Slashdot Mirror
Repairing / Establishing Online Reputation?
illini1022 writes "I'm currently a senior nearing graduation from college. With studies focusing on power and energy I believe I have set myself up extremely well for post-graduation employment. I have one concern. The top search result on Google for my full name is a blog posting regarding an article about a pedophile that happens to bear the same name as myself. The blog also originates from a city I lived in during one summer (specified on my resume). Upon closer inspection, it would become quickly apparent that the subject in question is not me. The person of interest was in the military, and I have never been. However, I fear this unfortunate coincidence might cost me chances at employment with companies I'm now applying to. I have absolutely no issue with any employer finding anything I've put on the Internet; I have been careful to protect my reputation. My concern is with an employer mistaking me for someone else, and disqualifying me from recruitment. I've attempted to contact the blog owner to no avail. What are my options? Am I overreacting? Should I attempt to set up my own site that would steal the top Google search from this blog posting? I appreciate any insight/advice."
Am I overreacting?
Yes. Any employer worth your time is either a) not going to be doing something as petty as e-stalking you, or b) doing it properly, and making sure that the person is really you.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
Am I overreacting?
I would think that you are although I sympathize with you as I also have a common name whereby my first middle & last in quotes returns 5,140 hits in Google.
Should I attempt to set up my own site that would steal the top Google search from this blog posting?
And then what about the results on Yahoo! Search? Or MSN Live's Search? Where would you stop?
It may benefit you to just relax and hope that your future employer will be smart enough to recognize that's not you. I think most places of work do background checks but maybe I'm wrong. If someone turns you down and you're not sure why, ask them. If they hint at anything like this, ask them to do a background check to clear your name. I highly doubt this will happen but who knows?
My work here is dung.
I believe I have set myself up extremely well for post-graduation employment.
I disagree. You can't think for yourself.
You've got 2 options.
1. Do something.
2. Do nothing.
If you do something, like put up your own website, things may improve.
If you do nothing, things stay the same.
Put "I HATE KIDDIE PORN" You can also add this optional statement "REGULAR PORN IS FINE, LOL". That'll tell them outright that you're not the pedo that Google brings up.
That'll be no charge. =)
Any employer that would disqualify you soley based on blog postings from a Google search is not a place where you want to work.
Ask yourself if you really want to work for a company that would assume that anyone with your name is you, even if - in your own words - "it would become quickly apparent that the subject in question is not me." If they're willing to do that, they'll be willing to assume you're to blame for anything anyone accuses you of to cover their own ass, and a host of other sins that employers commit ever day.
Think of this as an IQ test of a potential employer. If one brings it up, point out to them, in detail, how easy it would have been to determine this wasn't you, then walk out of the interview and be thankful you've dodged a bullet.
Really, do it, this Slashdot artical alone would have knocked that listing off the map of Google.
Frankly, I wouldn't worry about it. Any company that wouldn't hire you after doing a Google search and finding that, without even asking you about it, no less, isn't a company worth working for - especially if you are "set ... up extremely well." At the very least, they suck at communication and that's never a good thing.
90% of the applicants are going to call to verify that HR got their app. How many are to call to clarify that they are not in fact the pedophile of the same name. If nothing else you know they'll look at your resume after that!
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Submit a story to Slashdot that reads
"Hello, my name is $REALNAME, and I'm currently a senior nearing graduation..."
if this is one of those blogging services, send a fake complaint to the company behind it saying that this person is literally claiming to be you to ruin your reputation. They won't spend much time looking into it, they'll just delete it.
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
Now if you google for illini1022 and pedophile, you'll get this story. I don't think there's much you can do, other than provide people with google queries that help isolate you.
Tell your future boss to google for "John Smith -pedophile". That will assure him you're a good person.
John
It should be illegal to do a background check without a proper license. And typing a prospective employee's name into Google should be considered a background check. I doubt that's how it is now, but it would be a good idea to make companies leave the investigations to people that know how to do it.
Thats what Hans Reiser also said.
839*929
You should've put your real name on the Slashdot article. That probably would've topped the Google search in and of itself, displacing the pedophile article.
Now that you posted to /. - you have pretty much screwed yourself in the eyes of your future employer... unless, of course... it's a kiddie porn ring...
Find the other you and kill them. I'm sure the stories about John Doe killing John Doe over his online reputation will shoot to the top. And, if you're killing a pedophile, I'm sure the judge will go lightly on you and just give you a life sentence. Okay, that last part isn't perfect, but it's a start.
By all means set up your own blog and "swamp" mentions of your name with positive links and commentary. It will help anyway, and push mentions of the pervert down on search engines in general. Don't even mention the pervert, because you don't want any attention drawn to him (or her) with which to begin. Don't try too hard, though. Just gradually build up a body of links and commentary via blog entries and trackbacks or comments on other blogs, using your own name naturally. Anyone who purposefully searches for dirt on you will find the pervert anyway, and realise in all probability quickly that the pervert is a different person.
A truly excellent pizza parlor is a delight unto the heavens. Treasure the sauce and the toppings!
If you have a very common name, then seriously, don't worry about it.
Even if it's not a very common name, I still wouldn't worry too much about it. Most employers will be doing a criminal background check, which is a lot more reliable than some random blog posting.
Lastly, if you find yourself getting into a pattern of great interviews followed by curt rejections, you might consider being proactive and having a humorous, but prepared statement that you can give during an interview about online reputations, mistaken identity, evidence that the pedophile in question could not be you, as well as how much the situation has taught you about protecting your own reputation, and by extension, the reputation of your employer. Most anything can be spun into a positive.
They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
This is a serious problem with data integrity. Check out Choicepoint. They aggregate every piece of data they can with a person's identity. And they are not apologetic about it if they get it wrong. In other words, they are able to create a profile of you without any accountability and sell it as a trusted piece of information that you have no control over. This is similar to your credit report. These things are not regulated and can affect your life.
Otherwise, there is nothing you can do. Your employer will use a background service and it will not show a conviction of you being a sex offender. I would pay for a background check of yourself with the services your employers use so you can see what is being reported.
As a member of the North American Marlon Brando Look Alikes, I feel your pain...
I would advise you to join our group for some moral support, but I somehow doubt that would help you...
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
Unless your name is really unusual and/or the town in question is teeny-tiny, most recruiters would first consider that it's a coincidence and, if they felt it necessary, they'd check further with regards to it, and probably communicate with you on the process.
These days, most big organizations require a background check anyway, and if the person in the blog had been convicted, that would show up in the record. Of course, if they weren't convicted, or if they were a minor at the time, the blogger might have to remove their post, as there may be legal repercussions for posting potentially libelous commentary and/or information about a minor which may be protected.
The CB App. What's your 20?
You're paranoid and overreacting. I know that doesn't help you very much, but run through the logic, man:
Being falsely accused is something we all fear. I understand how you feel, I bet it makes you terribly anxious. But you can quickly demonstrate you're innocent, right? If you're innocent, you shouldn't be worried about it, right? Furthermore, if they're interested in you enough to Google you, they're probably going to be interested enough to click that link and read into it. Just think about it...
...and I'll say it a million times more. The primary function of giving someone a name is to allow you to single out one person from a collection of people. If you call someone John or David or some other common name then you are failing in that one simple task.
Names should be unique identifiers. For some strange reason, the one segment of American society that understands this issue are vilified for using "black-sounding names". What's so hard for people to get? Stories like this are the inevitable consequence of selfish parents copying names from people around them. Frankly, I think anyone who calls their kid John should be guilty of child abuse.
The only thing I can suggest is suing your parents.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Set up your own blog on a domain using some part of your full name. Write a dozen posts or so about your professional/personal life using keywords like your name that your employer would search for. Then do some link building with your name as the anchor text. Unless your name is a particularly competitive search term (guessing it isn't) this should bring you up pretty high in Google and most major search engines.
A Magic the Gathering Article and Forum Aggregator
Don't spend any time worrying about it. It won't change a thing, and if a potential employer accuses you of being a paedophile based on a google search, you do NOT wanna be working for them :P
This message was scanned by European governments and contains no terrorism.
Nothing will bury search results like filing to run for office.
