Employers Googling your name

James1968

try typing your name into pipl.com. If you have an email address from the likes of gmail, hotmal or yahoo then it can pull loads of interesting stuff. If however, you have an email address provided by your ISP, then it reveals nothing.

I once heard an expert talking on the radio about using social media sites as a weapon in the arsenal of a job hunter. Creating a public profile on F/B, then only posting acheivements and good stuff can be just as bad as posting photos of yourself with a pintglass in your hand.

debrag

James1968 wrote: »

try typing your name into pipl.com. If you have an email address from the likes of gmail, hotmal or yahoo then it can pull loads of interesting stuff. If however, you have an email address provided by your ISP, then it reveals nothing.

My email comes up with 1 search and a few 'related' searches including someones dating site profile. My name comes up with nothing about me I am a British actress though.

duchy

I don't put anything on my FB I'd not be prepared to own anyway.
Most of my work colleagues can't find me as my FB name is a different last name to the surname I use at work . I don't personally have a "no workmates" FB policy but I don't add them without good reason either.

My linkedin would confuse the heck out of most employers as it's such a diverse mix of people as I genuinely use it to network and have friends online worldwide in a very diverse range of companies and occupations.

I don't pretend to be anything I'm not either at work or on-line -the worst that would come up is some friends of friends getting a bit excited over certain celebs .......any employer daft enough to read anything into that wouldn't be worth working for anyway.

I share my name with a well known actress and a couple of sportswomen too.

brokeinwales

I don't know how many employers do do this but it does make sense to have a google of yourself, look through any profiles you have online and try your best to make sure there's nothing there to incriminate you. You can use seperate emails for personal and job searching purposes, make your facebook profile private, use a pseudonym, delete accounts from sites you no longer use etc - obviously you don't have control over every potential use of your name, but you can limit it. Although they're not always obliged to do so, sometimes if you email a website and ask they will take down something you have posted if you think it pants you in a bad light - worth a try if you reckon something could lead to "misunderstandings".

I have a problem in that I have a name that sounds like it would be quite unusual, but there's actually quite a lot of us worldwide - meaning a google search of my name gives the impression I'm quite busy: I own a strip club apparently. But I have also done a lot of charity work, so I guess that makes up for it.

Though I have it easy, one of my ex boyfriends had the same name as a convicted sex offender. He did consider adding a note to his CV to explain that it wasn't him.

keyser666

duchy wrote: »

I don't put anything on my FB I'd not be prepared to own anyway.
Most of my work colleagues can't find me as my FB name is a different last name to the surname I use at work . I don't personally have a "no workmates" FB policy but I don't add them without good reason either.

My linkedin would confuse the heck out of most employers as it's such a diverse mix of people as I genuinely use it to network and have friends online worldwide in a very diverse range of companies and occupations.

I don't pretend to be anything I'm not either at work or on-line -the worst that would come up is some friends of friends getting a bit excited over certain celebs .......any employer daft enough to read anything into that wouldn't be worth working for anyway.

I share my name with a well known actress and a couple of sportswomen too.

You miss the point earlier, doesnt matter if your facebook profile name is different, if someone has your email address that you signed up with then shebang there is your profile

MissSarah1972

keyser666 wrote: »

You miss the point earlier, doesnt matter if your facebook profile name is different, if someone has your email address that you signed up with then shebang there is your profile

If you page is private they can only see your profile photo.