Personal Branding Interview Michael Fertik and David Thompson - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Personal Branding Interview Michael Fertik and David Thompson - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Today, I spoke to Michael Fertik and David Thompson, who are the authors of Wild West 2.0. Michael is the CEO of ReputationDefender, and David Thompson is the Chief Privacy Officer for the company.   Note that ReputationDefender has been a previous sponsor of Personal Branding Magazine. In this interview, both Michael and David talk about why online reputation is important to the masses, tips to own your Google search results, and more. The vast majority of Internet users are ordinary folks, not high-profile VIPs. So, why should everyone be concerned about their online image? If theres one thing that researching Wild West 2.0 taught us, its that everybody gets Googlednot just celebrities and VIPs. Almost everybody we talked to admitted using Google to search for their friends and co-workers, or knew that they had been Googled themselves. One personal story that didnt make it in the book was of a female friend going on a first date only to find out that her date already knew her hobbies, interests, and family history. Pew Internet confirms our research; their recent study found that a majority of Americans admit searching for online information about their acquaintances. Its scary how much information is out there and how many people are looking for it. We live in a world where the fear of Big Brother has been replaced by the reality of hundreds of millions of little brothers constantly using the Internet to spy on each other. Students use the Internet to search for personal information about their teachers; teachers look for information about parents; parents search Google for teachers; managers look for information about their employees; nosy neighbors dig for information about nearly everyone; and political partisans of all stripes dredge through search results for dirt about about their opponents. It is almost certain that somebody you care about has searched for your name on Google; the only question is what they found. To take just one example, a study by Microsoft found that 79% of job recruiters use Internet searches and social media to find background information about job candidates, and at least 70% had rejected candidates based on what they found online. Similarly, a study of the top 500 universities found that a majority of admissions offices admit to using the Internet to find more information about applicants. Even if theres no negative information about you online, your online image is a chance to add more positive information to your resume. How has the technology of the Internet radically changed the rules of reputation? How have online community norms aggravated the problem? The Internet has taken a wrecking ball to the rules of reputation: Reputation used to be a two-way street: if somebody wanted to gossip about you, they had to risk their own reputation by spreading it. Now, they can write an anonymous comment on thousands of sites. Often, the author of a false or malicious comment or blog can ride off into the night with no trace left behind. Reputation used to be local: for most people, reputation was shaped by the people in the surrounding community, and did not spread far beyond it. Now, the Internet allows anonymous comments to spread at the speed of light to the edges of the world: now, it doesnt matter if youre in Tombstone (Arizona) or Tomsk (Russia)you can write comments that will be seen worldwide. Reputation used to be temporary: memories of reputation would fade. Now, everything that goes online is instantly indexed, cached, and often permanently archived. Sites like Archive.org automatically create a complete copy of every website in existence, limited only by the pace of change online. If there was any question left about the permanence of online reputation, it was settled by recent announcement that the Library of Congress would permanently archive every public tweet made on Twitter.com since 2006. The problem is made worse by search engines like Google. Without search engines, most false and negative online information would just disappear into a tumbleweed desert. But search engines are designed to find any reference to your name and bring it to the top of a search. In the past, gossip would end with a classroom note tossed into the trash; now, Google finds the electronic equivalent of classroom notes from years ago and displays them to the world. The more juicy and salacious the note, the more likely it is to rise to the top of Googles results. The worst part is that Googles top search results often focus on just one part of your lifewhatever sites gets the most clicks and links rises to the top of a search for your name. Even if the information is true, it is often focused on just one event or one aspect of your personality. A searcher looking for information about you will often believe that this is who you are. The problem is compounded by the fact that web searchers have such a short attention span: a recently Cornell study found that 79% of Google users click on the first three results, out of thousands of relevant links returned. The impact is that just three links picked by Google can make or break your reputation. In reality, you are a far more balanced and nuanced person than just a handful of search results. To add insult to injury, the technology of the Internet lacks any sense of morality or justice: search engines are nothing but computer code running on thousands of machines. Online gossip about you might be true or false, but to a search engine its just raw data to be fed into a ravenous algorithm. This faceless, soulless machine picks websites to display based on how many clicks and links they getnot based on whether they are true or false, fair or unfair. Its time for you to stand up and take control. Let’s focus on intentional reputation damage. Why do people attack each other online? How can understanding common motivations for an online attack help potential victims? People attack each other online for all the same reasons that people attack each other offlinebut online attacks are an order of magnitude more dangerous because of the power of anonymity and permanence. Online, somebody on the far side of the globe can attack you just because they have different political or social beliefs. And, thanks to the power of Google to find isolated bits of content about you, their attack can quickly rise to the top of a search for your name and stay there forever. Online attacks are also worse because of the social distance that the Internet creates. Its hard for most people to make an unprovoked insult to their victims face. But online, it is very easy for somebody to type harsh or mean words without realizing that they are affecting a real person. Often, resolving online attacks relies on psychology and empathy. Sometimes it is possible to figure out why you are being attacked, and come to an offline resolution. If you understand