(Nothing will dig up your dirty laundry as fast, either.)
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
You also happened to be in the military...
Now you know why notorious killers and assassins are always referred to by their full names. Lee Michael Oswald can flatly deny having anything to do with assassinating Kennedy. John Wayne can point out his last name isn't Gacy and he never owned a clown costume. I guess when it isn't a matter of national notoriety, middle names get dropped.
I suppose you could always introduce yourself as such: "Hello, I'm John Doe. No, not the pedophile, though I get that a lot." Somehow I imagine you saying that with "Hi, I'm a PC's" voice.
Of course, you could always try making yourself more infamous so that you'll be the one everyone thinks of when they hear your name. Then the other guy will say "No, I'm John Doe the pedophile. Please don't confuse me with the other guy. I have my standards."
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
From Office Space: Why should I change my name?! He's the one that sucks!
But seriously...
Add a middle initial: "J."
Rocket J. Squirrel
Bullwinkle J. Moose
Michael J. Fox
Homer J. Simpson
Education is the silver bullet.
+1 Asperger's
Poster shows quantifiable accuracy but no understanding of social graces.
You could have the pedophile "whacked". The story would probably be on the news and trump all other google searches. Then you're home free. The new employers will go "Oh...that pedophile guy is toast. This can't possibly be the same guy...can it?" and call you for an interview. Your new mob ties may come in handy as well.
Start your cover letter with the words "I am not a pedophile."
That should do it.
At least one commercial background checker uses a herd of part time hires, who are evaluated primarily on volume. The incentive is wrong for evaluating exceptional cases like yours, so I wouldn't trust that were I in your shoes.
As another poster pointed out, that's a good excuse to call HR.
Here is a related problem. A sociopath has repeatedly posted anonymous articles on usenet claiming I am a child pornographer. I have a relatively uncommon name. A Google web search on my name turns up these articles as the top results.
Hours of time wasted arguing with the Google help desk have been of no help whatsoever. At one point, the help desk drones had me painstakingly document each and every instance of defamation, along with swearing in each case that the statements I was making were true. Finally, after doing all this work and thinking I was making progress, the drones looped back to the "We're sorry, there's nothing we can do..." nonsense.
Google claims 1) Under the terms of the Communications Decency Act, they "can't" help me (not true); 2) I should contact the "third party" content host and ask him to take the postings down (Google is the content host).
The community at large seems to feel that any leverage a person in my situation might have on Google would somehow send internet "freedom" down the toilet. But this is a clear and simple case of defamation, and, frankly, it sucks. Google sucks, actually, and so does the community for tolerating such abuse...
Is that you Christian Bale?
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
The Streisand Effect applies if he were to try and draw attention to what he sees as the negative portrayal of himself.
If he simply minds his own business and creates a personal website about himself with no reference to this other hypothetical blogger, it should have no such effect.
An employer who Googled indiscriminately might then find both, and wonder which is the person applying for the job in question.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
Preferably to "John Smith" or something equally difficult to google.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Wait for someone to discriminate against you on that basis and sue for libel, slander, and breach of breakfast.
Join a lot of forums and your profile will be listed before that blog post. Also join social networks like LinkedIn/FaceBook and make your profile available publicly, you're all set. In a month or two no one will remember the pedophile.
Add a section to your resume that covers your internet presence. Look at the disambiguation section of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:AndrewDressel for an example. Note: I am not Andrew Dressel.
One problem is if the pedo's site is #2 and the real persons site is #541 on the listings. The employer might not even see the real site.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
I'm sure there are plenty of usenet trolls that are willing to help you out.
When selecting and interviewing a hit man, make sure you're speaking with the genuine article. Unscrupulous members of law enforcement have been known to impersonate hit men. This can often end badly.
Ask to see their hit men's union card!
You should have put your name in the description. Instead of hitting the pedophile, it would have hit this story, which is a far better option.
The only thing I can suggest is do things to raise the profile of anything connected to the real you, so that your work rises to the top of any Google search.
I have a similar problem, a google search for my name reveals over 40,000 hits to a gay porn actor. Seriously. My issue is that I simply can't build any reputation as a good blog writer, website designer, etc. because anything to do with my name is buried under gay porn. So far I've been using a pseudonym, but it's hard to get taken seriously doing that.
This is probably overboard, but if you build a personal website with your name in the title (but keep your titles different on each page, just make sure your name is there). Then get some backlinks, Put in a pdf with your resume, your interests, whatever. Of course that takes time, especially if you haven't built a website before.. I'd recommend use a CMS like drupal with the Page Title module. SEO really isn't that difficult when there isn't much competition.. Also you can get hosting for as low as like $4 a month and a domain name is only $10 a year..
Searching Google I find that, apparently, I was a porn star in the late 70's. I hope this doesn't hurt my chances of getting hired somewhere.
In the interview, just mention that there happens to be a child molester out there with the same name as you, but that it's definitely not you. After that, say something like this, "I certainly haven't been discovered, yet, but if I don't get this job, I know a certain someone's kids who just might get molested! Hahahaha." The humor will set the interviewer at ease, while at the same time making him think, "Hmmm, this SOB might actually molest my kids."
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
In a typical college recruiting scenario the potential employer would not go through the time and expense to pull a credit report or criminal history. At the point of recruitment they would not have permission to do so and would not want to, frankly. However, a quick scan of the internet is a pretty easy, low cost check. So might you not get a call to attend a recruiting event due to this type of screen? perhaps. If you get to the point where you have applied and have given permission to pull records, then the blog is moot. I guess the only thing you could do if you receive a rejection of some sort is to follow up. make sure they have averything they need. Maybe they just didn't have your phone #.
I think people are missing half the point.
Think of this as a different question:
"How do I change the search results on my own name?"
Yes, you could point him to a SEO document, but that may not be as applicable for an individual (or maybe it is).
What are some other techniques for "improving" the results on his name to have it come up before/instead of the one with the negative association?
Yes a good HR check should be able to distinguish between the two, but what about his new peers and co workers who want to know more about him? If a casual search engine check is going to show up with a sex offender, then it wouldn't be a bad idea to try to modify the results a bit.
Of course, worst case scenario, you could end up having your portfolio show up right next to the sex offender. :p
Then you will guarantee that your name will be associated as a sick criminal by the gossip pool that learned about using "the google" to check up on new people from their celebrity news mag
Good luck, and I hope to see some other suggestions on how to change a page ranking without spending a ton of money on it.
just a faster one. getting rejected out of hand by people and employers you don't want to associate with in the first place is not in any way a negative
imagine a hypothetical: the guy got the job with such an employer, just because they didn't google his name. well, the character and personality of the employer is still the same. so now the guy is in a situation where his work will be disregarded for bullshit reasons
but if the employer had googled him and disregarded him for employment for such a tenuous connection in the first place, then all the better for the guy, to never have been involved with an employer that would be such a negative experience in the first place
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Is it legal? I have no idea, but let's say it is; prove you've been wronged.
Something has to be done. You can't let it lie.
Many people, myself included, have a middle name that they rarely if ever use. But it's very common to see prominent people use their full name, or at least use their middle initials to help distinguish themselves. This is especially common for professors at Universities.
Maybe now's the time to pull out that ugly middle name that you've hated since you were a kid.
Employers are more likely to do a criminal background check than go searching and reading blogs mentioning applicants' names. Attempting to delete or squelch a blog post is silly - the blog got the information from somewhere, didn't it? And that source is likely available to employers.
If your name popped up in a criminal records search, it should be fairly easy for the employer to determine that the criminal illini1022 is not the same person as the applicant illini1022.
Several years ago I read in my newspaper of the arrest of a man my age, with my same name, for pedophilia. He was a teacher employed at a school within 10 miles of where I grew up and went to high school. My only thought was that people who knew me years ago but didn't stay in touch would read it and think it was about me. But I didn't worry about a real impact, such as employment, and in fact I have a job that requires a clearance and just two years ago conducted a criminal records check on all of us when the contract changed. Nothing questionable about me showed up.
At least your doppleganger is still alive! The top search result for my name is a memorial site for kid who loved driving cars a little to fast.
