By Lekan Otufodunrin
Last Thursday, while searching for a term I was not familiar with on Google, I stumbled on an article titled: 5 Ways to spot bad employees…before they are hired
I was curious about what it means to be a bad employee and clicked to read the article.
One of the five ways titled Google the candidate caught my attention.
The article by a staff of allbusiness.com stated thus: Blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and even industry articles can reveal interesting details about a person that you’d never be able to uncover in even the best interview. This kind of research can also help you uncover inaccuracies in the candidate’s résumé.
The above advice to employers reinforced my belief that people should be careful about what they put online. In the present digital world, you are as good as what search engines say about you than your carefully prepared curriculum vitae or the positive impression you give at interviews and during your interaction with people.
Employers want to know more about you than your educational qualifications. They want to know the company you keep, the quality of your thoughts and many other things about you which what you say or share online or is said or shared about you online can reveal.
I remember reading a quote that cautioned against unrestrained use of the internet that said in future, some of us may have to change our names to erase our cyber past.
With growing internet access in the country, we all seem to be too eager to share so much online at the slightest instance. Many are so obsessed with posting on facebook that they literally violate their own privacy.
While it may be okay to indulge in some occasional sharing of information and pictures, especially on anniversaries and a few other special occasions, what many do on the social media is an abuse of the forum at their own expense without realising it.
We don’t have to share information about everything we do. We need to realise that almost everything about us online can be found through use of search engines.
If you are very active online, search for your name on Google and you will be surprised what you will find. Things you have forgotten about and things about you that you are not aware are online.
To regulate use of social media for instance, some organisations abroad have social media policies. There are things employees must not do online for the sake of the image of their organisations. Since I first posted a part of this article on facebook last week, I have read various responses with some saying it may be better not to share anything online. The solution is not about staying offline. No one who wants to be taken seriously in this age should. What is necessary is a lot of caution in deciding what we should and should not publish online. Google must be able to say something about you however little. The issue what will it say about you. The option is yours.
The next time you’re online, remember you are documenting for scrutiny the kind of person you are. My advice: Know what to post online. It could make or mar your opportunity to get that job or position you desire or retain your present one.
