Most jobs in the area offer accommodations (much like first year residence, including food!), so why the heck not, right? Well, I finally got around to sending in some applications and e-mailing away my resume this reading week, when I got an e-mail requesting a phone interview! “Awesome Phil, you did great!” I said to myself as I replied back expressing my enthusiasm. What does this all have to do with the subject of our course, you ask? Well, I’m getting to that. So be quiet. But in all seriousness, soon after getting this e-mail, it hit me that these are the first jobs I’ve ever applied to online, where I’m unable to be there in person for the interview. What this leads me to believe is that these employers are likely going to attempt to find out as much about me as possible (or this is the conclusion I’ve jumped to). It’s as simple as typing my name into a search engine and clicking on the results.
So that’s just what I did, because I’m paranoid. In doing this, I discovered that employers would see that I make videos of myself singing and playing guitar on Youtube. They would see that my friend Sheena and I had a radio show last year on Radio Laurier called “Phil and Sheena’s Infinite Playlist”. They would also see that there is a Phillip Maciel living in California who has Twitter (and I always thought I was the only Phillip Maciel in the world. Damnit.) Lastly, they will see my Facebook profile, which I’ve set to private. But then I got paranoid about my display picture and wondered if it showcased me in a positive or negative light. I considered changing it to something that made me look more sophisticated, intelligent, and mature than this did:
But then I changed my mind. Obviously I have nothing to hide from employers – none of this is really embarrassing or incriminating. It shows I have a sense of humour, I have a passion for music, and I have a doppelganger living in California. But I honestly couldn’t believe how insane I started acting when I realized that so much can be assumed when my name is googled. I suppose this is the world we live in now, and I need to get used to it. The majority of us are all over the Internet, and all it takes is a quick engine search to find out more about a person. It’s a scary thought, but Web 2.0 is now our resume. Yet the question remains: do I really want to be remembered as the kid riding a bike with E.T.?
Interesting post!
ReplyDeleteIn fact, your post reminded me of an expression that just recently came into my vocabulary. The term is “Google juice.”
This idea is that websites today are rated on the basis of their “Google juice” – their relevancy and quality. Essentially, your website’s ranking on the Google search results page denotes just how much or how little “Google juice” your page has.
My understanding of this expression came about during a discussion of the exact situation you are highlighting – employers taking to the web to find out more about their potential employees.
The advice that I have received in regards to this is that you want “Google juice” to highlight your best assets, rather than the embarrassing ones.
However, the chances are that most of us probably already have some less than flattering images/information/etc floating around in the cybersphere.
To counter this: amp up your Facebook privacy settings, register your personal domain name, start up a blog, get a public professional Twitter account, join LinkedIn, etc.
Upon doing this, you can probably rest assured. This is because by driving your more questionable antics off of the first page of Google search results, and replacing them with respectable ones, the chances are that they won’t be found by your potential employer.
As for Banff, that town has a special place in my heart. I definitely recommend spending a summer (or more) there!
Thank you for making me feel a lot better about the results that come up when you Google my name! I wrote a post (http://scrutinizingthesphere.blogspot.com/2010/01/participatory-media-privacy-issues-and.html) that discussed some of my similar fears- that employers would judge me based off my online identity/Google search results. But after reading your post, it makes me realize that if I'm worried about hiding the little quirks that make me who I am, or censoring myself for a certain organization thinking they wouldn't like me, perhaps I wouldn't fit in working there in the first place. Granted, I still believe everyone can use that reminder to think twice before you publish something personal online, but if there's nothing incriminating or completely unprofessional under your name then there's no reason to get all crazy. And once again, if an employer would judge me on something trivial or shallow, I most likely would not want them as my boss either.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with the above comment that if you want to be proactive about the way you're viewed online, create a website with a bio and some of your works on it or a linkedin account. Direct potential employers to what you want them to see!
And by the way, I definitely think the ET picture could get you a job. AND all your performances, since you're very talented! Good luck with the phone interview.
To the above comment by "Blogophone", thanks for the suggestions on how to better our "Google juice". I, too, check my name on Google every now and then to see what comes up. Right now, there's nothing embarassing as my Facebook is private. The only thing is my name is listed on my high school's honour roll. But I like the idea of creating a blog or a profile on LinkedIn so people can see my professional and/or creative side. I think I will do so.
ReplyDeleteI do wish, though, that there was a way for employers to only see the information about me, not anyone else with my name. I can't control what other people with the same name put up about themselves on the Internet...but let me tell you, some of it is embarassing. I can only hope that potential employers and anyone else online does not make any judgments based on online information, as this does not really reflect the real us.
This is a great post! I too have had the experience of applying online,or having skype interviews with complete strangers who will never meet me until they hire me. For some reason I never thought to look up my name on google thinking that nothing would show up. After reading your post I decided to try it out. Always knowing that my parents had chosen an odd way to spell my name Katlyn, google immediately suggests that I meant to search Kaitlyn. (I feel like I should let my parents know even google thinks you spelt it wrong) Perhaps employers too will double check the spelling of my name to make sure they have the write person like Google suggests. The only search results to come up were from online articles from my home newspaper about my success in soccer. So I agree with you when you say embrace it and be proud of your "Google Juice"!
ReplyDelete