The First Impression of an Employee is Not Formed at the Interview; It’s Found on the Internet

RICHMOND HILL, Ontario - March 22, 2013 - PRLog -- Suffice it to say, a useful tip for candidates and new grads looking for employment is to clean up their online presence.  One of the first things potential employers will do is research social media activity. In fact, 86% of employers use search engines and social networking sites to pre-screen job applicants. The Internet has made it considerably easier and less expensive to obtain background information on applicants.  Recruiters are taking full advantage of this opportunity; after all, they are placing their trust in new employees and they want to know more than the one-sided information in their resumes.

As a result, over half of potential hires who are researched online are not even considered for the position they applied because of what employers deem “unsavory”. In many cases, information found on the Internet has no factual basis. Even factual information can be taken out of context and may have no bearing on the applicant’s capabilities.  

The “lamp shade” party video might have been funny during school, but it may deter a potential employer. Self-posts can be downloaded and used by others elsewhere on the Internet with a link to the individual who will then have no control. To make matters worse, deleting a self-posted file may not delete all access to the item.

Our online presence touches just about every aspect of our lives. Even those who are employed are subject to a sweep. In addition people who are dating and those planning a political future will have their entire online presence examined. It’s only a matter of time.

How does one take down information from the Internet? Hours, if not days, can be spent tracking a single piece of information on the Internet.  Then, the individual must write many emails and then conduct many follow-ups to have one file removed. In the split second it takes to post an item, it can jump to many different sites.  This is not only a problem for individuals; companies too have had their share of challenges.  In fact, if left unattended, items can become a permanent link to and haunt individuals and organizations indefinitely.

There is a better solution. EraseMeOut.com is an online, guided tool for information takedown from the Internet for reputation and privacy concerns. A user-friendly and automated system, EraseMeOut.com is the first step to removing unwanted information economically. For $20, anyone can begin to erase unwanted information about themselves.

For a selection of short, hokey, humorous and very possible situational videos that can have tragic outcomes, please visit www.erasemeout.com.

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