Seth Godin wrote an interesting post about personal branding in the age of Google. If you haven't read it, you probably should.
The gist of it is this: Act as if everything everything you do, say, write, buy, post, participate in, and/or subscribe to is public information because if it isn't already, it will be, and soon.
Want an example?
I lost the final of a table tennis tournament (Girls under 15) in 1975. It's not a memorable moment in my life; in fact, I had forgotten all about it, but there it is on the web. On a web that didn't even exist at that time; a decade before the WINDOWS operating system would even be introduced to the world.
But things are different today.
Today I know that Google will lead you to pages and pages of information about me.
If you summarize my "google hits" you'll get a somewhat skewed picture of who I am and how I spend my time; but it's one that I can live with.
However, if I were looking for a job, I'd have some work to do. And I would do it now.
I'd start with my Linkedin profile.
Why?
Because Linkedin engineers are search engine optimization geniuses and,in most cases, when you enter a name into Google, you'll get the LinkedIn result first.
Second because I'm the one in control of the content in my Linkedin profile; in a sense, I get to to paint my face as I want the world to see it.
Third, I can fill my Linkedin profile with so many links,that I've hand selected, that the googler probably won't have the time, or attention span, to go back to my Google results.
So, if you're looking for a job (and even if you're not), go put a fresh coat of paint on your Linkedin face. It's one of the few things in today's job-seeking landscape that you can control.
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