The 3 problems with your online presence and how to fix them

When you google yourself, what happens? Usually one of four things:

a) It's exactly as you expected and you are rather pleased with yourself; b) all the results are nothing to do with you and it appears that, in fact, you don't exist at all; c) what does come up has mistakes in it or isn't up to date; d) you want to cover your face in shame.

Now imagine a recruiter has just googled your name and come up with the same results as you.

If the answer was a) go to the top of the class. You have nothing to worry about. If it was b), c) or d) fear not! The following tips are here to help you:

For no online presence:

Turn to LinkedIn. Create a profile, with all your relevant professional history and a snappy summary. Then start connecting with friends, colleagues, former colleagues and bosses, old university pals and people relevant to the business area you're in or interested in. If you're feeling brave join some LinkedIn groups and start engaging with the community.

In addition to LinkedIn, check out some other social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, or consider creating a personal blog on a website like Tumblr or WordPress.

For a presence with mistakes or that's incomplete:

Check all your online profiles and make sure all the relevant information is there: recent jobs, interesting accomplishments, examples of your work and contact information. Also ensure that all your different websites and profiles are connected by including links on all of them.

Be diligent in checking for mistakes and keep your profiles up to date. Contact bloggers to ask them to remove or update any incorrect information about you.

For an inappropriate presence:

Start by getting rid of dodgy photos: taking them down or untagging yourself. Even if your privacy settings are right, the person who uploaded the photograph or the other person tagged in it might have their wide open.

Think about the image you are trying to project. Start making positive contributions on the right blogs and groups and eventually all the old or offensive stuff will get pushed on to the second search page.

Make sure you check your online presence regularly and take appropriate action.

Sources: Abintegro, Careerealism

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Pearson