Seth Godin shares a great story on his blog, about a friend that advertised on Craigslist for a housekeeper.
Three interesting resumes rose to the top, and all three were googled.
The first search turned up a MySpace page showing a picture of the applicant drinking beer from a funnel. Even better, the first entry under hobbies was “binge drinking.”
The second applicant was googled, and a personal blog turned up. In a recent post, the applicant shared something like, “ ”I am applying for some menial jobs that are below me, and I’m annoyed by it. I’ll certainly quit the minute I sell a few paintings.”
The third search has got to be my favorite. There were only six matches, and the sixth was from the local police department, indicating that the applicant had been arrested for shoplifting two years earlier.
All three were found. Google never fails. Seth reminds us, everything you do now ends up in your permanent record.
What can you do? Know that your every move is being watched, and overload Google with a big list of all the great things you’re doing. It’s time to take charge of your online identity.
What comes up when you google your name?
photo credit: Hans van Reenen
Tags: google, online identity, personal branding
