency

Attention to detail

Ability to prioritize

Teamwork

Reliability

Ability to multitask

Time management

Passion

Listening skills

Outgoingness

Honesty

Look for ways to incorporate these wanted traits into your comments. You may say, for example, “My boss was highly complimentary about my last report, saying it showed leadership and solved key problems in holding the line on material cost.”

Post kudos on social media

Have you won an award? Has someone praised you? Don’t hold back. Just post the facts on your page — “I was excited to get these good words from Carl Case, the head official of the Little League where I coach: “We’re proud of Jake’s great 9–1 win record this year. The kids think he’s Superman.”

Announce your promotions

Let friends know when you move up a notch. Don’t forget to add how much you appreciate working for such a fine employer. You look successful and loyal.

Relate growth experiences

Relate on your page or blog the life or professional experiences that are helping you to mature into a better person or more competent worker. Education is an obvious topic. But think about other positive shaping experiences as well. Perhaps you worked in a soup kitchen or helped build housing for the poor. Maybe you read a book on time-management skills or a guide to managing the friction between generations in the workplace. You are painting a picture of who you are and what you can do.

Look Who’s Talking . . . About You

It seems that the younger you are, the quicker you’re getting the memo about the career-risky behavior of living out loud and having bad news about you infest the Web. People 18 to 29 are more apt to vigorously scrub unwanted posts and limit information about themselves than are older adults, according to surveys. Why is that? My guess is older adults come later to social media, have already established their careers, and spend little time thinking about digital dirt.

That characterization certainly described me until the day a friend called my attention to a Web site that reviews products and services. Checking out the site, I was shocked to see an anonymous blistering attack on the superb veterinarian who has long done a great job of caring for my pets. Furious at the unknown critic’s fact-free character assassination, I quickly went tit for tat with a glowing evaluation of my pets’ vet.

That was the day I moved from passively understanding there’s a very real threat of accidental damage and malicious attacks on the Internet to actively advocating the care and feeding of online reputation management.