The time has come for you to search for a new career.

Hunting for a new job can be exciting. If you know the rules.

And one of those rules is making sure your internet profile isn’t damaging your reputation.

At least 37% of employers are now looking at internet profiles before they make a hiring decision.

So let’s take a look at the basic rules on how to set up an internet profile that helps your online reputation.

Check Your Internet Profiles for Accuracy

This might be news to some but….not everything on the internet is true or accurate.

Including information about you. Information that could be potentially harming your ability to get a job.

• Google Yourself: Do a name search on yourself. Use various search engines and see what comes up. If you find false or negative information about yourself, take steps to remove or correct it as soon as possible.
• Set Up a Google Alert: Setting up a Google alert will help you monitor yourself and see if any negative or false information has been put onto the internet. Doing this will enable you to know right away if anything has been posted.
• Increase Your Online Security: It is possible to have your identity or computer hacked. It’s actually fairly easy and becoming more common. Protect yourself, your identity and your credit by placing password protection on all your devices.

In today’s digital world, your online reputation is often one of the first things hiring managers, coworkers, and even dates will check when considering whether or not they want to associate with you. Your online presence can follow you everywhere you go, and monitoring the results for your own name allows you identify potential issues before they become crises. If a situation ever becomes too much to handle alone, don’t worry – there are crisis management services, like a personal brand strategist, that are able to help!

There are a few other things you can do to make your search even more effective, though, and ReputationManagement.com covers them in the following guide below.

Your Internet Profiles Should Have You Looking Amazing

And I’m not just talking about what photos you choose to share.

However, if there were ever a place to be able to make yourself look like a star, the internet is it.

However, if you don’t carefully manage your profiles, the internet can also quickly destroy you and your reputation.

And it’s not easy to take down information once it’s been posted.

Here’s how to avoid a messy cleanup when setting up an internet profile:

• Keep Photos Clean: No drinking, drugs, overtly sexual or any other photos that might make you look like a bad choice to employers should ever be posted online anywhere. Also make sure your friends aren’t tagging you with inappropriate photos, either.
• Stay Positive: Potential employers are looking for happy team players. They do not want to hire someone who is always complaining. Keep your posts happy and upbeat.
• Avoid Politics: This can be incredibly difficult, especially now. However, potential employers will be looking to see if you fit into their corporate culture. If you complain about the wrong candidate, you may lose out.
• Keep the Right Company: Be vigilant about how much access to your profile that you give friends or acquaintances. They might damage your reputation if you’re tagged in an unprofessional link.
• Be Smart: Don’t post racist, homophobic, sexist or otherwise inappropriate content about others. Do NOT post these as “jokes” either. Not everyone has your sense of humor.
• Set Yourself Apart from the Pack: If your name is John or Jane Smith, there’s going to be others who also share the exact same name as you. Avoid confusion by adding specific details about you (like your middle name) and your career so others can more easily find you. To truly set yourself apart from the others, you might consider creating a unique URL with your name that links you to all your social media accounts.
• Tell the Truth: Make sure all your information is accurate and correct. Lying on purpose will only backfire and make you unhireable. It’s also really easy to find out the truth online these days.
• Don’t Get Caught in a Lie: If you decide to take a mental health day and call in sick, don’t post it all over the internet if you’ve decided to spend that day drinking at the ballgame with your buddies.

Create Internet Profiles on the Right Social Media Sites

Not all social media sites are the same.

You want to make sure that you know which one’s most employers are looking at.

Then you want to make sure you’ve made those internet profiles looking as professional and clean as possible.

1. LinkedIn

This is the number 1 site that potential employers will search for you on.

Potential employers are looking for well-rounded candidates. LinkedIn is the site where you can most easily share that with them.

Here’s what you want to list on LinkedIn:

• Accomplishments: Employers want to know what great things you’ve done in your career so far and this is the place to best share those experiences with everyone.
• Charities & Donations: Employers are increasingly looking for candidates who give back. 65% of employers felt this information gave them a positive impression of the candidate.
• Professional Experience: Employers want to know where you’ve been. This platform allows you to post all that experience.
• Mutual Connections: It’s often said that the hiring process is more of who you know than what you know.
• Cultural Fit: This works both ways- both you and your potential employer want to make sure it’s a good fit.
• Examples of Work: You can share your work in video, in links and other methods. It’s a great way to showcase your talents.

2. Facebook

While Facebook only receives about 26% of hires versus 74% on LinkedIn, it’s still important to have a presence on Facebook.

There are also things you can do on Facebook to help you search more actively.

• Brand Yourself: Facebook is considered the best place to brand yourself. Do this by being consistent and remembering this is your career you’re building, not a clubhouse for your friends.
• Join Groups: A great way to network. You can also establish yourself as an expert, setting yourself apart from the competition.
• Post an Ad: An easy and inexpensive way to get great attention from the right potential employers. You can easily target specific demographics and spend as little as $1 a day.

3. Twitter

While it’s the least used platform for potential employers, it’s still important to maintain this profile as well.

• Hashtags: Great for finding a job like #JobOpening but you can also use it to find a job #MBA. Find the right hashtags to use and search for and you could find yourself employed in no time.
• Share Tips: Set yourself apart by sharing tips and other useful bits of information. It’ll help set you apart from others and establish your credibility as an expert in your field.

For every internet profile, you have online, it’s important to be consistent.

Whether it’s the photos you’re posting or the content, remember, this is the world’s first impression of you.

Make a great impression with our personal branding help.
The basic idea of staying on top of your Google results is simple: just plug your name or your brand’s name into Google and browse the first few pages to see what you find. Since that’s what most people will do when they search for you, this will give you a good idea of what they’ll see. There are a few other things you can do to make your search even more effective, though, and ReputationManagement.com covers them in the following guide.