Bad Rule No. 7: Clean up your online identity
Stop stressing about the stupid stuff you posted when you were drunk (or worse, not drunk). It's out of your control.
Instead, build a more current online identity that will pop up highest when an employer or recruiter does an online background check (which about 70 percent do). One way to get your new identity to the top of the search engines is to use Naymz, a service that helps control what people find out about you online.
Another way to control what people see about you is to blog. A blog can represent you effectively to the online world, and a good blog will show up higher in searches than almost any kind of page that could damage you.
Wow. 70 percent of employers do online background checks? And a blog could actually help you?
That makes me think it might be better to blog under my own name already. Also, I've been a little frustrated with Blogger in a couple of ways. First of all, I've long wanted some way to track the number of visitors to the blog. Second, Blogger doesn't support Trackback.
So I just started a new blog, and I hope my readers (of which I guess I have at least two or three) will follow. The new blog is http://freethinker.typepad.com/the_free_thinker/, or just freethinker.typepad.com.
Why "The Free Thinker?" If you do a Google search on "freethinker" you'll find lots of atheist and secular humanist sites, some quite fiercely anti-religion. But I think that conventional idea of a freethinker is overdue for retirement. If a freethinker is someone who questions dogma, why should that mean questioning only religious dogmas, and not the dogmas of physicalism, sovereignty, and the various pieties of left-liberalism? Anyway, I'll write more about this at the new blog if I get any visitors. Meanwhile, a few posts are already up.
Btw - I completely agree that "free thought" has been, as appropriated, a highly tendentious term more reminiscent of the frank polemics of politics rather than the pluralist philosophy implied by an impartial analysis of the component terms. On the other hand, I think it was a euphemism for "athiest" when the a-word might have garnered one fairly dangerous hostility. One way or another I see nothing complaint-worthy about your using it.
ReplyDeleteI still fully intend to write a lengthy response to you, but I've been cleaning non-stop it seems. All of the cleaning has demoralized me somewhat instead of giving me a sense of accomplishment. My mother-in-law is arriving today, so we'll see if I can manage to find some time to write in the near future.
ReplyDeleteRegarding your new blog, I don't associate "free thinker" with any particular view point. I imagine most people think of themselves as "free thinkers" in some fashion or other.
Just a tip... you can track the number of hits in Blogger. You just have to put up a hit counter. Naturally I don't personally know how to do that, but our blog has one and it's on Blogger. (Actually we're moving ours from Blogger too, but I thought you might like to know.)
ReplyDeleteTanl, you can track visitors, where they're from, which pages they see, etc. with Google analytics. Go to google.com/analytics, you should be able to set up an account there. That doesn't mean you can't keep the new site, just that you should be able to do this for both of them. I'll explain how if you need help.
ReplyDeleteSeth
Hi,
ReplyDeleteYes, many employers do perform Online Background Checks before hiring employees.
Once the employees assume their roles at an organization they are exposed to a lot of confidential and vital company information. In this era of terror and crime employers certainly do not want to hire the wrong candidate who may have other ulterior motives than just doing a job.
Just a thought,
Chris
Hi,
ReplyDeleteIt is very vital to perform background checks on employees before they are inducted in an organization.
Ability to perform Trace a phone number and other reverse lookup features have added a new dimension to analyzing a person's background.
Best,
Glenn
Good words.
ReplyDelete