Seven Tips for Staying Out of Trouble On-Line
A lawyer was interviewing for a new job. He connected with the interviewer, received positive feedback on his resume, and perfectly articulated why he was interested in the firm. He thought a callback was in the bag. That was until the interviewer confronted him with a compromising picture from his MySpace page. Asked to explain what he was doing in the picture, the attorney froze. Not surprisingly, he didn’t receive a callback from the firm.
Employers Surf the Web
As a legal recruiter that places associates I can truly say that due to the explosion of the
Worldwide Web, you are more than just a resume and an interview. You are a searchable item on the Internet. Anyone can “google” you and find out your club memberships, school alumni activities, and even your recent time in a local 5k race. Some employers make sure the issue is front and center from the very beginning. For example, one of the questions asked in the vetting documents for a position in the Obama White House is: “Please provide the URL address of any websites that feature you in either a personal or professional capacity (e.g., F
acebook, MySpace, etc.)."
According to a survey by CareerBuilder, more than 25 percent of hiring managers search the Web before deciding to hire a specific candidate. And over half have decided not to hire someone based on what they found. Here are some of the things that were discovered on-line: Candidates lied about their qualifications, had links to criminal behavior, bad-mouthed or revealed confidential information about their previous company or a fellow employee, indicated they had used drugs or alcohol, showed provocative or inappropriate photographs, used tasteless screen names, etc. The bottom line is that what appears on-line may have serious consequences for you personally and professionally. No matter how hard you work on your resume, how great your references are, or how brightly you shine in an interview, you need to make sure everything about you will pass muster. Therefore, you need to work hard to make sure anything that could be construed as negative or questionable is not posted anywhere on the Internet.
Even If You Already Have a Job
This may sound like something that is only threatening up-and-coming lawyers. Wrong. Many law firm and in-house recruiters are creating “dummy” Facebook and MySpace accounts – not only to research potential summer and lateral associate candidates – but also to monitor current employees. Poor Internet decorum can kill your current career just as easily as it can ruin your future job prospects.
Reputation Management in the Internet Age Continues Here.....