Maintaining Professional Identity

     One of the most important items of your identity is how you present yourself online and professionally. In this day in age, future employers will check into your digital identity. With that in note, it is important that we all remain professional online for the sake of our future. Below are some tips to make sure you keep a professional online identity.

    1. If you have a public social media ensure you have the correct privacy settings so future employers cannot look into you on your off time. There have been several cases where workers were either not hired or let go due to something they posted on social media.

    2. Self-Censor yourself. If you want to post something publicly ask yourself would it be alright if my future or present boss posted this. This is one of the most important steps because we as writers can control this. If you don't think your boss would approve of the post you are about to create you probably shouldn't post it. From my experience of joining the military, this is crucial, before you even sign your name on the dotted line they ask you if you have posted anything inappropriate on the internet.

    3. Be careful of using Cloud storage. Even though some Cloud storage states that it is private, nothing truly in the Cloud is private. There are many instances of someone leaking Cloud pictures and information that directly damage someone's identity.

    4. Before applying for a job, Google yourself what pops up is it something your employer won't like? Can you get rid of whatever inappropriate post is out there? You can even use resources like reputation.com where you can pay to improve your online image and learn some more tips to improve your online professional identity.

    5. Have a personal professional website. If you have a professional website you can control your image. You can customize just about everything with a website. Future employers will have a clue of who you are using what you put into your website. They'll know instantly from the visual representation of the website. You can use this website to create an instant portfolio or resume. If though a resume may say something with just words you can use this website to give your future employer a visual example of that. The last important item with your own website is pointing recruiters in your direction. Instead of using websites like LinkedIn which might point recruiters in a different employee direction than your own. Your website only will contain what you want it to contain.

    In conclusion, having a professional online identity is very important. There are ways to investigate yourself to ensure your future employers find the professional you. In addition, there are always ways of enhancing your online presence such as using your own private website to directly show yourself, in a positive light, to your employers.