5 Ways to Cover Your Web Tracks

5 Ways to Cover Your Web Tracks5 Ways to Cover Your Web Tracks5 Ways to Cover Your Web TracksFacebook.LinkedIn. Twitter. YouTube.Recognize those names? They may be little more to you than fun, creative, online forums to voice your personality. But youve heard the warning before If you want something to be private, dont post it online. In the age of social networking, ignoring that warning can prove disastrous. Its no secret that recruiters and hiring managers use the Internet to filter candidates before they even make initial contact. If youre on the hund for a new job, take my advice and follow these five tips to cover your own web tracks1) Google yourself. Weve all done this before. Even out of pure curiosity, we want to know what everyone else in the world will find if they search for our names. Give it a try and see what pops up. If you cant find anything within the first 3 or 4 pages of results, then youre probably in the clear. But if you do spot some relevant links, move on to ...2) Review your profiles. Typically, the links that show up in your search lead to profiles on social networking sites (such as Facebook and others listed above). Review these profiles to see what others will see if they do the same. Not happy with what you find? Take the necessary steps to a more professional profile and ...3) Remove embarrassing pictures and content. The best part about social networking is the ability to express yourself and connect with friends when its convenient. But when youre looking for a new job and interested recruiters can easily view your profile, clean it up a bit by wiping out any pictures of yourself half-naked, wrestling in a pit of mud and beer (well, you get the idea). If its not professional, it could skew the professionalism youre trying to project to future employers. Also, make sure that nothing you have on your profile contradicts the qualifications and skills you put on your resume. If you claim to have excellent communication skills, don t let your About Me description show otherwise with misspelled words and sloppy sentences. Dont want to dismantle your online personality to such a degree? Then simply ...4) Change your privacy settings. Every networking site has user-changeable privacy settings, and if youve never played with them before, nows the time. If you did a web search for my name right now, youd discover that Im an author on something called The Blog and that I have a Facebook account. I dont want to give the world access to every Facebook detail about me when they click on that link, so I tailored my profile to show only what Im comfortable with. To do the same, just find the settings that control your public profile and tweak them until it (a) no longer shows up in a web search, or (b) displays only what you want the world to see. But remember, the web is not always something you can control, so just try to ...5) Relax. If youve exhausted your efforts and just cant fix or remove your own web tracks, cons ider this If an employer fails to consider you for a position based solely on your social networking profiles, you probably dont want to work for them anyway.