Whether you're looking for a job for the first time, on the lookout for a promotion, or simply trying to grow your network of contacts and clients, what people find when they search for your name in Google results could very well undermine all your efforts.
How important is your online presence to your career?
Simple and direct: someone will search for it on Google. On average, 75% of human resources departments include Google searches as an integral part of their recruiting process. And this is just part of it, as you must not forget that your future colleagues, clients and business partners will also try to understand who you are. The information that appears when searching will set the tone for your first impression as a professional and person.
For example, Patrick Ambron, co-founder and CEO of Brand Yourself, says the following about what to look for when searching for yourself and which five Google results can destroy your career:
“Think of the first page of results as the summary of your online presence. A first page of Google results filled with a brilliant personal website, active professional profiles and your latest achievements and contributions to the industry will go much further than a first page with few or no positive results about you. Worst case scenario? A first page with a negative result (or two!). If you haven't already, take a few minutes and search your name on Google to see what's being said about you. Make sure you are using private browsing to get the most reliable results.”
And what kind of negative Google results should we be looking for?
A good rule of thumb to consider: if you don't want a human resources department to set their sights on you, then you should be considered negative. You don't have to be a bad person or even a convicted criminal to find a negative Google result about you. There are five common types of negative Google results that anyone may one day deal with:
- A negative mention in the press – with so many regional and industry-focused news websites, it's increasingly easy to draw your attention to the headlines. For example, in the tech and startup industry it has been very common to see some co-founders see some of the positions and statements they have made in the past resulting in some press attention.
- Information about an arrest or legal complication – if you have ever had a run-in with the law, your photo or arrest record, legal requirements or any other type of public record can be found through Google results. This means that any part of a legal proceeding that mentions your name will be visible to everyone.
- Negative Online Reviews – Sites that allow anonymous assessments or criticism, such as Yelp (for example), they make it easy for anyone to take out their frustrations on you and your business (even if the criticism isn't true). These types of websites are difficult to deal with as they include open forms that you cannot control.
- Aftermath of the end of a romantic relationship that went wrong – The end of a romantic relationship tends to bring out the worst in people and, with emotions at their peak, you could very easily find yourself dealing with some negative Google results in this regard. Publishing intimate videos and/or photos is the worst outcome in these cases.
- Slanderous article or website – If you've done something to bring out someone's negative side, or you've just been unlucky enough to cross paths with the wrong person, you could find yourself dealing with a slanderous blog article or even an entire website dedicated to explaining what happened. who did harm to another.
Even if your daily life has always been guided by avoiding the type of situations described above, keep in mind that there must be other people with your name. So, if you're not always working towards a positive online presence, you're leaving yourself vulnerable to other people creating your online reputation for you – whether good or bad.
How can you prevent a negative Google result with your name from appearing? (and what to do if it already exists?)
Obviously, the first question is to avoid doing or publishing anything that would put you in a less favorable position. Always check your privacy settings and always think twice about everything you share with your friends and followers. Even if you know everyone on your list, you can never know if any of those people will take something they post out of context and share it with other people.
The only effective long-term strategy for dealing with any unwanted Google results, and preventing them in the future, is to create a very active positive online presence. This requires the construction of websites personal, professional, blogs actively maintaining them.
