Careful Grads, Employers Aren't Just Interested in Who You Are on Paper Anymore - They Want to Know Who You Are Online

As summer approaches, this year's graduates are revamping their resumes and preparing to enter the job market. In today's competitive economy, everything counts in the job search process and resumes aren't the only thing potential employers will be evaluating. A growing trend of employers going online to research applicants means that graduates may need to give their online presence a professional make-over before they apply for their dream job. 

A recent poll conducted by The Creative Group (a specialized staffing service) indicates that 72% of advertising and senior marketing executives were likely to run a web search of the candidate, 59% said they would check to see if the candidate has a LinkedIn profile, 44% would check for a Facebook profile, 35% would read blog posts, and 23% would monitor a candidate on Twitter. Another study indicated that 33% of employers have decided not to make a job offer based on what they saw on social networking profiles while 20% extended an offer based on the online content.

Managing your online presence may be the key to getting a job these days. The following tips will help you whip your online identity into shape and create a polished, professional, workforce-ready persona.

• Delete anything controversial, unflattering, or inappropriate. Go through your profiles and un-tag yourself from any photos you don't want an employer to see. Delete any wall posts, twitter posts, or comments that might reflect poorly on you. Either delete or hide any inappropriate Apps, groups, links or fan pages available on your profile. Review your blog: Have you posted anything controversial recently? If you have either archive it or delete it. · Get to know your privacy settings. Having a closed or private profile can help protect some of your information. To do this go into the profile settings and review your privacy options. On many of the popular social networking sites allow users to select the level of privacy and sharing. Privacy or sharing settings can range from a public profile that allows anyone to view all the information in your profile without your permission to a private profile that limits people who can view your information to those you know and have approved.

• Search yourself. Run your name through Google, Facebook search, Twitter Search, and LinkedIn and see what comes up. It's important for you to know what information on you is easily available. Once you have your results, delete anything that might be unflattering or controversial. If there is anything you can't delete, be ready to explain it to your potential employer if they ask about it.

• Get Involved & Contribute. If you're looking to get into a specific industry, get active online using social networking sites, comment on appropriate, high-quality posts, articles, or tweets across your network, share interesting articles and join groups that align with your professional interests. Demonstrate that you can be active in social media in a meaningful and valuable way.

• Be up-to-date. Make sure your social networking profiles contain up-to-date information, particularly your LinkedIn profile. Also, use your profiles to highlight the things that make you an ideal job candidate - your hobbies, industry organizations, any/or charity work. Talk about it, post pictures of it. Your social profiles should be positive, not just non-negative.