some of the most common causes for online attacksuch as envy, jealousy, and revengeyou can often understand how to treat the underlying cause that triggered somebody to attack you. Similarly, you must understand the psychology of the crowd to be effective. Just like in the Old West, a digital vigilante squad on the new digital frontier can rush to judgment and start to implement its own form of justice. If you find yourself falsely accused by this kind of e-mob, you need to understand how to calmly and rationally present evidence that you are not the guilty party. Otherwise, you risk permanent serious damage to your reputation. What are the ways to help victims of online reputation damage correct false information and restore their good name? The best we can recommend to anyone is to build powerful defenses before it is too late. A Google wall of positive content and sites you control will keep future false information and attacks out of the top results in Google, and also stop the self-reinforcing cycle of negativity. All too often, once negative or salacious information gets into the top results, it starts to attract more attention and links just because of the human tendency to focus on gossip and drama. From there, the content gets copied and promoted more and more until it takes over the top results for your name. One first step toward building is to build a network of positive content. It can help even to do very simple things like registering your name on sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and other sites that tend to rank highly in search engines. Use these sites to create basic profiles and link these sites to each other. If available, you should also register .com addresses related to your nameFirstnameLastname.com, Firstname-Lastname.com, and others. Sites that contain your name in the domain name often rank highly in Google searches. You can often use free or inexpensive services to set up simple blogs or profiles on these sites, and also link them to your other content. If possible, you should also increase your visibility in third-party sites. Often, local newspapers and blogs rank highly in search engines, and writers are almost always looking for stories. If you can get news coverage (or even just a quote) in one of these outlets, it will often rank highly in searches for your name. If friends or co-workers link to your sites from their blogs, that will also help to push your content to the top of a search for your name. If there is false information about you online, some responsible website owners will be happy to work with you to correct it or remove it. Try sending a very calm, polite email that explains the facts without accusing anyone of misconduct or attacking the webmaster. If the webmaster refuses to change anything, then you need to make sure that web searchers find the truth first. You can engage many of the same tactics as listed above, or follow the steps outlined in Wild West 2.0s chapter on recovering from online attacks. Can you give us management techniques for small business owners and professionals? Small businesses and professionals like doctors and lawyers are at particular risk; a majority of consumers now use Internet searches to look for reviews and ratings before hiring, and they often find anonymous reviews left by a dissatisfied customer rather than a representative sample of reviews. But many professionals and small business owners have done nothing to protect themselves. One study of doctors found that more than 90% of primary care physicians have never done anything to address their online images. One of the biggest problems that professionals face is that just one dissatisfied client can ruin their online reputation, even if 99.9% of their clients are fully satisfied. Most professional clients dont leave reviews for good work; for example, one study found that no primary care physician had more than eight reviews in a nationwide professional review site. That means that negative feedback will be disproportionately featured. The most powerful solution is to encourage satisfied customers to review you on sites relevant to your profession; often, a simple reminder is all it takes to encourage your best customers to review you well in addition to sending referrals. Be cautious not to go too far; do not give any reward to customers who review you unless you have familiarized yourself with the FTC guidelines concerning compensated endorsements. Small businesses face similar challenges. There are tens of websites that allow anonymous consumers to vent complaints about businesses. Some consumer complaints on these sites are genuine and constructive. But others are false or exaggerated. And others still are lies left by competitors, bitter former employees, and others who have no connection at all to your services. Thanks to a law known as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the sites that post these defamatory comments are usually held immune in court. Some webmasters will help correct outright lies, but some complaint sites have been accused of extorting businesses by offering to remove false information only for a fee. Often, the only thing you can do is try to set the record straight by establishing your own online presence that is more prominent than the lies. Small businesses can often engage with consumers in ways that will help their business and their online image. Setting up a social media presence (through sites like Facebook and Twitter) is often a great first step toward controlling your small business image online. Starting a blog about relevant community or business issues can also raise your profile while helping to limit the harm caused by false information online. For many small businesses, effective defense will require calling in our company, ReputationDefender; your time is better spent building your business than trying to match the image control technology built up over years of RD by professional engineers. But every small business can get started free with simple online tools like a Facebook page and blog. Michael Fertik is the founder and CEO of ReputationDefender, the worlds first comprehensive online reputation management and privacy company with customers in over 50 countries. He is the co-author of Wild Wild West 2.0. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Michael serves on the advisory board of the Internet Keep Safe Coalition. He has appeared on Dr. Phil, the Today Show, Good Morning America, the CBS Early Show, 20/20, and Fox, and has been featured in publications including The New York Times, USA Today, Forbes, BusinessWeek, Investors Business Daily, and the Wall Street Journal. He lives in Redwood City, California. David Thompson is general counsel and Chief Privacy Officer of ReputationDefender. He is the co-author of Wild Wild West 2.0.   He is a graduate of Yale University and Stanford Law School. His expertise ranges from founding his first Internet business in 1997 to advising seed-stage startups to a clerkship at the Supreme Court of the United States. He lives in Los Angeles.

