Have you ever typed a candidate's name into Google or Yahoo? You're not alone! Far from being an isolated practice, resorting to search engines is becoming a part of the recruiting process—77% of executive recruiters are already doing it, according to a 2006 ExecuNet survey.
These virtual inquiries help to get a better handle on candidates, in the same way as CVs or interviews. Thirty-five percent of recruiters using this new tool claim to have eliminated a candidate based on online information. A method that should become more current in the future, its use has already increased by 10% from 2005 to 2006.
What is a virtual profile made out of? A hodgepodge of information of all kinds, found on the multiple sites, blogs and forums where the person's name appears. You will no doubt find professional information: published works, public activities, official documents or CVs uploaded in a CV bank, as well as information of a private, sometimes unexpected nature: a blog or personal site, a comment made in a forum, participation in a hobby, vacation pictures on the family site, memories of student life, etc.
These digital traces draw a virtual portrait of the candidate—incomplete, to be sure, but revealing certain aspects of the candidate's personality. Thanks to a bit of digging for digital dirt, recruiters can expect to have a little better understanding of the person hiding behind the cold formality of a CV.
Virtual profiles are rarely controlled. Very few people pay attention to the traces they leave of themselves online. Of 136 executives surveyed by ExecuNet in 2006, 33% had never conducted a search of their own name to see what comes up, and only 13% had attempted to positively influence such information.
There are some things you can do to better influence your virtual profile. Above all, be careful whenever you do anything online and use your name wisely. Regularly monitor what appears about you, so that you are not caught unprepared. Creating a blog or Web site can have some influence on search engine results, as long as the name stands out enough to be indexed.
In his recently published book, Killer Web Content, Gerry McGovern incites people to become aware of the scope of their online traces, available to all on the Web. “The Internet has become a huge borderless data bank. You can't hide anymore—all this information is available in a single click on Google or YouTube, sometimes to your disadvantage.”
For more information:
- “Killer Web Content,” published by A&C Black, November 2006
- Zoominfo.com: a public CV bank of 25,545,487 people]