Prospective employers are very likely to research you online before making any type of hire. Because of this, it is more important than ever to protect your reputation online. A lot of people make the mistake of not thinking before they post something and social media has resulted in a lot of people either losing their jobs or losing out on a prospective job. In this article, we will go over some of the different things that you can do to protect your online reputation.

How To Protect Your Online Reputation:

1. Think Before You Post.

The first thing that you are going to want to utilize is your common sense. You need to actually think before you make a post. Think about how your parents or your boss would feel if they read what you are going to post because the chances are that they will see it. Remember, once you post something on the Internet, you are not going to be able to take it back.

2. Proofread.

Another thing that you are going to want to do is proofread your posts. Before you post or submit anything online, you want to make sure that you are spelling things accurately and that you are also using proper grammar. A lot of employers admit that they do not hire individuals or prospective employees that make grammatical or spelling errors on their social media posts and/or resumes. This is something that is easily avoided with simple proofreading and spell check.

3. Set Up Your Privacy Settings.

Another thing that you are going to want to do when you are attempting to protect your reputation online is to set up your privacy settings so that only your friends and family can see what you post. This is going to help you limit the amount of people that can see what you are saying and posting without your consent. Be aware that your pictures and posts might not be completely protected if your friends share information or pictures of you.

4. Utilize An Alternate Email Address.

Another tip that you can utilize is to use an alternate email address rather than your primary one for setting up social networks. This is going to ultimately make it more difficult for people to be able to find you and see what you are posting without your consent since a lot of networks allow you to search by email address.

5. Search Yourself and Your Business

Another tip that you should utilize to protect your reputation is to constantly search for yourself and your business and to monitor your own reputation online. Contact the webmasters of any website that you have posted on that you want to be removed.

6. Google Alerts.

Another thing that you can do is set up a Google Alert which will email you whenever your name pops up on the Internet. This is good for keeping track of and monitoring your overall reputation.

By following the tips and steps above, you should be able to successfully monitor your reputation the best way possible. Be sure to think before you post and you should be golden.