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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?
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.
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.
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And? I didn't say no companies at all did this, I said no company worth your time does this.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
Depends on the state. In some, it's illegal and/or a formal policy not to search. From talking to my HR folks they have told me it is illegal to use internet information in Illinois, for example. Upon googling for more research, I can see what they're talking about here:
http://www.hrtrainingcenter.com/showWCDetails.asp?TCID=1003117
So actually, you are very wrong. Shady/shitty HR folks will come up with BS excuses to dance this law, by coming up with stuff like "your skills don't match". My work does not do that. We don't dance laws.
Does your full name match -- same middle name and same spelling? If not, spell it out fully. Otherwise add home town, age, University attended and years... There's bound to be a few salient facts of your bio that blatantly distinguish you from him. Is his SSN shown in his online record? Make sure HR knows yours is not his.