I Browse at +4 Flamebait
Open Source Sysadmin
Welcome to the real world. Your future life will consist of you being overlooked for a position based on something that has nothing to do with you or your job performance.
I graduated in 1990 with a degree in computer engineering. Back then, most schools did not offer a BCE degree, they had EE specializing in computer science or a plain BCS. I got many rejection letters just because I did not have the correct degree for jobs that would have accepted either a BCE or a BCS, and human resources had no idea that a BCE is a combination of the two.
If the blog owner will not respond, there's not much you can do except warn future employers that any web search will turn up a pervert with your name, but it's not you.
Well, searching on my name at one point turned up the plot to a gay porno. I told my friends - at last I'm famous!
If you're really worried, you could mention mistaken identities in online searches at interviews, particularly if you notice a pattern of rejections (as another poster pointed out). Or create a positive online persona, such a blog with your name (in which you could talk about mistaken identities). It might be hard to generate enough popularity to outrank the other link.
I would probably not take any steps that prematurely though, as I haven't heard much about employers summarily rejecting applicants based on 10 seconds of google search. Even the scaremongering article I did see was just someone whining that they couldn't find a job, and speculating that it was probably due to the picture of them projectile vomiting on the net.
Go here:
https://adwords.google.com/select/TrafficEstimatorSandbox
Buy your name in quotations as Adwords so your own website will appear every time someone searches you out. Keep it up while you job search.
1 in 4 Maine children in struggle with hunger.
if you have commited sind you have to stand the negative consequences!
come on - nobody would believe you that "it's just a conicidence"-bullshit!
Yeah it sucks... but hey... you do what you can.
<title>John Doe (not the pedophile, the honest guy looking for a job)</title>
</head>
Any employer that would disqualify you soley based on blog postings from a Google search is not a place where you want to work.
Reading this, I couldn't help but think what Google uses to do background checks on their potential employees. Does Google Google?
1) Use your middle initial
2) In cover letters, include a piece of trivia from your life that directly contradicts the information in the "#1 search result." If the other guy was living in city X in the summer of year Y, say what you did while living in city Z in year Y. This way the distinction will be painfully obvious to anyone who reads both.
3) As others have suggested, put up a blog of your own showing your personal and professional credentials. These days, if you are looking for work in certain fields or industries, a personal blog or public myspace/facebook/slashdot/something page is very helpful or even all but required.
Frankly, I'd be more worried about social contacts, would-be girlfriends, and the like than employers. You might want to make a habit of not being alone with other people's children when you attend all-age events like neighborhood parties, church/synagogue/mosque/whatever, etc. until after either the parents or people in charge know about the guy with the same name and that he's not you.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Don't use your full name on your resume (Use a nick name or make a small tweak).
...then you won't have to worry about that result being the top one anymore. Just hack some cool app for Android with your name clearly on the post, and make sure Engadget picks it up. Or something. You'll get about 500 pingbacks, and the worrisome result will be about three pages down on Google's search results.
First intelligent thing written on this topic.
It's an excellent way to stand out, by coming prepared in an interview with a printout of the Google search (just point out the glaringly obvious and embarrassing confusion - that THIS IS NOT YOU).
Or if you haven't gotten an interview yet, use this as an excuse to call.
Best question to ask in an interview, "what would YOU do with an issue like this?" Breaks the ice, shows you're listening, shows respect.
If you're THAT worried about it and can't control the Google hit, why not adjust your own name for resume purposes? Does the pedophile have the same middle name as you? Are there any professionally-acceptable variants of your first name? Or could you use your middle name instead of your first name?
You could just use an altered name for resume purposes and through the hiring process, and then upon being hired clarify your preferred name, even explaining why.
You specified "full name" in your post. Unless by "full name" you meant "including my middle name too" (which would be a huge and unfortunate coincidence), consider just using your middle name on everything job-related. For example, if your name is "John Gordon Rivers" then just call yourself "Gordon Rivers" on your resume, cover letter, cv, etc. They won't need to know your real first name until you start to fill out the formal paperwork (which probably won't be until after they've already hired you). And if they ask at that point, you can just tell them that you go by your middle name (a pretty common and unsuspicious practice). If they google you at that point, they'll be far enough along in the hiring process to actually take the time to verify that it's not you.
Of course, this could be a problem if your middle name sucks. But just add that to the list of things to resent your parents for.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
If Alberto Gonzales can get a job, I'm sure you'll have no trouble...
"Not an actor, but he plays one on TV."
If the person on the blog in question shares only your first and last name, you could migrate to using your full legal name (including your middle name), to help your hits stand out from the other's.
Aside from that, others have already suggested you change your name. It's probably not the ideal solution, but it could help. Of course, many job applications and formal intake processes ask you to disclose former identities...
You could contact the blogger, and ask him or her to add a one-line tag near the top of the blog entry (so as to appear in the text visible when searching) that provides a link to a site of your choosing. Consider text like "The individual below is not the same person as Joe Blow of Vancouver, BC". Of course, the danger there is that the bad guy will then decide to find out more about you and will begin to use your current address and other information.
Others have already suggested building your own bang-up website and having numerous pointing pages created. There are professional services that can do this.
If your one bit of short-time experience in the same city as the bad guy is relatively minor, consider excluding it altogether. Otherwise, consult with that former employer to see if there is an alternate location you may list as the job location. Explain the reasoning why you'd want to do so. If you left on good terms, and if the company does have another location, they may be willing to help you out. If they do agree to do so, be sure to ask for a note to be added to your file, to prevent a low-ranking HR pawn from say "no, he actually worked in our other location." Receiving a letter from the company that reviews your mutual agreement would be a good back-up plan.
Consider adding a sworn affidavit to your submitted resume and reference pack. The subject of the affidavit is that you are not the listed abuser. It might pique their interest enough to make them look things up, but it could also backfire--knowing you have the same name as an infamous person might make them want to avoid you. Could you envision any company wanting to hire a sales person named Adolf Hitler or a similar varient?
Best of luck to you.
I use irony whenever I can, but my shirts are still wrinkled...
Assrape a few kids yourself and I bet that'd get you higher up on the Google rankings...
My name is Martin Lawrence. I am 5'11", 220lbs and white. Yet most interviews I go to I am still asked to act out scenes from BAD BOYS.
Her REAL name is that of a pr0|\| *.
She didn't believe me until I made her google her own name.
How much is your data worth? Back it up now.
I read this in one of the dead-tree financial columns recently (maybe Information Week, unable to locate it). Technically HR can not ask your age, picture, marital status, race, and a few other things until after you are offered a position. This article was a warning to HR people.
Or is this one of the silliest posts in a while? I am a recruiter: While a Google search is part of normal screening, I don't know of any of my peers that would hire/not hire somebody based solely on Google search results. Employers do more thorough screens than that.
On the other hand, a whiny/paranoid/puerile post on slashdot will immediately disqualify you from further consideration.
My advice: Work on your resume, work on your interview skills and stop fretting over crap like this. If it's just part of your personality, then it's a part that an employer will pick up on, and that's not good.
First of all, do you really think that (mis)identification as a "pedophile" will be regarded as "trivial" by a potential employer? I rather doubt it, myself.
More generally, there's no incentive for the alleged pedophile to do anything about this, if that's who posted the blog. On the contrary, the more people's lives the registration system inadvertently damages, the more likely it is that it will be reformed.
As long as it is maintained in such a way as to pillory teenagers, as long as it violates any sensible interpretation of ex post facto, as long as it confounds the identification of actual child molesters with consenting, informed people pursuing normal sexual concourse, as long as it is a manifestation of a line in the sand that consists of nothing but arbitrary age - it really does need to be reformed.
Unfortunately, it is a legislative and voter's freebie, an issue where people think last, if at all, about the broader implications of what they are supporting. The public is very easily manipulated on these issues, and I, for one, can't think of a solution to that which doesn't involve an IQ test, a constitutional comprehension test, and a formal disqualification from voting and serving as a lawmaker or judge if the individuals tested can't meet a reasonable standard of competence.
