Go special GET A KICKASS - Wayne Denner
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AUGUST 2013 • 29 WWW.THEGOAWARDS.COM Go special 28 • AUGUST 2013 Go special GET A KICKASS ONLINE REPUTATION GO enlisted the help of Wayne Denner, who has spent over 15 years in the rapidly changing digital landscape to share his ideas and experiences on how today’s amazing technology can be used as a tool for lifelong learning and positive engagement in all paths of life, and gives us sound advice on our online presence and protecting our reputation... Now here is the scary part. It does not stop at recruitment. Employers are also keeping an eye on what their employees are posting and commenting on, online. So once you’ve landed that dream job, your online presence may still be monitored, with 8% of companies having fired an employee for inappropriate online use. If you’ve never checked what is out there on the interwebs about yourself, I suggest you pick up your smartphone, open your favourite search engine and type in your name. You will then be able to review the search results, publicly available for all to see - based on your name. WHAT CAN WE DO TO KEEP OUR ONLINE REPUTATION INTACT? In a nutshell, it’s important that you start to take control of it. In today’s world -online reputation matters. #Fact. So, here are a couple of handy tips, which will help keep it in shape: #1 GOOGLE YOURSELF - but not in a needy way. As a rule do this every few weeks and most importantly, before a potential employer carries out their search on you. Stay ahead of the posse - I t may come as a surprise to some people that when they leave University and start applying for jobs, that recruiters, employers or organisations might just carry out a quick online search on the applicant. Yes, you. Now this may present a number of problems for us digital natives, mainly because many of us now live out our lives online. But Wayne, I hear you say, there couldn’t possibly be anything negative or untoward about me online? Or could there be? That was exactly what one former teenage Youth Police Commissioner, Paris Brown (17) thought. Paris was forced to quit her high profile, opportunity-of-a-lifetime role over ‘offensive’ tweets she had made at only 14 years old. Her comments on Twitter came back to haunt her just as she was beginning a career which would have opened doors for her around the world. Yes, my friends, what you post online stays online and what’s more, over half of recruiters are now searching personal social networking sites when considering hiring you. Here’s the interesting bit. According to Execu.net, executive recruiters have adopted a ‘googling’ as best practise for job candidates. A further 90% report that they type a candidate’s name into an online search to find out more information, beyond what is on the candidate’s resume. According to the same survey, 50% of recruiters have eliminated a job candidate because of information they found publicly on the Internet. 028-030 Online Reputation_Layout 1 02/09/2013 14:05 Page 28
Transcript of Go special GET A KICKASS - Wayne Denner
AUGUST 2013 • 29WWW.THEGOAWARDS.COM
Go special
28 • AUGUST 2013
Go special
GET A KICKASSONLINE REPUTATIONGO enlisted the help of Wayne Denner, who has spent over 15 years in therapidly changing digital landscape to share his ideas and experiences on howtoday’s amazing technology can be used as a tool for lifelong learning andpositive engagement in all paths of life, and gives us sound advice on ouronline presence and protecting our reputation...
Now here is the scary part. It does not stop atrecruitment. Employers are also keeping an eye onwhat their employees are posting and
commenting on, online. So onceyou’ve landed that dream job,
your online presence may stillbe monitored, with 8% ofcompanies having fired anemployee for inappropriateonline use.If you’ve never checked
what is out there on theinterwebs about yourself, Isuggest you pick upyour smartphone,open your
favourite search engineand type in your name. Youwill then be able to review thesearch results, publicly available
for all to see - based on your name.
