Pictures say a thousand words, and when it’s a picture of you at a bar engaging in some not-so-professional activities, those 1,000 words will probably not be the best when it comes from your future boss. We live in a world where everyone is online and where nothing is kept quiet, and if you’re not careful, your picture and statuses could be blasted all over the Internet. Being crazy and young in college, we always want our friends to take pictures at every event we go to and want them online so people can see what a great time we are having. There is nothing wrong with that; you’re simply capturing memories, but you have to be careful with what you post because one stupid picture could be the deciding factor of you landing your dream job.
Madeline Willner, a UCF NetClarify campus representative, has a program that can help students view what comes up when their name is searched on the web. NetClarify is a service that provides students with Internet results of their social media activity, general public and Internet search results. Students can purchase a report at www.NetClarify.com. Once here, there are two options that you can choose from with the prices at $14.94, Gold Report, and $49.95, Platinum Report. The only difference between the two is that the Platinum goes through your public information, property and criminal records. The two reports go through your 1,000 most recent Facebook and Twitter account updates.
“In a study by Microsoft, 70 percent of hiring managers have elected not to hire someone based on negative information found on the Internet about them. More and more companies are using similar technologies like NetClarify to help find out as much information as possible and not hire because of it,” said Willner, when asked why students should use NetClarify.
One of the best features about the program is that you don’t have to wait for months before you get the results. NetClarify gives you the results in five to ten minutes and also gives you the direct link to the website that has a red flag and steps on how to take it off of the web. Another fun fact is that NetClarify is only sold to job seekers and not to companies. “We are solely here to help job seekers defend themselves against such practices,” says Willner.
This is definitely a tool that students should take advantage of. Whether it is for grad school or for a job, students should do a clean sweep with all of their social media accounts to make sure that one status or picture is not what makes an employer turn their heads and move on to the next one. Don’t let Facebook or that fun night be the reason you didn’t get the job.