This is the root problem with most democracies. Any two uninformed twerps can outvote an informed expert on the subject at hand, in an environment where expertise is a rare commodity. It's self-destructive for the host society, visibly and obviously flawed at the most basic level, and yet, the problem is rarely addressed. We don't let unqualified drivers direct a car on our streets or install plumbing, but we let any drooling idiot exert a considerable level of control on everyone else's actions though the mechanism of the law. Pitiful, really.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
How about you just tell them what the situation is on your resume? Why is that hard to think of on your own? Hell, even kdawson got that one right:
from the footnote-the-resume dept.
Explain the situation, that's all you need to do. If they have doubt about your story, a background check will handle that. Instead of letting them search for it on their own, and finding it, and *then* having to explain it, just explain up front what they'll see when they do a search.
This really seems like a non-issue to me.
A similar thing happened to me, but where someone with my name from my home town was in a newspaper article talking about how she did drugs, had children, and was trying to find her way in this world.
Flood the market by telling everyone and anyone who you are. Create a website with your name as the domain name, and talk about yourself or interests. If you're a developer, make it a developer blog talking about the things you've contributed and discovered. Ensure the sites you develop have good SEO, like by putting your name in the title, and an h1 tag at the top of the HTML document with your name in it.
If you have multiple varied interests, create a website of your work for each one and link to each other. Join other sites and create profiles using your real name, and interlink each other.
Eventually you'll end up showing Google that your name means you, and not that other guy.
My given legal name is "Robert Lowe". I wasn't named after the famous one (he wasn't famous when I was born) but if you do a google search on my name, you most definitely do not get me on the first dozen or so pages of hits.
I have never once had an employer disqualify me for that pesky little 1980's sex tape scandal. Sadly, no woman I've wanted to date has mistaken me for my namesake either.
Then again, maybe it's because my name double is a bit more widely known than yours. Still, these things do happen. Personally, I would be more worried about tougher and tougher sex offender laws. It may become a felony to have the same name as one some day!
I am the penguin that codes in the night.
You think you got problems when you ego-surf and find that you are a Paedophile !?
According to Google I'm a Scientologist.
Whatever I do I just can't bump that site off.
"illini1022" *is* his real name. He had hacker parents.
Me, I'm naming my kids 1AAAAAAA and 1AAAAAAB. They will probably be teased and get funny looks throughout life, but they will always be at the front of any line in elementary school. This will ensure that they always get a hot lunch in the cafeteria.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
... I am going to name my children after database unique id codes. "AK23F2 Smith! Go now make your homework!"
Your story seems like a bummer, but it is also an opportunity to do the right kind of looking for a job.
I envision, this is the kind of scenario you have to fear if you send a resume to HR of a company or even a recruiting sub contractor. They farm out a web screen to someone who has little interest other that fulfilling their daily work quota. To that person (or the computer algo replacing him./her) your interests do not matter much. So you land on the pile to ignore.
Luckily for you, the "post resume on .com or .com/careers" scheme has a success rate of 1 in 10,000, because they have so many "matching" resumes they need a quick and cheap way to select some quality one's. hence the outsourcing or delegating to a computer, and with the described handicap, your personal success rate might be worse.
The real world job finding success happens through networking. So go to your library (or the next online book store), look for the keywords "job networking" and "Informational interview" and really learn to play that game. That way your resume comes from a real person to a person in the company, and the Internet search is at least done by someone who has to answer to someone she knows personally (= higher chance of verifying that it is not you in that article). Also, you will enjoy it much more, because you learn from every network contact you make and your chances of success are more in the 1:100 range.
And never stop playing the networking game, even when you are happily employed. You might switch roles from time to time and refer contacts that are looking to open positions you are aware of.
Busy helping non technical users of OpenOffice.org - http://plan-b-for-openoffice.org/
Oh for the want of modpoints...
If you're that worried about it, stick it somewhere in your resume or intro. letter... Something like, 'P.S. Google $your_name and the first place person is a bad guy who is NOT me!'
Don't worry about appearing 'odd' in your letter - getting notice is good. Might get you the interview. As someone who's ploughed through plenty of resumes in my time, believe me, a little humour goes a long way.
Best advice of all (offtopic) is to get your intro letters and resumes checked by an experienced professional. Tailor both for each job you really want. Makes a huge difference.
He wouldn't stand a chance, being an alleged pedophile and all!
Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
Sam Lowry: "I assure you, Mrs. Buttle, the Ministry is very scrupulous about following up and eradicating any error. If you have any complaints which you'd like to make, I'd be more than happy to send you the appropriate forms."
Use an alias / alteration of your name on your resumes, no lie heres, just put in the middle name initial into it or something, that helps a bit.
Secondly comes SEO: Register a domain using your name first-last.com, or get something.edu/first-last or something like that :)
On that website, open up an blog, talk about what ever you want to, but try to make it interesting, make it have steady stream of new postings, hell, write a 20 articles at a time, and schedule them to come out weekly, repeat & rinse twice a year.
On the blog open an page at url first-last.com/about/first-last
h1 tag: "Last, First Biography"
h2 tag: "Biography"
containing full name, masked e-mail address (pref with your name in it!), born and in which city, basic stuff like that
h2 tag interest
h3 tags subinterest groups
h2 tag: First Last in the media
List of links of where people have spoken about you or you've written articles
Contain a link to that on frontpage below your picture on the left, also on every page footer 'Who is First Last?'
On those links put rel="me", also on the list of you in the media.
There's tons of more to it, but notice a patter, always trying to get your first or last name first :)
And gather some LinkLove, request your friends to link etc.
There you go :)
Contact me if you want/need more help. WordPress is easy to get started, but remember to keep it up2date.
Pulsed Media Seedboxes
You know, that gives me an idea. I'll change my name to "Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus", so any drones who just do a quick googling will have the first 10 pages straight saying that I was the greatest Roman Emperor, pagan but well respected even by the christians, conquered Dacia, gave the Persians a sound spanking (and beat them in the war too;), built a bridge over the Danube, built a great column and a forum, etc.
Hmm, wait a sec, also that (according to historians like Dio Cassius) Trajan was into boys. Curses, foiled again.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
I used to have a common name, dozens of us in every major city, impossible to tell who was me in a Google search. So I legally changed my name to a unique identifier. And no, it's not a random jumble of letters (in fact I only swapped two letters). Now I own the domain names and *all* my google results. Downside: I have to be extra careful not to post anything even vaguely incriminating under my real name. And you probably want to make sure to snag your uid at every service that becomes popular.
As one of those "pedophiles" that is posted on the internet it's rather fun to see who else is mixed in with my name on search. I've had bloggers, journalists, tech authors, all push down my name from 1 to 10. I applaud them for putting out news worthy work.
Now, since I'm an obvious "criminal" I've gone on dozens of interviews some turned into jobs, some didn't. You know what the job interview person asked? "Please tell me about your job skills and how you relate to this position"
That's all they care about. Your manager could give 2 fark's less about if you diddled a kid 10 yrs ago or pissed on a wall in public. That's for HR to deal with. He wants someone who:
A. Will show up on time
B. Do their job
C. Doesn't complain or showboat
D. Know how do their job
E. Not fark around at work
It's only when it went to HR did I ever have a "problem" they called in the management and all of them have said "So?"
Impress them on the interview, give away nothing, then get the job. I just took an interview even though I've been at the same job for 6+ years (us criminals gotta eat) on a lark and I was the 2nd candidate for the job called in. I wasn't chosen but hey it was fun to go through phone, tech, and then face to face as an "evil" person.
All in all, if you are that worried get over yourself snowflake. Learn how to nail the interview and your resume, that's all they care about.
