No Calls Back About Your Executive CV/Resume? Google Yourself!

By Executive Agents

You may have taken all the necessary measures to ensure your executive resume stands out, but have you Googled yourself? A Google search often digs up unfavourable information for employers, therefore it is important to exercise caution and assess what you have already posted online.

You can easily track your online footprint by opening an Incognito window via Google. This avoids running into results affected by your personalised search history, location and downloaded applications on your normal browser; factors which search engines optimise on your devices. Make sure to search through multiple pages and take note that the first page of your results makes a good first impression (if you are indeed listed there). Importantly, a Google Images and Videos search is recommended, and may also prove useful if you want to deeply assess your digital impact online. Specific character assumptions can be gathered through just one photo or video, so it is best to keep things professional on your LinkedIn and other various business platforms. More than that, performing these checks and taking future precautions ensures that many visible forms of multimedia do not tarnish your personal brand or public image.

If you feel like the information that is provided through a Google search harms your professional reputation, taking steps to remove it is advised. The process to have information deleted can be stressful, but it is becoming more necessary as we keep sharing online. The best thing you can do is eliminate or deactivate all unnecessary social media accounts if you are worried about certain details, or alternatively you can ask independent website owners to remove the information themselves if they are prominently featured Google searches. Even if those results reveal particular complaints about your business, do not spend too much time attempting to amend those mistakes; avoiding a public response to an online comment made about you in an online forum or comments section is always wise.

Thankfully, with all the online tools at your disposal, you can actively add and tailor what you would like your employers to see. However, most employers realise that this is a great way for jobseekers to decorate their most insignificant or irrelevant achievements. LinkedIn is the primary platform for enriching your online presence; it also provides the supporting documentation your employers may be sceptical about on your resume. Even better, you could set up your own online portfolio or website with all your personal contact details; appropriate pictures of yourself; your resume; and perhaps some interactive documents showcasing your work catalogue. The legitimacy of your professional persona is often conjured up through these two venues. Both are strong identifiers of your interests and personal associations in a Google search, too. Frequently publishing blogposts, articles and other relevant professional media also ensures you are the progressive executive your resume portrays you as. Potentially damaging information in the top search results can be suppressed through these methods if they are carried out regularly.

Since the advent of the Internet and subsequently social media, our personal and professional lives are at risk of becoming totally intertwined. Not only that, the size of the web we have cast through our many online profiles is dizzying, leaving many of us unable to recall where and when we have shared our personal details. Whilst employers realise that their job candidates have separate social and professional lives, a simple Google search can undo your executive resume in a matter of minutes. The reality is that employers often have hundreds of qualified candidates who applied for their job listing, and a Google search is a way of ‘weeding out’ a certain portion of them. Googling may often be the difference between a candidate who gets the call for their dream job and another who does not, so it is imperative that your Google results are favourable.