This week’s issue of the Career Masters Institute newsletter featured an interesting factoid about executive recruiters: 75% of recruiters use search engines to uncover information about candidates … 26% of recruiters have eliminated candidates because of information found online (these stats from a survey by Execunet of 102 executive recruiters, 2005).
Umm, what are the implications? Well, the article’s tagline pretty much says it all: “Digital dirt can harm your job search.” This simply means that what is floating out on the internet (information that doesn’t paint you in the best light, photos, MySpace or Facebook info, etc.) can derail your candidacy. Hiring authorities and recruiters alike use Google, ZoomInfo, and other tools to search out details about candidates even before the first call.
Nancy Collamer published a great site in her June 21, 2006, newsletter for cleaning up what IS out there on the web … that can possibly hurt you. Visit http://www.careerjournal.com/jobhunting/usingnet/20060112-flesher.html?cjcontent=mail. Get rid of the dirt. Today.
– Jan Melnik, MRW, CCM, CPRW, President, Absolute Advantage … Don’t forget to check out careerhub.typepad.com for the best in career search advice from the career industry’s top experts