Career, Life Balance

Enhance your (online) reputation

As employers and customers trawl the internet for personal information, individuals need to re-evaluate their online personas.

Imagine a position that you were well qualified for, worked hard to find and interviewed brilliantly for went to another person. The reason the prospective employer gave for this was that they searched for you on the internet and found content that was rather unprofessional to say the least. You would be pretty annoyed, wouldn’t you? Maybe even kicking yourself?

Welcome to the world of personal reputation management, where how you are perceived online can directly enhance or detract from your job prospects.

Nearly a quarter of web users believe there is content on the internet about them and they wouldn’t want to be seen by their employer. Today, more than ever, you need to be visible online, and more importantly you need to be seen in the best light possible by those who could offer, or land, you your next job or contract.

In a competitive job market you have to be unique, aware of market trends and the most up to date with new techniques and technologies. But today that isn’t anywhere near enough to get you where you want to be. What you really need is to have an effective personal reputation management strategy – and to use the internet to amplify it.

As the great philosopher Socrates said: “Regard your good name as the richest jewel you can possibly be possessed of.”

The Internet is now the defacto way of presenting the information you would like seen about yourself to the world. Social networks and online communication tools such as forums, blogging and viral marketing are now essential in managing your online presence and how you are perceived by potential employers or customers.

All businesses take time to protect their names, their brands, and reputations now it is becoming increasingly important for individuals. Anyone who is concerned with their personal reputation (and really, who doesn’t need to impress prospective employers, clients or customers?) needs to take control of their personal reputation to actively protect and promote their online presence.

Managing your personal reputation in a tough job market could make all the difference in your job hunt.

Here are some basic tips to help;

1. Clean up your online profile across any social media networks you use. This means taking down any pictures of you that don’t show you in the best light (for instance, on a stag night).
2. You can create personal and professional profiles on social networks to separate the personal and professional you.
3. Also ask friends or colleagues to remove any unprofessional images, or videos that they might have uploaded on the internet.
4. The internet is your shop window and your best chance to show a prospective employer what you can do. Showing a professional attitude to how you are perceived online will help to enhance trust in your judgement, and put you ahead of many of your peers.
5. Use social network tools to maximise your visibility through writing short and punchy executive summaries about yourself, your interests, background, status and achievements.

About the author

Roy Murphy is the co-author of a new book, Personal Reputation Management: making the internet work for you. He's a branding expert and creative director at a digital agency, and he knows all about the internet. He also knows how to use it to your advantage, especially if you're looking for that elusive first job.