No. In fact, do you want to hear a real horror story? When I went to renew my driver's license a couple of year's ago by mail I was told that I had to come to my state's version of the DMV for an unspecified problem. When I came in to renew it turned out that my very, very, common first and last names, (several pages of some variation of my name (first, last, last-and-initial(s), etc.) in metro book alone), and date of birth (OK, what are the odds there?), matched a "hold" that was put on that name and DOB from another state. It seemed that I had to clear my "record" in that other state before my current state would renew my license. No matter that I have never been in that state. So, I contacted the great state of X, and found out that someone got a ticket in 1991 after being stopped and found driving without a drivers license. He evidently paid the fine back in 1991, but never did apply and pay the $130 "reinstatement fee." X would not clear the hold on the name, and the old record showed no social security number (the guy had no license!). My state would not issue me a new license until the "hold" was cleared, and said that I could either just can pay the reinstatement fee in X for the dude or take it to court in to prove that I was not the person in question, ostensibly, I suppose, by proving my whereabouts being somewhere other than X on the night of whatever in 1991? (I was in fact in Europe and the Middle East all of that year doing Uncle Sam's business!) I checked on lawyer's fees for my area, about $150-300 per hour, and after stewing and cursing at the walls, did the math, and went ahead and paid the $130 fee on line using Mr. Visa on the state's web site -- very efficient transaction! So, here are 2 important issues relevant to the issue of identity protection in general, which is really what this is all about: (1) GIGO: bad data widely distributed and readily available can be a very, very, bad thing -- and, as more and more databases are interconnected, a process accelerated due to homeland security and other factors, there will be more and more of these horror stories, many much worse. Use your imagination! (2) The idea of a national ID card, indexed to a single identity number (like SSN), will eventually become more and more attractive as more people get burned, some perhaps tragically. If the other person with my name from the other state had given an SSN, and that SSN was the index for the "hold" instead of my all to common name coincidentally paired with a DOB that we evidently shared, then this wouldn't have been MY problem. I understand, somewhat, some people's queasiness about the idea of a national ID. On my part, I am for such a card, if for no other reason that it might potentially make identity theft (or government mis- identity) harder -- if done well (aye, there's the rub!). I sure hope my namesake doesn't end up on a no-fly list, or worse.
and since HR is responsible for hiring the people in that company, how can you deduce that the people there are nice to work with?
HR is the gatekeeper, they let in the people they want. if their criteria sucks, then the people they hire will suck too
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Legally change your name to something that comes up clean on a google search.
Only his tendency toward a dazed stupor prevented him from screaming aloud.
For any job where there's a sizable number of applicants the HR person will likely try to weed them down to a list of "good" candidate rather quickly and then spend the time on them. Perhaps you'd be "good" too, but if they've already identified 20 such people on the list it's not going to hurt them much to leave you off it.
It's not that they care deeply about "petty" reasons, it's that they need "any" reason to get that list down to something manageable.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
That kind of thing will blow over. My first and middle names are Richard Allen. As in Richard Allen Davis.(He was that clown drawing mass murderer guy). I don't think I raise eyebrows anymore. Heh heh heh heh.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
I would also mod Parent up.
Use your middle initial, or even your middle name to try and differentiate yourself.
You also may be able to just omit the city, if the position was at a well-known company, or a company that is easily findable on google.
I've done a lot of hiring, and believe me, we don't bother googling every candidate. But, if you make it through the interview process to the offer stage, we'll run a background check.
And you think all your posts by "Anonymous Coward" on Slashdot are tame by comparison?
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
Yeah, put up a website, saying, "I'm not a pedophile..."
This is my sig.
"No unions !"
"The top search result on Google for my full name is a blog posting regarding an article about a pedophile"
..
The solution is to never ever use your real name online
I see this post has fallen into the typical /. answers along the lines of - any employer who would disqualify you based on Google hits isn't someone you want to work at. This is a shortsighted response. Any HR department worth it's salt finds out AS MUCH as possible about a candidate before hiring. If it's illegal they can always give another reason why they didn't hire you.
You're not over-reacting at all- if someone doing a cursory Google search of your name could misconstrue you with this pedophile, you really should do something about it. Like:
- Set up your own website which includes your latest resume, info about you and examples of your work if appropriate. If you are not web-development savvy- use an online profile site like linkedin or blogger or something. Put the url to your online portfolio ONTO your resume. So people know the best channel to take in order to find your legit online info.
- Change the city on your resume that this other guy was in, to the next closest city. If an employer asks about that resume entry during an interview- you can explain the situation.
- Politely ask the blogger if they would be willing to take down the blog post or add some info about the pedophile that would make it OBVIOUS he's not you. Like middle name/initial or age, or birth place. Many bloggers have old posts they are no longer so fired-up about and would be willing to take down if it was causing someone like you to possibly get a bad-rap for nothing. Last resort- put a comment on the blog post with a link to your online portfolio- saying this guy is NOT John Doe from Yourtown[link to portfolio].
I have the same name as a convicted serial killer and rapist. But this has been much less of a problem since Texas executed the bastard.
My advice to you: change your middle name and make a point of using it on all your written correspondence. Make sure the first letter of your new middle name is the same as the old, so that your college records etc. will still match up.
Google first to make sure your new full name has no similar problems. It's better to have your name get billions of conflicting hits than few or none; if it has no hits, and tomorrow someone of that name commits a heinous crime, you're back at square one.
HR drones will type whatever name is boldface at the top of the resume. MORTON GIGER THROCKGRISTLE III is what you want, not M. G. Throckgristle.
As an owner of a small engineering firm, I would encourage you to make sure you have passed the FE exam prior to looking for a job. The FE exam application I believe asks if you have ever been convicted of a felony, so passing suggests that you are "clean." (Taking the LEED exam might be an added bonus as well, but just for the sake of showing you are serious about 'green'.) If you are really scared, focus more on smaller companies where HR won't be your biggest obstacle.
We have 25 people, and have done background checks on two applicants and Facebook/Myspace searches on six or eight people. (To be honest, most of the latter type are focused on figuring out if the person is male or female.) You do background checks on people that you don't have any information on-- that aren't direct referrals.
A lady shows up at the welfare office to have some issue sorted out. The officer attending her looks at her file, and notices that she has 10 children. He is astonished by this.
"You have 10 children? What are their names?"
"Oh, they're all called Bob."
"Um, what? Wouldn't it be better for each of them to have a different name?
"No way! This way, when some of them are getting in trouble or doing something bad, I just have to yell: 'STOP THAT RIGHT NOW, BOB!' Instead of having to call each of them by their name."
"But what if you need to call only one of them? What do you do then?"
"Oh, then I just use their last names!"
your name to something just a little different, like C3P0. That way you're google-proofed *and* and guaranteed more then just a cursory glance by any Star Wars-loving HR-drone.
Quack, quack.
NT
Write "Not a Pedophile" in the Skills and Abilities section of your CV.
If you Google my name, most of the hits you get are for a drummer. If you've heard me drumming, you'd know that's not me :-)
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Hey, maybe they'll never see the google hits she'd most be worried about...
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Be careful if you change your name... remember what happened with poor Bobby Tables.
http://xkcd.com/327/
-- Terry
Little Bobby Tables, we call him
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Man, you got my sympathy
The question that occurs to me, and likely will to any potential employers worth considering, if why, if it's so obvious that it's not you, are you trying so hard to make that point? Yes, there may be employers less capable of sussing it out. If they're going to take any random web site as valid without verifying it, you don't want to work for them. I'd say and do nothing and wait for the issue to be raised, and if it is, ask to be provided with a copy of any verifications they've done on such material.
Not likely to help much but for consideration: some attempt to take anything as valid if it appears formatted properly. An employer of mine did. I provided them with a copy of an email, including complete headers, from Pope John Paul II to Yasir Arafat, playing dozens with their respective holy figures ("Your prophet is so fat..."). It still took a while to get my point across, so dense were they. Had I provided it on disk instead of paper, they'd probably still be convinced of its authenticity despite both persons being deceased. That one fell to late under the "don't want to work for them" category.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
Maybe I'm confused, but many of these posts give far too much power to the HR department. In my experience, the only thing HR does is all the paperwork AFTER department managers have reviewed resumes and picked out potential applicants. HR doesn't do ANYTHING dealing with vetting resumes (other than maybe making sure they are in the appropriate format?) and they don't make any decisions whatsoever about who gets an interview or not.
Change your name.
I've thought about this, and considered buying my name as an adword once I seriously start job hunting, with a link to my 'official site' and explanations of various other common search results for my name. Especially since I have a relatively uncommon name, and I often post under my real name, there is a lot of stuff out there with my name on it that might freak out weak minded people who are thinking about hiring me. I'm guessing that holding their hands and walking them through the idea that a person's life on the internet has nothing to do with their job performance is going to be a bigger challenge than sifting through all the fake job postings that companies put up so they can hire H1Bs.
