While most of us use the internet for valid purposes and aren’t off trying to lure children, or purchase slaves, or trade in illegal imagery. But there are so many sites that we have signed up to over the years, it’s nearly impossible for anyone to remember them. Just recently, a business associate found a bizzare profile that was a hodge-podge of information they had seemingly cobbled together from different period of time – and I have no idea what the login or anything is.
But that’s nothing…
A recent survey conducted by ExecuNet revealed that 75% of 102 executive recruiters perform routine online searches as part of their background checks on prospective hires. The survey also points out that more than 25% of these recruiters have rejected candidates based on background information that was discovered via searches on Google, Yahoo, and Dogpile, as well as such social networking sites as Myspace, Facebook, Friendster, and Xanga.
The “incriminating” personal information – commonly referred to as “online personas” or “digital dirt” – found through informal, online searches is rapidly becoming a way for employers to screen job seekers.
Especially for recent graduates, the Internet has been a forum for expressing private frustrations and interests; many young professionals, though, fail to realize just how public these expressions have become. Many executives and recruiters regularly use the Internet to search for both positive and negative information about a candidate’s background, including drug use, extreme political views, excessive profanity, or sexual exploits. All of these lifestyle behaviors can taint a prospective employee’s professionalism and decision-making abilities in a hiring manager’s eyes.
Although some of these sites are accessible only through registration, these hurdles are often easy to overcome. School recruiters can use email addresses to view pages of students who attend a given schools; these recruiters might also ask student interns to conduct searches for them. Most of the information on the Internet is self-published, and can therefore be managed. However, another possibility about digital dirt is that someone else has posted information or embarrassing pictures of you on the Internet.
Try to keep your information consistent – and nothing crazy, razy, profane, or forbid a public display of nudity or lewdness. That’s gotten others in lots of trouble before! Sites like ZoomInfo are building profiles on individuals for use not only as a publicly available database of histories, like mine with over 100 references, but are building out a program of background and reference validation for employers to tap into for prospective employees.
[ Source: Dice.com ]