4 Qualities Executive Recruiters Look for in Senior and C-suite Technology Executives (CIO, CTO, CISO, SVP, VP, etc.) - Executive Career Brandâ„¢

4 Qualities Executive Recruiters Look for in Senior and C-suite Technology Executives (CIO, CTO, CISO, SVP, VP, etc.) 4 Qualities Senior / C-suite Technology Executives Must Have

Search Engine Optimization Can Boost Your Job Search - CareerAlley

Search Engine Optimization Can Boost Your Job Search - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus. Bruce Lee Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a powerful and important tool that blogs and e-businesses utilize to drive traffic to their websites for purposes of enhancing exposure and expanding monetization opportunities. To keep things fairly simple, SEO requires keyword research, one of the most valuable, high-yield activities in the search marketing field. Googles AdWords Keywords tool is an excellent starting point for SEO keyword research. This tool suggests keywords and provides estimated local and global search volumes. The key to effective keyword selection is to select words and phrases that are in high demand but face low competition. These keywords should be incorporated very subtly to website content without disrupting natural flow to increase online visibility. Did you know that SEO can significantly boost your job search and help you garner the attention of prospective employers? As the economy struggled to add jobs last May and the unemployment rate climbed to 8.2 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it is important or you to creatively enhance your job search by focusing on SEO. Lets examine how this potent marketing tool can help you. Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile LinkedIn, a professional social networking website, is an excellent tool for job-seekers to use to connect with other professionals and capture the attention of employers. Your profile essentially serves as a resume template that other professionals can view. You should make connections with past employers and co-workers to expand the visibility of your profile. You should also use SEO techniques to increase the visibility of your LinkedIn profile. When you create a LinkedIn profile, you will be given a generic URL with a string of numbers. It is in your best interest to create a vanity URL that can change this string of numbers to your own name. This is far more search engine friendly. You may have written and created a very strong profile that highlights your skills, talents and accomplishments. You can go a step further by using Google AdWords to subtly incorporate highly targeted keywords that are relevant to your niche. This will help prospective employers actually lan d on your profile. Leverage Search Optimization Techniques in Twitter Job recruiters and prospective employers use Google to search for job candidates and Google just happens to love Twitter. So, it is in your best interest to create a Twitter profile and begin following other professionals who belong to the same field as you. If you have a relevant blog pertaining to this niche, you should include the link on your Twitter profile. Twitter gives you the opportunity to create a 160-word bio and you should not waste this opportunity. Create a keyword-rich bio that includes such possible keywords: Business major, intern, entry-level, full-time employment and Fortune 500 Company. You can demonstrate your knowledge of your topic and your researching and writing skills by tweeting daily on a topic. If you find a positive news item pertaining to your target employer, tweet it. Dont forget to post keyword-rich tweets based on your SEO keyword research. Create Your Own Optimized Blog That Attracts Professionals Are you a talented graphic designer looking for full-time employment? Are you a seasoned journalist with a strong portfolio showcasing your abilities and body of work? You can really impress prospective employers by creating your own blog. In todays world, it is incredibly easy for anyone to create a sleek, stylish and professional blog through WordPress. It is very important for you to consistently update your blog with and fresh and original content that is relevant to the field you are seeking full-time employment in. Of course, you should use SEO techniques to increase your blogs visibility. You can really network with other professionals by creating a blog. You can also impress tech savvy employers during interviews by displaying your blog. SEO is such a powerful tool you can use to capture the attention of prospective employers and professionals who belong to the same field as you. You should use SEO techniques to enhance your job search. Allison Hamilton owns a popular education blog and is an online instructor for The College City. Allison understands the importance of SEO as a marketing and promotional tool. In these challenging economic times, Allison recommends job-seekers use SEO techniques to bolster their job search. This is a Guest post. If you would like to submit a guest post to CareerAlley, please follow these guest post guidelines. Good luck in your search. Visit me on Facebook