WHAT CAN WE DO TO KEEP OUR ONLINE REPUTATION INTACT?In a nutshell, it’s important that you start to takecontrol of it. In today’s world -onlinereputation matters. #Fact. So, here are a couple of handy tips,
which will help keep it in shape:
#1 GOOGLE YOURSELF - but notin a needy way. As a rule do thisevery few weeks and mostimportantly, before a potentialemployer carries out their searchon you. Stay ahead of the posse -
I t may come as a surprise to some people that whenthey leave University and start applying for jobs, thatrecruiters, employers or
organisations might just carry out aquick online search on theapplicant. Yes, you. Nowthis may present anumber of problems forus digital natives,mainly because many ofus now live out our livesonline. But Wayne, I hear you
say, there couldn’t possiblybe anything negative oruntoward about me online? Orcould there be? That was exactlywhat one former teenage YouthPolice Commissioner, Paris Brown (17)thought. Paris was forced to quit her high profile,opportunity-of-a-lifetime role over ‘offensive’ tweets shehad made at only 14 years old. Her comments onTwitter came back to haunt her just as she was beginninga career which would have opened doors for her aroundthe world. Yes, my friends, what you post online staysonline and what’s more, over half of recruiters are nowsearching personal social networking sites whenconsidering hiring you. Here’s the interesting bit. According to Execu.net,
executive recruiters have adopted a ‘googling’ as bestpractise for job candidates. A further 90% report thatthey type a candidate’s name into an online search tofind out more information, beyond what is on thecandidate’s resume. According to the same survey, 50%of recruiters have eliminated a job candidate because ofinformation they found publicly on the Internet.
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it’s agood ideato set up a
GoogleAlertonyourname
whichwill notify
you, via email,should any new
content about youappear online.
#2 PRIVACY IS KEY - keep your personalinformation private – When it comes to
keeping stuff private on social networks it’sharder than you think. And you would beright in thinking you might need a PHDwith platforms such as Facebook changingthe rules about how you can protectyourself and your content. That being saidthere is no excuse for doing nothing about
your privacy settings. Pay attention to thecontent you upload to social-networking sitesand adjust the privacy settings accordingly tosuit who you want to be able to view andpotentially share it on.
If you use mobile apps for socialnetworking, it’s also important that youvisit the privacy settings on these, asthey may be different to your moretraditional web based platform.
#3 TAGGING - Even if you are taking care tokeep your own privacy in check on socialnetwork websites, it can be somewhat difficultto manage the content others will post upon you and tag you in – and this can causesome serious problems. Pay close attentionto the images your friends are postingonline and tagging you in and also thecomments they are associating you with and
remove any tags which are embarrassing ornegative, even if they’re ‘funny’. Don’t get
caught like a recent Burger King employee in Japanwho got sacked after a friend/fellow worker
photographed him lying on a pile of burger bunsand posted it on Twitter. Not too clever.
#4 GENERATE POSITIVE CONTENT - as a whole weneed more positive content to be generated viasocial media. Way too many people use platforms
as their own personal soap box to rant and raveabout all sorts of crazy things. Posting on your
interests, or careers you would like topursue, connecting and followingpeople who inspire you and achievegood things are all ways to boostyour reputation and improveopportunities online.
#5 OVERSHARING - Way too manyof us are sharing absolutely
everything going onin our lives viasocial media. As
a rule of thumb, bean Internet wise guy and keep views
you may have in relation to religion or politics offsocial networking websites. Equally, be careful aboutsharing content which may be unsuitable and joininggroups which in hindsight might be of an inappropriatenature.In regard to your online reputation, it’s smart to start
as you mean to go on. Start taking action - cleaning upany current material which is out there now andthinking about ways to build and improve your imageonline. Think about the content which is associatedwith you. What’s online needs to tell a positive storyabout who you are. The Internet is like a library. It catalogues everything
you post online into an archive and it only takessomeone to carry out some basic key word searcheswith your name, and voila up comes information onyou. When it comes to employability opportunities thiscould mean the difference between the job of a lifetimeor stacking shelves. Not that there’s anything wrongwith stacking shelves. If you like shelf stacking.It’s easy in a digital world to shoot yourself in the foot
online or just not manage your online reputation, andthe repercussions can be brutal. On the positive sidethough, it’s all down to you. You’re in control. In thisworld reputationcounts for a lot, isdifficult to buildand easy to lose.So look after itlike your mostprized possession,which is probablyyour iPhone.Yeah, look afterit like youriPhone. l
WWW.THEGOAWARDS.COM
INFO:To find out more about Wayne Denner tel: 028 9581 6717, visit Beatthecyberbully.comor follow him @waynedenner
Go special
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