The Grad Voice

Getting a job all comes down to marketing. When looking at potential candidates for an open position, the potential employer is looking at two things: what you tell them and what you don't tell them. You might have a great resume, all the right degrees, good experience and great interview skills. However, so do lots of other people. What makes you unique? What makes you stand out from the crowd?

Until recently, employers have looked at that little section at the bottom of your resume called "personal interests" to determine what makes you someone who can do more than crunch numbers. That has become less relevant as Google searches become standard fare when checking out applicants. Your resume might be ready for the world. How's your virtual identity? What does your Google search tell employers about you?

You could be happy with what your virtual identity says about you. That's great. You're in the minority. Most people, however, probably feel that their Google search conjures up nothing particularly significant about themselves, which they might believe is a good thing. It isn't. It tells your employer that you're not interesting. The Google search bot crawls every site (well, most sites). If you've done anything remotely out of the ordinary or interesting in your life besides work, it should show up there. So what you're looking at here is a missed opportunity. You've got the power to show your potential employer that there is more to you than what you can fit on an 8" x 11" piece of paper. You've got to take control of your virtual identity. Here are some tips on how to do that.

The first step is to solidify your professional experience online. Go to Linkedin and create an account if you don't have one already. Make sure it's got the most up-to-date information. Other sites like Ryze and Plaxo provide similar functionality, but Linkedin is the industry leader and if you were to only use one of these sites, use Linkedin.

The next step is to highlight some of your personal, yet not embarrassing, sides. Go to Meetup.com and create an account. Meetup is a site that allows people with similar interests to get together. It also is heavily crawled by the Google search bot. Highlight your interests by signing up for a few Meetup groups that cater to your interests (the ones you want to highlight). You don't have to attend any events but your name will now be connected to those groups. You can even attend one or two. Some can be quite good.

After a couple weeks you should start to see results show up on Google. As you will see, things are starting to look better. There is one problem. These results are fleeting. All it takes is one website to screw up your whole plan. One of my friends was misquoted in a college newspaper article a couple years ago. Local papers picked up the article and searching his name on Google now results in his inappropriate misquote on the front page. You need more than a few web accounts to protect yourself from something like this happening to you. You need search results with depth and history. You need a blog.

I'm not suggesting you pour your heart out every week, so the world can hear about how you broke up with your significant other. Nor am I suggesting that you rant about politics, religion, or anything else controversial. What I'm suggesting is that you start a steady dialogue with the rest of the world. Go to Blogger, Wordpress, LiveJournal (personally, I like Wordpress) and create a free blog. Start using your real name and just type about anything that interests you. Don't over-think it. Just type. Don't write anything that you don't feel comfortable talking about on an interview. But feel free to write about those personal interests that you highlighted on your resume. This gives you the power over your online identity. As long as you keep writing, your blog will eventually show up higher than any fleeting website that happens to mention your name. Plus, you might actually enjoy it.

As you go about reinventing your virtual self, I think it's important to offer a bit of a warning. Be very careful about what information you put online. Specifically, never put personal information on an unprotected site. So many people think that Facebook is secure. Facebook is only as secure as you make it. If your settings are not configured correctly, your profile could be open to Google search bots and the rest of the world. I can't say it enough. Be careful. Be proactive. And don't lose a job opportunity because your Google search results don't represent the ideal employee.

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