Online Reputation Management
Just when you thought it was safe to go online… an interesting approach to providing careers advice to graduates:
Syracuse University has purchased six-month subscriptions to Brand-Yourself.com’s online reputation management platform for all 4,100 of its graduating seniors. The platform will help students monitor and shape their online presence during the job search process. According to a recent study by Cross-Tab Marketing services, 75% of HR departments worldwide are required to screen job candidates online. Seventy percent of recruiters and HR professionals in the U.S. clam they have rejected potential hires based on information surfaced online, and nearly half say that a strong online reputation influences their hiring decisions to a “great extent.” A similar study conducted by CareerBuilder last year found that 45% of HR professionals screen job candidates on social media sites.
According to the director of the careers at Syracuse, Mike Cahill, “Our students need a way to put their best foot forward when they’re being researched by potential employers on Google, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn,”. All very worthy but isn’t it likely that students are perhaps in the best place to do this themselves rather than requiring an external agency to help out? Job rejection should be a pretty good incentive to undertake your own reputation management surely.
Fuller piece is available here.
