4 Steps to Sanitize Your Web Presence before Applying for a Job

We all have a love-hate relationship with the internet. We are well aware of the issues posed by cybercriminals and understand the threat to our personally identifiable information when posted on social media. Yet there is a craving for more activity, leading to more personal, financial, medical and professional data being left online. Instead of only having to worry about putting your best face forward on interview day, candidates should also be concerned with what they post or what is posted about them online.

Many employers now search social media and other sites for information about their job candidates, which can sometimes make or break whether you land the position. Before you begin applying for jobs, spruce up your online profile to truly reflect who you are and to provide more context for your professional work so your potential employer doesn’t come across a post or image that could take you out of the running.

1. Search for yourself.

Instead of just looking in the “usual” places (such as your Facebook profile), find out what appears when you do an Internet search for your name.

• Look under all categories. Try several search engines, but consider looking for all web sites, news articles, images, videos, blogs, and reviews. You may have no idea that a friend snapped an “incriminating” photo of you during that crazy drunken night and that it somehow ended up online.

• Check for your name under other aliases. Especially if you have changed your name after getting married or if you have a nickname, make sure you leave no stone unturned. Conduct the same search that you did under your proper name to ensure you’ve covered your bases.

• Seek out reviews. If you provide any type of service, there’s a good chance someone has written a review about the work you’ve done. Consider Yelp, Google Groups, UrbanSpoon, (if you work in the food industry) or industry-based forums. While there may be nothing you can do about negative comments, you can add comments acknowledging the feedback given and list out steps you have taken to provide a better customer experience.

Expert tip:

“When I first checked my online presence, the things that came up were white pages, my name, my address, old blogs, and other irrelevant articles. I had to work deliberately to change my online presence by creating content that reflected the work I do today and my passions.”

2. Check your social network.

After you’ve explored the unknown by searching for yourself, make a list of your social profiles and dig deeper into your activity on these forums.

• Stop by your Facebook and Twitter profile to examine comments and photos. This may mean that you have to go back into your history to ensure nothing terrible was written about you or that you didn’t write something highly inappropriate. Follow links to friends’ pages where you commented, in addition to reviewing your “info” page. You want to make sure that your presence would be appealing and acceptable to anyone who reads it. That means no religion, politics, or inappropriate comments (basically, anything that would be considered inappropriate for a child to read should be removed).

• Visit friends or family member profiles who may have tagged or referenced you in posts. Unfortunately, it’s not just what you’ve posted, but what others have posted about you too. It may be an arduous process, but go through your friend list and conduct a quick check of your friends’ profiles and search for any references (visual or verbal) about you. If you find a detrimental comment or image, send your friend a private message and ask if that comment could be removed. Let the friend know why so he/she understands the importance.

• Check old reviews you might have written about businesses or services and remove any that you regret writing.

3. Evaluate your privacy settings.

• Evaluate privacy and security settings across all applications that contain personally identifiable information. Do not default to public visibility settings on social networks. Carefully review apps that might have access to your Google or Facebook information by reviewing your application security settings and all privacy controls.

• Try to limit access to your friends’ list or any private information. People can glean a lot about who you are based on your friends. If you have friends on your list who post immature or inappropriate content, you may not want potential employers seeing this.

• Only share photos and comments with a specified group of people. Enact full controls on photos and allow for only family-friendly photos to be viewed by all.

• Only allow friends or family members to be able to see any activity on your profile. If you enact full privacy settings, outsiders should not be able to see activity on your profile.

4. Redefine your online image

Once you’ve sanitized what was on the Internet, it’s time to build content that truly reflects who you are. The goal is to establish credibility, build your online portfolio and keep your information current.

• Be proactive with sites like LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a well-traveled site for many employers and human resources professionals. Be sure you upload your resume and include new kudos or accolades to your LinkedIn profile. Consider this network to be your online portfolio and invest time into making your profile outstanding.

• Consider revamping your Facebook or Twitter profile. If your Facebook or Twitter accounts are a mess, consider closing your pages or deleting your old posts and starting from scratch. Starting fresh will give you the opportunity to reflect the true “you” as of today.

• Evaluate your friends or connections on both social and professional networks. Be cautious about who you “friend” or “follow” when it comes to making an impression on a potential employer. Your hobbies and professional interests should be reflected in the groups and pages you follow on online forums.

A few more tips to remember!

• Understand that sometimes you may miss an embarrassing image or post. Have a game plan if your potential employer comes across this post and asks you about it.

• Use a private browsing experience like Chrome’s incognito mode or Safari’s in-private browsing when searching for yourself online in order to remove any bias from search engines; that way, your search results will likely be closer to what any prospective employer might see if he or she were to type in your name.

• Never post anything that refers to illegal or unlawful activity. Not only will this turn off employers but also could possibly be used against you in a court of law. It is also not the right thing to do.

• The easiest way to avoid having to clean up inappropriate content is to not post it in the first place.

Article originally published on WikiHow