What Does Your Digital Tattoo Say About You?

I love a good tattoo. But not everyone likes them or wants to see them! Whether you like it or not, recruiters and employers are reviewing your social networking sites and performing Google searches to screen candidates and evaluate their Digital Tattoos. I recently had a conversation with my 17-year-old about the importance of making sure her accounts reflected her in a positive way. It’s crazy how much we leave bits and pieces of ourself on the Internet – everything from your Google profile to the article you commented on, all of this information is available to companies who are evaluating your potential to work for their company.

In fact, CareerBuilder released a study that 37% of employers search social media sites for information about candidates. Some of the things they were looking for were:

• A range of interests and being well-rounded
• Candidate’s qualifications
• Inappropriate or questionable pictures and comments
• Use of illegal substances
• Respect or disrespect of others (bad mouthing former employers)
• Optimism or complaining – mood swings
• Friends and colleagues
• Resume history matches profile information

So, what to do? Do a quick Google search of yourself. If you find content that’s incorrect, you can reach out to have it taken down (hard, but can be done)! Take a good hard look at your Social Media accounts. Have you said or done things that you would not want your grandmother to see? You might want to consider taking them down. Don’t want to take down your content? Then consider locking down your pages and restricting what others can see.

Your Digital Tattoo is a reflection of you. Everyone on the Internet can have access to your information. If you’re looking for a job (or just want to make your grandmother proud), take a look and clean it up.