Webupon

You think it’s in the bag, the interview went well, you have all the qualifications they asked for, the job is just right for you but then, two days later, you get the letter telling you that you didn’t it!  So, how could the internet have been to blame?

Employers are starting to realise that they can glean a lot of extra information about a person from the internet.  Your Facebook or MySpace page, or other online content shows a lot about you and, increasingly after an interview, employers are spending time online to see what they can find.

For them it’s an ideal chance to find what a person is really like and, let’s say there’s a shortlist of a dozen people, it might help to quickly cut that shortlist in half or even further!

So, what does your Facebook or MySpace page say about you?  Does it make you look like a fun loving, binge drinker, posing naked for photos in the local fountain after midnight?  Or maybe they’ll look at your Flickr site to find public photos of you and your friends that tell a quite different story to the one you would like people to know about your life

But it doesn’t have to be that obvious.  Maybe you lied every so slightly on your application form, a lie that is shown up easily by the information that is online and there for everyone and anyone to see?

It could even be something you wrote in a forum or in reply to a post that shows you in a less than perfect light or that reveals interests or opinions that might not endear you to a prospective employer.

The problem is that information put on the internet, particularly information put there by others, can’t be changed easily, if it can be changed at all.  It seems to be a general rule that once information is online it has a habit of staying there for a very long time.

To find out what people can see about you, search in a search engine for your name (enclose it in quotation marks like this: “Fred Smith”).  If you have an unusual name then this will instantly throw up information about you.  If your name is not so rare then add your town as well.  Remember that employers are not stupid and will try shortened versions of your first name, too, so you might need a few searches.

If you find information that you now regret putting there, see if it is possible to change it or if you can get the person who put it there to remove it.  If you tell the truth and are honest with people you will often find that they can be cooperative.

Of course, you can look at this from the other way round, too.  Suppose a prospective employer looks on the internet and finds pictures of you doing good work for your community or of blog posts that show you in a very positive light.  Again, this information shows more of your character and this might be just enough to help you.

However, don’t immediately rush out and doctor your pages with false information since this often has a habit of backfiring on you.  We all do good things in life, it’s just a case of making sure that these find their way online in the form of photos or blog posts.

So, make sure you find out now what’s online about you so that you know.  And then you can ensure in the future that posts, comments and pages show the picture of you that you really want people to see!