Managing Your Internet Presence

Your internet presence is an indispensible part of your 21st century job search. Not only should you be actively reaching out to recruiters and hiring authorities, but you should also be leveraging your efforts with direct networking (through LinkedIn, Facebook, Ecademy, etc.) and a strong internet presence. This combination creates an effective job search strategy that will increase your exposure to more opportunities.

If you have a website, blog, Facebook profile, or other web presence, there are two things to examine:

1. Can people find you?
2. When they do, what will they find?

Do you worry about what people might find, or not find, if they do a Google search on you? Here are some steps to ensure you sleep better at night.

Promoting yourself on the Internet can be challenging. You want to be searchable, in that if someone types in your name to Google, you want to be found. In this day in age, it can be detrimental if nothing exists in your name. On the other hand, you don't want the information that pops up in your search to be unprofessional.

The focus here is keeping your 'business presence' what you intend it to be. Someday, you will probably need to rely on it for future employment. Your internet presence is your personal brand. When potential employers and clients Google search you, what they find should encompass your brand - meaning that they should be able to find everything that is related to your professional endeavors.

Keywords are not just for resumes. If you have written articles, books, or have presented your artwork or given presentations, all of these belong in categories with keywords associated with them. This will ensure that they will be searchable under your name, adding to your professional internet presence.

Screen icons should represent you and your skills, not necessarily be cute and fuzzy. A screen name can make or break you. Can others take you seriously with your screen name? Facebook for family can be cute; Facebook for business should be representative of your skills and talents. Taglines are similar to screen names. They should be carefully chosen to represent you and your work- in as few words as possible as a tagline is meant to be catchy, so that means short and to-the-point.

Work samples show variety, but you should be cognizant of what samples you show. If you show personal or proprietary information on the web, you may be held liable. Others may not want to work with you if they think their projects will be shown in your public portfolio. Develop sensitivity towards others' feelings. Always ask clients before posting material to the web. Don't post everything you've ever done. When your portfolio list gets too long, it's a good idea to just post a listing of the items (if needed), not the entire work.

When you can refer everyone from your parents and spouse to potential employers or employees to your website or blog, you can safely bet your web presence is heading in the right direction. You can sleep easier knowing your future employer won't find that questionable whatever-it-is you hope they won't see.