Use Blogs to Hide Unwanted Content From Employers

Posted on April 18, 2006

There are still continuous stories published about how you can get fired for blogging. There is even one today. That's still true. You can still get fired for blogging. Offend your employer or publish company secrets and you could still find yourself fired for blogging. Meanwhile, a Boston Globe explains how you can get hired by having a blog and how a blog can help rank your name higher in Google when employers run a search on you.

Employers regularly Google prospective employees to learn more about them. Blogging gives you a way to control what employers see, because Google's system works in such a way that blogs that are heavily networked with others come up high in Google searches.
And coming up high is good: ''People who are more visible and have a reputation and stand for something do better than people who are invisible," says Catherine Kaputa, branding consultant and author of ''Blogging for Business Success."
But pick your topics carefully and have a purpose. "The most interesting blogs are focused and have a certain attitude," says van Allen. "You need to have a guiding philosophy that you stick to. You cannot one minute pontificate on large issues of the world and the next minute be like, 'My dog died.' "

Maybe this is a way for people to outrank any negative stuff they don't want employers to see. Start a serious blog or two under your real name and keep them updated and maybe they will outrank the earlier stuff on the Internet you don't want employers to see. Maybe employers won't scroll down far enough in the Google listings to notice that link to those old photographs your old college "friend" posted or those outrageous comments you posted on another blog that you now can't get rid off. It would also behoove job seekers to try and remove all inappropriate content from the Internet before applying to a job. Ranking high is not helpful if it is content you don't want employers to see. If you can't remove it try and outrank it with something postive. If employers really are using Google it is better to have the Google results be something good about you, like your interesting blog, than a record of your college and high school hijinks.