Roy Murphy | Creative Director

Imagine a position that you you were well qualified for, worked hard to find and interviewed brilliantly for went to another person. The prospective employer gave the reson 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 percieved 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 you land your next job or contract.

In the competitive job market you have to be unique, be 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, viral marketing are now essential in managing your online presence 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;

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…)
You can create personal and professional profiles on social networks to separate the personal and professional you
Also ask friends or colleagues to remove any unprofessional images, or videos that they might have uploaded on the internet
The internet is your shop window and your best chance to show a prospective employer what you can do, showing an professional attitude to how you are percieved online will help to enhance trust in your judgement, and put you ahead of many of your peers
Use social network tools to maximise your visibility through writing short and punchy executive summaries about you, your interests, background, status and achievements

This entry was posted on Friday, September 4th, 2009 at 9:45 am and is filed under Reputation Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.