The world you experience is only a close approximation of reality.
You could always choose to disseminate this information to any potential employers. Let them know that this individual is not you. Maybe by creating a portfolio of your online activities or by speaking directly to a hiring manager. Maybe a prospective employer would even appreciate that initiative on your part.
Give yourself a fourth name. Example:
John Jacob JinkleMeyer Smith
From an old campfile song.
Having the same name as a pr0n star, who is mainly known for her interests in water sports, I do sympathise with the OP.
Starting your own web page would be a good idea, it certainly wouldn't hurt, as long as you don't have to waste too much time building/SEOing it. Hopefully there isn't much competition for the search term (your name) other than the offending article of course.
If you succeed in geting above the line on Google then you have a good opportunity to impress your prospective employers before your interview.
Just specify your middle name along with your resume? So John Smith the pedophile wont come up when searching John Doe Smith...
Most large companies will do a background check for criminal history. Unless you where convicted of being a pervert you are fine.
People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them
someone will recommend you to hire. In my experience, the engineering/IT/energy industries are full of unqualified people. For that reason,when I meet someone that does have skills we trade information and stay in touch. Using this route avoids problems like you are talking about since the hiring company will either take your friend on his word, or do a complete vetting out vs just googling you.
If you aren't getting offers from any colleagues you possibly don't have any skills/talent. In this case, it might have been better to choose a different major. If you are skilled but are just a recluse/hermit, you could try the career center. One metric of a school's performance is post graduate job placement. It is in their interest to get your foot in the door.
No matter what happens, leaving that city on your resume is a stupid idea.
Post on loads of mailing lists that get indexed under your real name. Choose mailing lists that are non-controversial and keep the content boring.
I've noticed that posts I made years ago on some software project or another are still showing up today when I search for my (unusual) name.
There is nothing logical or scientific about hiring practices in the US as a rule.People get refused jobs because they share physical characteristics with an old enemy or whatever all the time. They also get hired for strange reasons.
But more to the point just how unusual is your name? Most names turn up hundreds upon hundreds of exactly the same names referring to different people. My last name used to be on the rare side but has increased lately. But some names like Jim Smith or Joe Williams make it very hard to track down a specific person. Perhaps your potential employer will be smart enough to avoid leaping to conclusions.
It's obvious that illini1022 is a pedophile trying to repair their reputation so they can seduce more kids. They should be jailed for trying.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/18891/its-always-sunny-in-philadelphia-a-problem-for-dennis -- I think the submitter stole his story from a TV Show.
...my son is the only student named John. With an uncommon last name, it's unlikely he'll ever meet another with exactly the same name. If your surname is "Smith", yeah, it's a tough life.
My sister had Aryan as her first name of and Nation as her middle name.
Signed,
Adolf Hitler Smith
Somewhere on your resume, state that you are not a pedophile, and that google is a liar.
A subject close to the heart of the most amusing Plato the fish. His blog is at
www.multiversity.blogspot.com.
A couple of quotes re HR;
"Please desist from addressing communications to HR as the Directorate of Human Rubble."
"Can I just mention that your ideas to rename HR whilst amusing are unlikely to be take up by the university"
In light of the realisation that the term Human Resources is antithical to our diversity policies (which by the way were crafted by HR) I hereby suggest some alternatives:
* 'The department of paper, rules and dogma'
* 'Directorate (in an equal opportunities non directive type of way of course) of Valued Employees'
* 'The communist party' - I think party has a nice focus to it, different to directorate comrade
* 'The group of really nice people trying to get other really nice people to comply with the rules and policies we design to make it look as if we are really useful department.
'
* 'Slowing things down and stopping untidy innovation team'
* A bit radical this - 'Administration.'
* 'Directorate of creative mavericks and ideas control'
* 'The Empire' - why is the only part of the university that appears to be in full blown growth, 'Human Resources'?
Read the back blogs if you like a good laugh!
First time I made a common on /. I mistakenly corrected someone's spelling. Now I'm forever wear "bad karma" as my scarlet letter. You just can't repair this... learn to embrace it instead.
Anyone want to give me more bad karma? Go ahead, make my day.
Unless you sing in a ridiculous leather jacket, I don't think you're going to get in trouble. The fact is that you work in different fields and attended different universities.
Besides - your legal record would show any abnormalities - and most companies do perform a criminal background check for professional positions.
I said no... but I missed and it came out yes.
You can insure that a page that you control (personal blog, resume whatever) comes up by buying placements on the big three engines. Then when somebody googles or yahoos you they get your paid listing every time. Full names are not very popular search terms and competition will be low. Unless your name is stockquote getrich you should be able to be the top listing for less than 20 cents a click.
define:affidavit
:-)
How to Write an Affidavit
Write out the situation like you explained it to us, but use formal language.
Keep it under one page. Have it notarized. Attach a copy with every resume.
Any other issues we can help you with? Are you brushing your teeth enough?
I suggest you read Slashdot
Be a dick about people asking for advice.
I hear there's big money in that.
Add a Google SearchWiki note to that search result saying something like "Note to potential employer: This is not the $REALNAME whose resume you have in your hands."
And if its the first time they've seen a SearchWiki tag, it might freak them out and then they'll definitely remember you.
Dont hate the media, become the media.
You're a convicted pedophile.
In this day and age, most companies committ a criminal background check on prospective employees. Since you don't have an arrest record, I doubt a net match would yield more than a shrug of mistaken identity. On top of that, I'm sure you're around 22 years old. Even if they don't check on your background, I doubt someone your age would have the time to go through a trial, prison, parole, then somehow find a way to attend college at the same time to graduate on time. Not likely, so don't worry about it.
Where's my sock? There it is...
if your employer does not have to assume you are the only one there, he will be more careful in making judgments. if you are called "Mark Smith" for example i would not worry, nobody will draw conclusions.
Contact the blog posting person and ask them if they'd consider adding the pedo's middle name to the blog post (but changing nothing else.)
Then put your middle name on your resume, which is presumably different.
Done!
An apology won't do you any good.
did the math, and went ahead and paid the $130 fee on line using Mr. Visa on the state's web site...
Dude, you should have disputed the charge by saying the dirtbag stole your credit card! That way, the hold is removed, you keep your money and they go after the guy who "stole" your data.
Don't use your head in stuff like this, use your "meaness gland".
[End Of Line]
I don't know about America, but in the UK you could simply write to that website and claim defamation of character, due to the coincidence, as odd as it may sound.
What are my options?
Reputation Defender for a start.
Am I overreacting?
Not just no, but "F$CK NO!" Do NOT listen to the idiots who are telling you, "Anyone who'd believe this isn't worth working for." Screw that. The people you DO want to work for ARE reading Google, MySpace, Facebook and everything else.
You're getting into the "Green" industry, and they're highly connected to the internet, and set to become even more connected. Add to the fact that some of the best employers might require you to go through an SSBI to get a security clearance (DOE), and this could really mess you up.
Should I attempt to set up my own site that would steal the top Google search from this blog posting?
YES! Yes, you want to do everything you can to make sure YOUR name appears at the top of Google. But you can't cheat, and you need to be aware of the "Streisand Effect". If you complain/bitch/fight too loudly, you'll get the reverse effect, and everyone will be flocking to the bad guy's site. That will drive Google's ranking up ahead of yours.
The folks saying "Anyone who'd do this isn't worth working for" don't know what they're talking about.
[End Of Line]
..."Personnel"?
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
I agree with the poster who said to just change the name of the city that you had lived in. In addition, I would suggest not using your full name. Just first and last. Or using the initial of your first name and the middle and last name; i.e. M. James Smith, rather than Michael J. Smith. Most interviewers will ask what you like to be called; just say Jim to them, and when you get hired, either continue that practice with your immediate supervisors/co-workers, or tell them you prefer "Mike". HR will be none the wiser because I highly doubt that they will pay attention and re-check your name. Once you're hired, your hired. And, as an added bonus, if they DO come back for some odd reason and ask about it, all you have to say is "This is why I changed my name. So I wouldn't be mistaken for this other person." I think most would be understanding in that case. Especially if you then ask them "What would you have done in my situation?" 'Nuff said!
