Leveraging Your Online Presence

Yesterday, Shira read off some scary statistic from a magazine (which of course, I can't find now) that said something to the effect of:

35% of all students will not be hired for the job they want because a recruiter will find pictures of them sprawled drunk on their dorm room floor from their Facebook profile. Don't use Facebook if you want to get a job or a spouse or become an adult.

OK, I'm exaggerating here. But the message is all over - the Internet is weapon that can screw your future up, so be very carful with it.

And this is mostly true.

What would be a interesting and novel strategy, though, would be if parents and teachers could also see the other side of this. It used to be, a recruiter looked at the same materials for everyone - their resume, application, cover letter, etc. Now, students and job seekers of today have a secret weapon. When a recruiter looks you up on line, you have a chance to shine.

Imagine if a recruiter looked you up and found a hilarious short film you put together? Or a travel journal of your summer vacation? Or a bio on a charity website you participate in. Wouldn't this same dangerous medium work in your favor?

Parents and teachers should be teaching kids how to put their best foot forward online. How cool would it be if high school guidance counselors were also SEO experts? "Johnny, your SAT scores are nice and all, but you don't show up on Google till page 3, and even then, for a lame comment you wrote on a post. Let's fix this."

Online is a double edge sword. Use one of the edges to kick butt.