What to Put in Your Resume Objective?

What to Put in Your Resume Objective?Writing a resume is very easy, but many people do not get what to put in the objective section. That is an important and primary step in writing a resume, and a complete description of your achievements should be included in this section. You should include your strengths, qualifications, job experience, and skills that you possess. You can also include personal and professional goals as well as leadership skills.It is essential that you have a well-structured written objective, because otherwise, the applicant will not have the best possible chance of getting your desired job position. You should organize your objective so that it will make a good impression on the employer.Therefore, when you are preparing your resume, you should write down the desirable objectives. You can also place the relevant details regarding your skills, education, work experience, education, and other relevant aspects related to the job that you are applying for.You shou ld try to write the objective using all the available space provided to you and in such a way that it will make you stand out from the rest of the applicants. You can also add your personal and professional goals.Write the resume objective in such a way that it will convey your need for a job, and also about the position you are applying for. You can also include personal statements if you are applying for a management position.You should remember that your objective must always reflect the kind of position that you are applying for. If you are applying for a managerial position, then you must highlight your skills and experiences related to management. However, if you are applying for an administrative or clerical position, then you should highlight your skills related to these fields.Write down all the specific objectives and include them in your resume. Make sure that you include them in all the sections of your resume as well.Writing a resume objective does not have to be diffic ult. All you need to do is to make sure that you put in the relevant details and discuss your capabilities and skills. This will definitely help you land that job you are looking for.

Writing Money Amounts on Resume - A Simple Answer to the Question of How Do I Write Money Amounts on Resume For Different Fields of the Job Market

Writing Money Amounts on Resume - A Simple Answer to the Question of How Do I Write Money Amounts on Resume For Different Fields of the Job MarketThis question is on my mind: how do I write money amounts on resume for the different fields of the job market? And do they even exist in any form on the resume? I can not find this kind of information anywhere.Sometimes I can be very sure what they do and where to put them, but on the other hand I just do not know where to place these numbers, that is why I am asking this question. I need a solution and I am confused.I have searched for the answers and I have come up with nothing. I have researched everywhere, from the internet to all kinds of books and websites that talk about different kinds of cover letters that do not need to be professionally written. My resume is my life and everything about me as well as my job is dependent on it. The search continues until I finally found the solution.There are some easy ways to do this and it work s great for writing money amounts on resume for different fields of the job market. One of the ways is by using a system that I personally used a few years ago when I wrote resumes for financial services and also for nursing and medical professions. The system worked well for me because I had very long writing resume that could make any job seem interesting. And I found that using it on different fields of the job market, which in my case was marketing, made the job seem much more relevant and possible to get.So with this system you create short paragraphs and combine them in the proper order to look more appealing. Do not forget to add the numbers from the job opening. You can leave them or put them somewhere else, but I recommend putting them on the front page of your resume.How I use this information to get money amounts on resume for different fields of the job market and the best ways to include the numbers in my resume, I will share with you in my next post. Until then, just w rite this simple answer to the question above.Happy Resume Writing. Please click here if you would like to learn more about this method to write money amounts on resume for different fields of the job market. Also, if you have any feedback, questions or suggestions for my articles, please let me know in the comments below.

What to Expect From Writing an Effective Objective Statement on a Resume?

