When Your Google Reference Check Isn't So Good

Culture

from the whoops dept

While people have been doing Google-based background checks on dates for many, many years, it appears that recruiters are finally discovering the same thing. Earlier this year we had an article suggesting that rather than have “references available on request” on a resume, some people might want to put references available on Google, since Google has become something of that “permanent record” we were always told to fear in elementary school. Of course, there’s a downside to that as well… if your permanent record doesn’t look so good, that’s increasingly going to be a problem. Apparently, some recruiters are discovering resume discrepancies, information about being dismissed from previous jobs and strong personal opinions that scare them off. The article has suggestions for those whose Googled selves don’t look so good, from asking for certain information to be taken offline (good luck with that) to at least preparing a response that deflates any potential negatives. Of course, what the article doesn’t talk about is how to deal with others who have the same name, even if they appear smarter than you.