We noticed this great article from Monster.com today. In it they detail some of the pitfalls that job hunters run into on the internet. Quoting from the page:

No one knows how many job candidates worry about how their online reputation can affect their job prospects, but anecdotal evidence suggests that more people are realizing that what they do online — and what others say about them online — can play a role in determining whether they get hired or fired. Post a video, and it may be online forever — no matter how stupid it makes you look. The same goes for blog posts, forum discussions, photo albums and even emails you send to friends. (You never know what will spread from the private sphere to the public realm.) The point is painfully obvious: You need to be thoughtful and deliberate when conducting your life online.

As the article points out, it is especially difficult to delete person information from the Internet. Essentially, when you want to defend your reputation online your two options are to obfuscate (i.e., bury the information amongst the myriad of other search results) or to request removal from the individual sites hosting the information you’d rather others didn’t see.

Both strategies require unique approaches and the outcome is never certain. Each individual should assess their situation as quickly and as thoroughly as possible, outlining a strategy based upon what they find. Sometimes a quick and easy play is acceptable, other times a more in-depth and drawn out campaign will be necessary.

It is clear that Online Identity Management is important for both established professionals looking to change jobs and recent graduates seeking entry into the job market. Professional Online Reputation Management is quickly becoming as important to job hunters as polishing thier resumes and acing the interview.

India’s Lucknow University is going to offer a new tool for its students seeking jobs, soon. According to expressindia.com, information that students submit on counseling forms will be posted on a job placement website ostensibly administered by the school itself. In addition to the basic information, the database is going to include educational information, including grades and specialized courses that the student enrolled in.

On the face of it, we like the sound of this idea; putting Internet profiles to a positive purpose. However, there is nothing in the article to determine if the information being placed online is totally opt-in. While it is nice to have your grades available for a potential employer to peruse, what happens if you have a bad term and you get a less than stellar grade in Organic Chemistry one semester? Potentially you could not be hired based on this information, and that’s not so good. Controlling your information online is always a priority in this digital age.

Ultimately, this is a step in the right direction in terms of increasing communication, as Professor Nishi Pandey points out: “The university receives thousands of letters from various institutes and government departments enquiring about the details of students, when they apply for admission or jobs there. Online information of the students will make it easier both for the university and the information seeker.”

Could this be a trend that eventually finds its way to the United States? Only time will tell.

We recently came across this amusing video that shows Facebook interactions played out in real life.

They even bring up pokes and scrabble. Classic.

Here’s a story that carries an important lesson for professionals, artists, and anybody else who relies on their reputation for business: If you’re not in Google, you don’t exist.

The story is pretty straightforward: A new mall, called the “Americana at Brand” recently opened in Glendale, a city just outside Los Angeles, California. The developer spent $400 million building it and he thought that he had everything figured out. He had all the right permits, he had great anchor tenants, he had a concert and fireworks show at the grand opening, he had a professionally-designed website for the mall, and there was plenty of parking.

There’s only one problem: The mall opened more than a month ago and Google still doesn’t know the mall exists. The address of the mall is 889 Americana Way, Glendale, California. But if you enter that address in a Google Maps search, it says that the address doesn’t exist. Same for MapQuest; it doesn’t know that Americana Way exists at all. Even the Google search engine doesn’t come up with great results: Try searching for “Glendale mall” and the Americana mall doesn’t show up on the first page. Or search for “Glendale shopping” and you again get nothing related to the Americana.

To be fair, the mall does come up on the first page of Google search engine for searches like “Americana Mall“, but it’s not even the first result. That’s pretty bad for a $400 million investment.

How can potential customers find the mall if Google doesn’t know that it exists? And how can they get to the mall if neither Google nor MapQuest know where it is?

The same is true for any kind of professional individual–how can a solo practitioner lawyer get new customers if they can’t search for her name online? How could an aspiring filmmaker get new leads if he isn’t in Google? How could a plastic surgeon manage her online identity if she is nowhere to be found in any search engine? How could an artist sell more pieces if word-of-mouth doesn’t lead customers to his website?

It’s a simple fact that Google is the number one source of information for customers these days. It’s especially true for customers who know somebody’s name but not their telephone number or email address–unless they can use Google to find that information then they are likely to move on.

Concerned? The first step to fixing the problem is to make sure you have a full Internet presence. Read other entries in this blog for tips on how to do so. Or, if you need fast and professional results, there are services like Reputation.com’s MyEdge that will help create an online presence for individuals and move positive results to the top of your results. If you need more serious help, try a fully customized online identity solution. Feel free to post more tips in the comments — how can individuals help maintain their online identities so that customers can find them?

* Kudos to the LA Times for breaking part of the story.

Stephen Colbert, the popular cable talk show host, may want to add Internet Identity Theft to the list of threats facing America. If he does so, he will be speaking from experience.

Recently, Stephen Colbert began tweeting on his twitter account, and in the process, gave a shout out to diggnation. The post documenting this immediately shot to the top of Digg, gaining over 3,100 diggs.

The only problem? The account was a fake and the ensuing fallout included an official denial from ComedyCentral, a second, corrective article on Digg and a mea culpa from the fake Colbert.

Digg, Comedy Central and Colbert should get credit for quickly resolving the identity crisis. Given the fluid nature of internet identity, talk show hosts and everyday people alike have an interest in keeping tabs on their digital moniker.