In the new World of Work,
getting hired is no longer a simple “find a job posting and submit your
resume.” Today, getting a job requires a proactive marketing perspective, relying
heavily on Social Media such as LinkedIn, FaceBook, and Twitter. But the impact
of misinformation about a job seeker can have disastrous results as it moves
beyond these sites.
THE UPSIDE: Social
Media has tremendous value for getting your name and expertise out there.
THE DOWNSIDE: Social
Media exposes our identities to the world.
I believe that the UPSIDE is
worth the risk, since our identities are out there anyway. – just google your
name!
However, there is a recent
emergence of sites that have no authenticity at all – one of which is getting a
great deal of attention - Spokeo. I checked it out and what I read about myself
was FICTION. My first thought: OPT OUT
of Spokeo – that is, until I learned that if I did so from my email address, the
site would capture that address for its own purposes. BUMMER!
Yitz Francus (www.ASAPedit.com) to the rescue with OPT
OUT instructions.
- Set
up a new Gmail Account. (instructions at Google)
- Go to
www.spokeo.com from your new account.
- Enter
your name (first, last) in the search box and click “Search”
- Select
and copy the URL from your browser’s address Bar.
- Click
on the Spokeo log at the top left corner to return to the Home Page.
- Scroll
to the bottom of the page and click the small “Privacy” button.
- Ignore
the sales pitch for “ReputationDefender” and scroll down to the bottom.
- Paste
the URL you copied into the “URL” box.
- Enter
your newly created email address in the “Email” box.
- Enter
the code they provide into the “Code” box.
- Click
“Remove Listing”
- Check
the inbox of your new email account, open the email from Spokeo and delete
your name by clicking on the URL they provide in the body of the email.
- DELETE
THAT GMAIL ACCOUNT
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