Be Proactive About Your Digital Reputation

Students love their social media, and recruiters love it too. Of the 275 job recruiters surveyed by Cross-Tab Marketing Services, seventy percent have ruled candidates out after viewing their information on social media sites.  More and more job recruiters, admission officers and others evaluating candidates are looking to social media to inform their choices.  You want the top five hits, that result from your name search, to be "examples of ... creativity, collaborative skills, and change-the-world work" (Richardson).  Because most students see social media as their private playground it is a big shift in their paradigm.  

Some good advice.

From Living Up to Your Reputation
 1.  Be who you are, integrity counts
 2.  Don't be mean ever
 3.  Help a friend.  What are they posting?
 4.  Be a Friend.  What are you posting?
 5. Consider your audience.  To whom are you talking?  What are
      you sharing?  Who is, or might be, listening?
 6.  Promote your professional self.
 7.  Manage your privacy settings everywhere.
 8. Google yourself often.
 9.  You are not anonymous.
                                      10.  What you post is permanent.

If you want to work backwards from what you have, to your new reality, there is a process advocated by Torrey Trust.

• Clean it up. Sanitize. Go with one profile.
• Create a personal brand.
• Establish your expertise or academic credibility.
• Build a strong professional presence.
• Market your digital reputation.

Even though its Australian and at the college level, Build a Positive Digital Footprint has detailed advice for young adults.

Online I.D. Calculator

Building a Digital Reputation 2.0 - great slideshare
Diigo link to resources

Works Cited

Deisley, Laura. “Living Up to Your Reputation.” Architecture of Ideas. TypePad, 8 Oct. 2010. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. <http://thenetwork.typepad.com/architectureofideas/2010/10/living-up-to-your-reputation.html>.

Marklein, Mary Beth. “Job Hunters: Polish That Online Image” USA Today 20 12 2012.  Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Dec. 2013. <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=J0E237827172412&site=ehost-live>

Pink, Daniel. Two Questions That Can Change Your Life. Vimeo. Vimeo, 2010. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. <http://vimeo.com/8480171>.

Richardson, Will. “Footprints in the Digital Age.” Educational Leadership Nov. 2008: 16-19. Educational Leadership. ASCD, Nov. 2008. Web. 05 Dec. 2013. <http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/nov08/vol66/num03/Footprints-in-the-Digital-Age.aspx>.

Trust, Torrey. “Building Your Digital Reputation.” Slideshare. 6 Nov. 2013. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. <http://www.slideshare.net/torreytrust/digital-repv-ny>.