If my name was Julie Moult I'd be looking to legally change it sharpish. Thankfully my name is pretty unique in that if you type my full name in speechmarks into a google search you won't get any web/forum/usenet posts by anyone else, but on the flip side it makes it easy to find what I've posted (if you know my real name that is)
To do something right, you often have to roll up your sleeves and get busy.
Jokingly I figured I would google my own name. The first hit was irrelevant to me. The second hit was one of the websites that I admin and of course my name is in the footer.php section. The third however creeped me out the most. It was the police report for the ACTUAL accident that I was the victim in last year. I figure it's not that unusual, I was just hit with a wave of shock because it was probably the last thing I thought would have been on the web
Once upon a time in a mythical land called Soviet Russia, a hot bowl of grits had Natalie Portman.
Stop being such a preppie, preppie.
With my license about to expire, I had to also weigh the potential cost of not having a drivers license for an unknown, but potentially extended, time-frame. I must commute by car -- no other option. State had me by the gnarbles, and I would not be surprised to learn that it was some clever comptroller's strategy -- why after 16 years suddenly put hold on a very common name? Who else might have paid?
My name is Robert Hansen. No, not Robert Hansen, despite the fact I grew up near to where he grew up. No, not Robert Hansen, despite the fact we're from the same state and attended the same university. No, not Robert Hansen, despite the fact we're in the same field and have spoken at some of the same conferences (and journalists seeking him have contacted me by mistake). And finally, not Robert Hanssen, either.
I have been mistaken for all of those people at least once.
I get around it by signing everything, everything, as "Robert J. Hansen." That cuts down name collisions an awful lot.
Good luck!
Since this is just one blog post, it sounds like your best bet is to game the search results and knock as far off the front page as possible.
And since the crux of your problem is that you've got to distinguish yourself from this guy, you might as well use it to your professional advantage as an excuse to get your name out there. Beyond your own page, start posting under your real name (constructively, of course) on a few different professional-appropriate sites. See if you can get any guest articles on others' sites, the more traffic, the better. You might even have senior projects/papers that would do nicely.
However, if there were many more bad hits on your name, a preemptive approach might be more appropriate. For example, if your name is Alberto Gonzales, probably a good idea to let them know you're not that Alberto Gonzales. Nobody wants to hire him.
I'm thinking 1,000,000 links to his site with the word viagra in the anchor text spread amongst the comment sections in the spammiest blogs you can find would do the trick. Seriously read up on how google marks pages as spam...you can probably get it taken it down fairly easily
This is an interesting and tricky problem to solve. The danger comes from people who might google your name, see the bad guy thing and go "yuck" -- and then pass you by. People like this can even
fully realize you aren't the bad guy, just someone with the same name, and still the "yuck" causes
them to pass your resume by. But if you make a big deal out of the co-incidence, including an affidavit or side-by-side photos of yourself and the bad guy, you'll make the co-incidence be more memorable than the rest of the resume. And of course you have to be upbeat and polite and not condescending too.
Here's how I'd do it:
At the top I'd put an asterisk after my name. This arouses curiosity. If you think the people might be extra stupid, use two asterisks, so they can't miss it. At the very end of the resume,
perhaps after "References: Available on request", put your footnote.
* Google Goofs to avoid. If they're a bit more formal, say
* Google Gaffes to avoid. (If this catches on, there will come to be an internet slang expression
for this section of a resume. If such an expression develops, use it.)
*Google Gaffe to avoid: Mistaken Identity. The applicant has no connection to the John Q. Public whose posts to the such-and-such forum pop up in a Google search by name.
Don't include the word pedophile, or even "bad guy" if you can help it. Your goal is to instruct the lazy and stupid not to jump to conclusions, without telling them that they are lazy and stupid.
You want to say "don't fall into the trap" without painting a big picture of a trap in their head that will dominate their memory of you. Don't even bring up the subject in your interview. Assume that if they've read your resume they know enough about the story.
Your best win here is not to be someone saddled with a huge hassle that you make a great noise about and then, finally, triumph over. Your best win here is to make the hassle seem miniscule,
as measured in how few seconds of conversation in the interviewer's mind are occupied by the hassle and how many minutes are occupied with other aspects of you and the interview.
Best of luck to you.
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If I were you, I'd worry more about my resume being clean and relevant than what prospective employers might find via a quick background check, because I can filter resumes faster than I can google your name and figure out which of any of the results are somehow speaking about you.
I've hired a few people in my career, and the process goes like this:
If and only if we get thru these steps am I going to bother thinking about googling you, or checking references and employment history; and if you've made it through these steps, I'll be sure to do it right. This is because I've invested a large amount of time separating the wheat from the chaff, and I'd really rather not do it again. If there's a problem, I'm going to talk to you about it for exactly the same reason.
Good luck with your job search.
As long as your potential employer isn't Feeling Lucky when he decides to do a background check, you should be fine.
The most important thing you can own on the internet is your name. Go buy YourName.com and put up faverable material on yourself. Maybe even put a side page explaining that the blog is not you with proof.
Both the same article - my wedding announcement.
There is a man by the name of Paul Robinson who is a famous soccer player in Europe. Except for the fact I think I'm probably ten years older than him, weigh 400 pounds and in a wheelchair, I sometimes wondered if I could just make people think I was him.
The lessons of history teach us - if they teach us anything - that nobody learns the lessons that history teaches us.
Just register a different first name with the state's DBA directory. Then use that on your resume and to sign employer contracts and what not.
Click here for who I am not!
HR should be told to not use Google for a background check. Too many false positives.
A search on my name reveals:
-book writers
-not so great software by my name
-badly designed webpages with my name on it
-several facebook accounts with embarrassing pics that aren't mine
-an Enron exec that got arrested
-linkedin account that isn't mine
Many of these can easily be confused with me, but aren't me. Poetry major turned HR lady wouldn't be able to tell . . .
That does suck. I had the same thing happen to me, except that it was my sister. I gave her my car, but she never titled it in her name, got some parking tickets in some town I never go to. When it came time to buy a home, they wouldn't lend to me until I satisfied "my" debt to the city that I hadn't been to. Of course, my sister was broke, so she couldn't pay the bill.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
Dude, you just missed a chance to make the #1 Google result for your name a Slashdot article that explains the situation.
So you've been keeping your mouth shut in advance for all your life, never did anything remarkeable enough to show up somewhere, living constantly in fear to piss off some imaginary HR-droid in the future. Now somebody with a similar name has done something bad, and you're worring even about that? Who do you think is going to employ a sissy like that?
Oh, the beautiful gloss of greality!
Welcome to the American Dream.
The top result for my name is a banjo-player!
...of Ulm?
... you should have put your full name in the article. Slashdot is quite sure to be the top google result and the article would have explained everything to your potential future employers.
The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
I would say, if you feel worried about this, it makes sense to think about what to do about it. I am not sure that employers would check people out as much as rumour has it, but they might, of course. I think if a company wants you, they are not going to check your internet profiles and then simply dismiss you out of hand because they see something they don't like, that might refer to you - they will at most confront you on the issue and hear what you have to say.
I mean, really?
How do they know what is there is true?
Conceding this would be common practice (I have never seen this done) then I suppose it would be done professionally, in which case it would become obvious at some point if the information on the Internet is about the person applying for a job.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
The paedo is a 'real' person too, i'm sure...
Because for lightening up your resume, nothing beats having
*Note: I am not the pedophile with the same name in the Google results.
on the bottom of the page.
"many employers do have a prescreen which would catch both that as well as the lack of a criminal conviction."
Many of the paedophiles outed on anti-paedophile blogs have never committed a criminal offence, but have simply been careless about posting personal information to online support groups for people who are attracted to children. If the person with whom "illini1022" shares a name isn't a sex offender, how will the lack of a criminal conviction prove that "illini1022" is not the paedophile in question?
"To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free" ~ Nineteen Eighty-Four
If the blogger does not clarify which [whatever your name is] he or she is blogging about, the blog post could be potentially slanderous. As someone who has followed anti-paedophile blogs closely, I may be able to help with identifying the blogger who potentially slandered you.
