Digital Dirt: It's Out There and Employers Know It
What is Digital Dirt?
Digital Dirt is anything controversial that is published by you or about you. Digital Dirt can encompass anything from a personal profile page to a Youtube video you may of forgotten. If it could come up online through search engines such as Bing, Google or on sites like Facebook and MySpace then a employer can access it and see it. The ever growing popularity of social websites, blogs, personal websites and other portals of online self-expression provides employers a new tool to gain insight into job candidates personal lives. The Career Resource Center wants to make sure that our students have every advantage in such a competitive job market, so here are a few tips to make sure that your online identity is positive and professional.
Tips to Prevent Digital Dirt
If You Set it on Private, It Doesn't Necessarily Mean it's Private
Although it is recommended that students set all online profiles to private. There is still a chance that a tagged picture of you could be posted on a friend's site who does not have strict privacy settings. There are also ways around the privacy settings. Which means you should be cautious about what you post, who tagged you and who can see it.
Keep a Close Eye
Make sure you know what's being said and posted. You should look over everything you publish to see what other people are publishing and saying. For example if your buddy posts "that party was awesome no wonder you called in sick the next day." your possible future employer may not see that as a positive thing. Also pictures of you in a situation that may not be appropriate for a workplace peers and employers to see, usually the phrase 'if your grandmother wouldn't like it' comes to mind but some peoples grandparents are a little more adventurous and excepting then employers so be conservative on what you post and allow to stay up.
Check it out for Yourself
Search yourself. Go on Bing or Google and test it out sees what comes up. It can be fun trying to find your true online identity. See how much employers can find out about you just by clicking a few times and without ever leaving their desk.