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How to Maintain a Reputable Internet Presence Especially When Job Searching

How to Maintain a Reputable Internet Presence Especially When Job Searching

A reputable Internet presence is critical if you are job searching to ensure that if a potential employer “Googles” your name, it will show that you are a great role model. If you have a website, blog, Facebook account, Twitter handle, LinkedIn profile, or other web presence, there are two things to examine:

1. Can people find you?
2. When they do, what will they find?

Do you worry about what readers might find or not find if they do a Google search on you?

Here are some steps to ensure you sleep better at night. Knowing the results of a potential employer’s review will be positive and will not screen you out of the hiring process.

Promoting yourself as a Teacher, Assistant Principal, College Instructor, or any other educator on the Internet can be challenging and include time. The focus here should be on keeping your “professional presence” what you intend it to be – hopefully, that is professional.

Your Internet presence can make or break your job search. In this day and age, you can almost guarantee that a potential school will Google you at some point in the hiring process. You want to make sure that what a potential principal finds will be professional, positive, and non-damaging to your teaching career.

Conversely, if a school “Googles” your name and nothing shows up, it can negatively affect your teaching career. No one wants to hire an online ghost. You want to put forth a positive online presence that puts you in a good light for school principals. It’s all about finding the right balance between appropriate personal activities and professional items that will make up your online identity.

Teacher or Other Educational Keywords Are Not Just for Resumes

If you have written education articles, books, or have given presentations, all of these belong in categories with keywords associated with them. The same rule applies to your online profiles. These should include relevant, professional keywords included in them to help employers find you. LinkedIn profiles, for instance, rely on having strong keywords associated with them so that you can be found in this popular job forum.

Additionally, screen icons should represent you and your teaching skills, so they should not necessarily be cute and fuzzy. A screen name and photo can make or break your professional image. Can others take you seriously with that screen name?

Does your profile photo look professional? Taglines are like screen names. Chose what to include in your tagline carefully to represent you in the best light as an educational professional – in as few words as possible.

Facebook for family and friends is completely acceptable and should be expected in today’s world. However, even your personal Facebook page should not contain any material that could be deemed inappropriate by a school. If you have a personal Facebook page, you should consider having a professional Facebook page for teaching, representing your skills and talents.

Work samples show the variety, but be careful about which samples you decide to show. If you display personal or proprietary information on the web, you may be held liable. Students, parents, and even the school may get upset and take action if students’ projects are shown in your public portfolio without their knowledge.

Always ask students before posting their work and materials to the web. And don’t post every lesson plan you’ve ever done. Your work samples should provide an overview of your talents.

When you can refer everyone from your parents and spouse to potential employers or students to your website or blog, you can safely bet your web presence is heading in the right direction. Sleep easier knowing your future employer won’t find that questionable whatever-it-is you hope they won’t see.

Connect with us if you need help putting together your social networking profile, whether it is for teaching or personal reasons.