Article: Keep Your Online Persona Clean!

SDN Members don't see this ad. (About Ads)

By Brittany Warrick
SDN Staff Writer
Published 4/30/08

The online world has evolved substantially over the past decade. Today it is commonplace for students to have a presence on social sites such as Facebook, Xanga, LiveJournal, or MySpace. But what most students do not appreciate is the fact that potential employers and schools may use these sites to evaluate their applicants. They use them to weed out candidates for their positions and to decide if a potential employee is the type of person that would make a good “fit”. Thus, our pages on Facebook and MySpace have become additions to our resumes and personal statements. One survey conducted by ExecuNet in 2007 found that 83% of recruiters use the Internet to evaluate their candidates and 43% of those have turned down a candidate based on what they saw online. The burning question is: how can students protect their personas on the Internet?

The first step is to lock down your sites so that you can control who gains access. This will protect the information that you post online. However, it is important to remember that many institutions may hire students or have sites themselves and they could request access to your site.
The next step is to stop and ask yourself, “Would I put this information in my resume or personal statement?” A picture of you drunk at a party is clearly not a good way to promote yourself. Also, if you choose to blog about your stance on controversial topics or rant just to blow off steam, do not use your full name. It is also important to make sure that your friends do not post inappropriate pictures or information about you on their sites.

The last thing is to use your online presence to advertise your good qualities. You can post information about your leadership, maturity, growth and potential. According to the 2007 ExecuNet survey, some 70% of recruiters have said that finding positive information about a candidate would increase the applicant’s chance of getting a position.
As a safeguard, it is always a good idea to periodically run a Google search on your name and determine what information is out there. If there is negative information then try to counteract it by increasing the positive information. You can do this by starting a blog about your professional and personal growth or writing articles for a Web site.

The main thing is to keep a clear head when posting information about yourself on the Internet. It would be a shame to lose out on an opportunity because of something posted on a MySpace page. Keep it clean and professional and sites may be able to work for you.

References
Cooper, Lauren. Protecting your online reputation. Young Money. Available at http://education.incharge.org/careers/advice/79
Accepted to College.com. http://acceptedtocollege.com/planning/online-presence/

Interesting read. However, no big surprise to me. My fiancee is in a dental hygiene program and her directors have myspace accounts so that they can monitor their students. (People need to learn how to use the "Private" function.

Same deal with my medical school. Except they come here to SDN.

Originally Posted by Terpskins99

Same deal with my medical school. Except they come here to SDN.

which school is this? Does a list of schools that may use this site exist? because people always seem to think they are being lied to when someone tells them that schools use this site.

Originally Posted by Caesar

which school is this? Does a list of schools that may use this site exist? because people always seem to think they are being lied to when someone tells them that schools use this site.

I'm not aware of any list, such a list would likely be inaccurate anyway. While we do hear about a few schools on the forums here and there, there are likely many schools that keep there presence on the forums more covert.

This is extremely important. Keep it clean and keep it private. Realize that your friends' photo albums may not be private, even if yours are. On the first day of vet school the dean told us that if we had a MySpace or facebook account to assume that they had read it. It is extremely important to remember that what you post can stay cataloged on the web forever.

Even though I understand why a school would do all of this, it kind of bothers me. It seems like one's personal affairs should not be relative to one's education, especially not if they're not struggling in school. I usually like being very open, but I've caved and privatized most of my stuff. Oh well.

Ok so after reading this article I googled myself using my full name and the people I came up with were not me. And I don't want to be mistaken for any of them either! What can I do about that?

I'm glad I picked this SN.
...Now I feel like BATMAN!

Originally Posted by ^=^

I'm glad I picked this SN.
...Now I feel like BATMAN!

Batman you say...

Originally Posted by Mister J

Batman you say...

"You're going to love me"
BAm! Pow! Swoosh!

It seems I've found information on you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Wayne

Try harder.

Originally Posted by malfee

It seems I've found information on you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Wayne

Try harder.

Didn't they teach you not to trust Wiki in English class?

Originally Posted by ^=^

Didn't they teach you not to trust Wiki in English class?

Darn!

Oh wait...

http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/11/bru...211batman.html

I think Forbes is a bit more credible than Wiki.

Originally Posted by glowworm

What can I do about that?

Nothing really however I wouldn't sweat it. I think they understand that unless you directly identify yourself on any of those sites it's very likely that people would have common names. Heck when I google myself apparently I'm a star skateboarder.

Originally Posted by malfee

Darn!

Oh wait...

http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/11/bru...211batman.html

I think Forbes is a bit more credible than Wiki.

I know you be hating when you see the Lambo in the background . But damn, I have a son I never knew about. LoL!

A lot of people are brainless in the type of pictures that they put up. They don't realize that sometime in the future somebody could look them up and find iffy pictures of them at the wrong time. If that somebody is somebody who could affect their careers then they are screwed.

That's why you can set myspace to private and keep the main picture a caption or something other than yourself.