What to Expect From Writing an Effective Objective Statement on a Resume? The reality is that a resume objective can improve your employment chances whatever the position you're applying to or your prior work experience. My goal is to find the job. To have the ability to make this kind of objective for your resume, you will need to understand what the recruiter wants applicants to need to be hired for the position by studying the work description and requirements they published. As a result, while your resume objective should consist of information on the career which you want, you also need to spell out why you are the perfect candidate for the job. A great description functions as a possible organic advertisement and encourages the viewer to click through to your website. The absolute most important skills ought to be at the peak of the webpage. Like writing a resume objective, the summary statement should be put in the section following your contact info. Your objective statement is the very first thing they'll see and read, since it's the very first thing on the webpage. Finally, stating an objective is optional, but it might help convince employers that you understand what you want and know about the business. It is crucial to begin your resume with an excellent objective statement. Objective statements could be summary statements created to grab the employers attention. This objective statements are excessively vague and impersonal. Unique, relevant, concise and simple to understand summaries are the best introductions into a resume. If you're unsure what your resume's readers will be searching for, you are going to want to do a little bit of research to provide your objective statement a competitive edge. A summary statement, by including a summary of your experience, strengths and personality traits, makes it simple for the school to receive a quick summary of your resume. There are two primary kinds of resumes. You want a resume ta rgeting the specific position you're applying for. Bear in mind that the career objective should be wholly related to the remainder of the resume. Although a resume objective is a well-known method to commence a winning resume, it isn't the only approach to introduce yourself to the employer. The absolute most efficient objective is one which is tailored to the job you're applying for. When an employer is searching for someone with five decades of experience, be certain to mention you have a minimum of five decades of experience. On the flip side, the moment the work applicant has strong experience, there isn't any need to require the academic training any longer and it doesn't need to get mentioned. A resume objective can explain why you're qualified for the job, even if it's the case that you do not own a lot of related experience. Actually, my resume went to another level once I asked a few recruitment colleagues and my wife to check over it for me.

3 Ways To Boost Your Career Confidence - Work It Daily

3 Ways To Boost Your Career Confidence - Work It Daily If you want to be noticed and respected in the workplace, you must be able to portray the image of self-confidence. In order to be successful in your career, you need to determine how to master career confidence. Related: What's Confidence Got To Do With A Job? If you have confidence in your daily tasks, you will not only acquire higher levels of productivity, but you will also become more reliable to your co-workers. If your co-workers can tell that your confidence meter is low, they may just shrug you off or be dismissive. If you really like your job, you need to shine with confidence. Here are three ways to gain the respect you deserve by boosting your career confidence: 1. Boost Your Knowledge Team up with a more seasoned worker at the company. This will not only give you more insight into the company, but it will also give the seasoned worker recognition for their time on the job. If you try to suggest some new ideas or products, it will enhance your credibility as well, making you feel more welcome to the team. When they realize you are open-minded and willing to listen, they’ll do the same. The harder you work, the more confident you will feel. 2. Look The Part You always have to ask yourself, “Is my attire sending the right message?” Dressing well, being amicable, and making eye contact with co-workers will all give the impression that you’re confident in your role. Once you start dressing for the part, it is amazing how quickly that confidence rubs off on you. To earn respect, you need to dress for it! To get a little help dressing the part, LOFT outfitted Sarah in this great style! 3. Ask Questions Not knowing everything can make anybody feel insecure and lead to a lack of confidence. If you feel you’re not quite certain about your tasks, then you need to learn more. Reading up on best practices in your field or asking co-workers around you about the latest trends they have seen in the company will help you understand how to perform your role well. When you ask the other employees around you some questions, just remember they have been in your shoes once and have made mistakes along the way. Knowing how and why certain practices work can boost confidence in your ability to do them. The big thing here is to not let your co-workers intimidate you when you're new to a company. If you let them intimidate you, they will succeed, not you. Employees don’t want to see their hard work dismissed by some newbie who thinks that all it takes to make things better are some fresh ideas and a shiny new degree or certification. This sole idea can boost your career confidence alone. If you show complete career confidence, employees in the office will have no choice but to respect you. Sarah is confident as she tackles her career, wearing a new LOFT outfit and smile. “The clothing in this post was sponsored by ANN INC. Find a fashionable career with ANN INC., the parent company of Ann Taylor, LOFT and Lou Grey by visiting anncareers.com. Explore the effortless and feminine styles of LOFT to fit your everyday lifestyle at loft.com” This post was originally published at an earlier date. Photo Credit: Shutterstock Have you joined our career growth club?Join For Free!