Thursday, May 26, 2011

Are Recruiters Searching For You On Google?

Absolutely they are.  More than 85% of recruiters report "Googling" candidates as part of the search process today and almost half of them have eliminated candidates based on what appears (or does not appear) about them online.

A smart job seeker wants to leave nothing to chance, but many feel helpless when it comes to controlling the search results of their own name. Here are three of the most common challenges that people face:
    • Making a strong first impression is important but this can be difficult without controlling the priorities of the returned results. For example, if being on the board at your condo association is ranked at the top of the results and the press release of your record sales with your previous company is buried, then that’s a problem.
    • Mistaken identity is also a big challenge for many, especially for people with a common name. The recruiter can easily become confused by what information is about you, or someone else. This confusion can be especially dangerous if someone with a bad online reputation shares a name with you.
    • Being anonymous online is not a good way to avoid these challenges either, as not having a presence online can be worse. When a recruiter searches you and cannot find any information on you, then it makes it harder for them to establish a trust with the information you provided in your resume.
In a recent survey of 6FigureJobs members, 22% had never Googled themselves and 16% had done so only once. Trust me, folks, any employer or recruiter is going to do just that if your resume passes muster!

Your online presence matters, and search results can change daily. When you search yourself you’ll find online CV, articles you have written or that have been written about you, blogs you write or contribute to, social network profiles, Twitter, press releases and sometimes a few surprises.

How can you take control?
There's an easy to use and very cool service out there called Vizibility.  What this nifty service does is let you “curate” the results that are returned when someone Googles you. Not that you’re trying to hide anything, of course, but you want to make sure that the results are RELEVANT to employers and recruiters.

Not only do you get a chance to curate your results, you also get to pick the “Top 5” results you want to appear first. Obviously, we recommend you select information pertinent to search or networking.

If you use Vizibility you don’t need to search yourself daily to find out what’s out there in cyberspace about you. Vizibility sends you an alert when the results change or when new information about you has been posted online.

Worth a look at www.vizibility.com