Hi Jesse,

Thanks for your comments. I am going to save this email and share it with my
students. We had a lively conversation on this very topic in my online Org.
& Mgmt. class in the fall. It's important for everyone to understand that
anything they post or anyone else posts about them is available for access
by potential employers. Regardless of whether they thought it was legal or
ethical for an employer to 'google' an interviewee before the interview,
they must operate under the assumption that it will happen and can make a
difference. If you put something together on this and are willing to share
it, I know it would be very helpful. 

Pat



-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Jesse Wilkins
Sent: Friday, January 02, 2009 10:42 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [RM] Resumes

Hi Peter,
Thanks for the link. I wanna take this opportunity to remind many of you of
something, and to let many of you know something that might help (or hurt)
your job searching efforts.

I've had the opportunity to review a number of applicants in the last
several years for a number of positions, including consulting positions,
standards/task force positions, and some others. The first thing I do when I
get a resume is to Google the person. I look to see what comes up, and I
look for answers to the following questions:
- Does the person show up in a search engine at all?
- Do the search results generally support the resume? If you say you are a
consultant, I should be able to find some mention of you, either relating to
projects you've worked on or speaking engagements or other, more
industry-focused work you've done like standards and task forces.
- Is the person involved in the community? If so, in what way? This is
certainly not a dealbreaker one way or the other - but it depends on what
that involvement is, right?
- Do the search results show me what you were doing Friday night/Sat morning
at 1:30 am with a half-dozen of your new friends? Do they include alcohol,
drugs, and/or nudity?
- Do the search results produce any meaningful online interaction, such as
this list, wikis, etc. - and what is the nature of that interaction? Is it
thoughtful, or is it expletive-laced? (Not that that couldn't be thoughtful
as well, but you get the idea).
- What else do I learn about you?
Now, if your name is "Tom Brown" or "Jane Smith" this might not work quite
as well - but then again, it might if you are active enough.

To eat my own dog food, I routinely Google "Jesse Wilkins". I just did that
again, with the following results:
8 of the top 10 were me.
35 of the top 50 were me.
And 62 of the top 100 were me.

The last time I did this it was a big higher, c. 77, but a lot of the
results had to do with my run for political office in Colorado in 2000. Now,
if I gave you the details on what I ran for, my party, how I did, etc., that
might color your perception of me. Is that right? Dunno. Is it legal? I'm
not a lawyer or HR pro but I suspect it would be in most areas. Would it
influence a hiring decision if someone saw it? Definitely maybe.

So my point behind this long and rambling post is this. If you are looking
for a job, I encourage you to do the same to see what the Web says about
you. If you don't like what you find, there isn't much you can do about it
EXCEPT add more stuff and more recent stuff so anything you don't like tends
to get pushed down in the results. Most folks, after all, won't go more than
the first couple of pages of results.

And if you are a consultant or want to become one, one of the best things
you can do for yourself is to start pushing your personal brand and that of
your firm. That means being prolific in speaking, writing, publishing, etc.
It doesn't mean you have to speak at every ARMA chapter every year, nor
publish in Wired Magazine (though that would really help!). But there should
be some "paper trail" (sorry Steve W.) that gives people some sense of what
you do.

I still have a regular resume and a CV that I can dust off and use where
applicable, but increasingly the work I do and the presentations I deliver
are related to someone finding me on Google and using that as the starting
point.

If you want more information, feel free to contact me directly at
[log in to unmask]; I'm also going to put together a presentation with
recording on Slideshare and probably on my firm's website that describes how
to create and cultivate your online persona.

Cheers,

Jesse Wilkins
[log in to unmask]

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