Marketing Pilgrim

Following up on the recent news, suggesting many recruiters use search engines to pre-screen job candidates, business social network Viadeo reports 20% of employers find information about candidates online and 59% are influenced by what they find.

As we pointed out, sharing your drunken exploits on MySpace, could come back to haunt you.

Examples of online information that has been shown to create negative information include MySpace pages that reveal excessive drinking or disrespect for work. One survey respondent said his company rejected a candidate based on activities found online that “did not fit ethically” into the organization.

However, it’s not all bad news. Having a good online presence can actually do a lot to help you get a job.

…13 percent of HR decision makers having decided to recruit people in light of what they found…Positive information could include achievements not already known, Internet skills demonstrated through a Web site and extra skills not revealed by a corporate application form.

Seriously, you should manage your online identity. I’ve know start-ups that have not been able to raise VC, because the founder has something negative showing up in the top 10 at Google. Monitor and manage it yourself, or hire a professional!

Via CNET.

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