Feel free to contact me at blribbon at fastmail dot fm, with a link to the blog post in question.
"To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free" ~ Nineteen Eighty-Four
aren't you?
Spend some time blogging about power and energy under your real name. Do this using more than one blogging site, i.e. maybe one blog on Blogger and one on Wordpress. After you have about a dozen blog articles up, write an article about how you discovered this pedophile who has the same name as you. In the article write about other unfortunate name collisions which you will be able to find with a bit of googling. Make a copy of the pedophile article and try to use some of the same uncommon keywords from that article in your own articles. For instance, you said it refers to the military so why not write a blog or two about military use of fuel-cells and how that differs from the fuelcell technology appropriate for cars. After a few weeks of writing an article or two every day, you will discover that the pedophile article no longer gets top billing. More importantly, if someone types in your name along with a keyword like pedophile, they will hit your power and energy blog where you posted the article about the unfortunate name collision.
For this to work you need to put some genuine effort into writing genuinely useful articles about your major. You should be able to mine your schoolwork for ideas. Try and educate the public about what you learned in your senior year and provide them with lots of useful URLs to follow up for more info. Write about your feelings about peak oil, about Obama's energy plans, etc. Soon you will become the blogosphere's respected expert on power and energy improving the future life of the world.
Unless you know where to look. And I'm incredibly paranoid about my identity anyways, due to some dodgy past relations with certain individuals that led to a full-scale raid on my house, as well as the fact that I constantly have people trying to find me to collect bills that my junkie ex-wife racked up (and I can't find her to get a legal divorce, so I need to wait X amount of time in order to file an absentee one).
PC moderators can suck my White pierced, tattooed dick. If you think pride == hate, s/dick/Aryan meat mallet/g.
You're not going to find a job in this economy anyway, at least not one that doesn't involve an insulated pizza bag and a magnetic sign for your car.
prove you've been wronged
No kidding. I often don't hear back from some recruiters, and I wondered why, when they were initially all hot and bothered to get me in for an interview.
Then I had one recruitment firm who was professional enough to tell me (after I was professional enough to warn them that I had a few old DWIs - I was 19 and 21, respectively - and a few other misdemeanors before they put me forth to a prospective client that required a high-level security clearance) that the reason why they couldn't represent me wasn't because of the things I'd been convicted of, but the things I'd been arrested for (but not convicted of). Apparently, if the grand jury accepts a case, but the D.A. throws it out without you ever going to trial, that still shows up as an arrest in an extensive background check. Despite the fact that all of these cases were dismissed for good reason - because they were ridiculous and the D.A. didn't stand a chance in hell of prosecuting them. It's going to cost me a fortune to get a lawyer to expunge all of those cases.
I've noticed that larger firms that actually look at the difference between arrests and convictions don't care about the arrests, just the convictions. I've actually been complimented on my honesty by one company after I told them up-front about those arrests and they proceeded with the interviewing process.
And bear in mind that these were all misdemeanors (all my felonies have been dismissed by grand juries, as they all involved use of justified force with credible witnesses - though I was pretty ticked when they slapped a hate crime charge on me in one instance, simply because I'm White and the other fellow was Asian...they didn't bother to check that I had several Asian colleagues who were also fairly good friends, so that was so ridiculous that I'd be laughing if it weren't my life and freedom).
PC moderators can suck my White pierced, tattooed dick. If you think pride == hate, s/dick/Aryan meat mallet/g.
In China there are only a hundred or so legally permitted first names and surnames - making not very many (my arithmetic isn't what it used to be) possible permutations. For a nation of over a billion people, that makes a lot of potential confusion.
Me, I'm glad to be the only person in the world with my name - a rare English surname (less than ten people in the UK, about a dozen more in the US, combined with a first name more popular among continental Europeans and Africans makes for a unique combination (and that's just the first name and surname which I use day to day - with the full four names on my birth certificate I doubt there ever has or ever will be another person who shares my name).
The only downside is if there is ever anything I would prefer to remain obscure theres no way there will ever be any confusion as to whether a particularly embarrassing search result refers to me or not. I'll just have to keep my nose clean.
Don't change your name. Change how it appears on your resume. If you are John Q. Smith, list it as J. Quincy Smith. Once you are through the hiring procedure and are working at your desk in your new department, simply say to the first person who calls you Quincy: "Just call me John." Problem solved.
A large company in the Energy sector is going to have a hiring system which will probably include a proper background check. It might even be required by the late Bush policies. This means they'll know about your credit history, blood type, political affiliations and any unpaid parking tickets, --and certainly any convictions of pedophilia or the lack thereof. You've got bigger things to worry about than sloppy Google searches.
That's my rough guess, anyway.
Good luck!
-FL
I have a unique name, there is only one more of me on the planet. I commented on treehugger, but they display my name below my comment, over someone elses obnoxious ripping into Mayor Bloomberg. So Google thinks it's me. TH won't respond to my requests to remove the comment. And I am looking for work in the Bloomberg administration (biggest employer for what I do in NYC).
I left a comment that people see if they are logged in, but that proverbial useless lazy HR gatekeeper will circular file my CV.
I hope you realize that by paying the fee, you also are admitting to be guilty of driving without a license. So on all future job applications you need to check that little box saying you have been convicted of a traffic violation.
Show the company that you are aware of what google brings up and mention it on the top line (OK second line) of your resume that you are NOT this other person.
Clearing the air about the issue is better than changing your name ("Why did he change his name? Hmm, when we google his previous name we see that pedophile!") and easier than trying to game Google (which is only a short-term solution (you'd have to fight that battle everytime Google recalculates its ranking!).
1. Spell it out in fine print on your resume or cover letter. "If you Google search for my name, you will turn up hits regarding a pedophile who happens to have the same name as me. This is not me."
2. If we just stopped using names and gave everyone a GUID we could avoid this kind of nonsense.
Moderator hint: a comment is neither "Flamebait" nor "Troll" if it is true.
. . . you should stop buggering kids, denying you served in the armed forces, and wasting time on slashdot.
There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.
Don't list the city on your resume!
I doubt it is critical information for the resume. If they want to know, they will ask and you will then been able to give the full story and clarify if there is any confusion.
Try to include some facts on your resume that are obvious contradictions to the comments on the blog about your namesake; this will hopefully make it easy for the resume reader to dismiss the unfortunate coincidence as not relevant to you.
I don't know about other places, but our HR folks are excellent. I post requisitions, and promptly get screened resumes for qualified folks. They give me great advice in dealing with employee problems. Pay and benefit issues are resolved promptly. In short, I couldn't be happier.
And I'm not just saying that because they're monitoring my web site use... :)
A) Life is not fair.
B) You're basically screwed, if not for this then for something else.
C) At the beginning of the process, they will look for ANY reason to eliminate you. That's what the drones are FOR.
D) I decided long ago that anyone too stupid to hire me was someone I didn't want to work with anyway.
E) For real wisdom check out Calvin Coolidge: "Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."
I have a personal site that I write articles on, and will also eventually host my resume. Quite a while ago, there was a gay couple in the news. One of them, Sean Fritz, happens to be to share both my first name and last name. This person also majors in ITM as I do. His "life partner" has the name of Tim, which happens to be the same name as a good friend of mine. He writes comedic articles, and I happen to have a link to his blog. I didn't think there would be a problem until Tim started to get a deluge of "gay people" to his site, all coming from my domain. I was worried for a while, but the worst of it soon blew over. I expect that the same should hold true for you as well.
If you went to court and won, wouldn't the other side have to pay your lawyer fees?
Take the first step. Be the first to say that there is a [suspected] paedophile out there with your name and do this in your job application. Provide proof that it isn't you.
Apparently, if the grand jury accepts a case, but the D.A. throws it out without you ever going to trial, that still shows up as an arrest in an extensive background check.
There's a good reason for that. It's because you were arrested.
Writers imply. Readers infer.
my name-surname combination is extremely unusual where I live, but it happens that there's another dude who is called exactly like me and is an outraged communist that blogs extensively against the government... now how am I supposed to deal with that?