It’s always a good idea to regularly check your online presence, especially before you start looking for your next job. It is important to know what people in the public domain can see about you and your online profiles. This will ensure positive digital footprint. There are no doubts that recruiters and employers have an online background and, is a common practice these days that they will check you online before any meetings.

How to Manage Your Digital Footprint?

1. Be consistent and professional in what you say online

   Ensure that your posts are truthful, factual, something you believe and something appropriate for your boss/parent/mentor to read. Operate under the assumption nothing is private on the internet. It’s almost impossible to delete permanently something from the internet so if in doubt better don’t post. Avoid getting drawn into a heated online debate which is in a public forum because even private exchange could easily be shared unbeknownst to you.

2. Be aware of what other people saying about you online

   You can adjust your account settings to have notifications sent to you when other people mention or tag you, like, comment or share content on your feed. You can also enable approval rights when you are tagged in other people’s posts or photos, so they don’t automatically appear on your timeline unless you reviewed and approved them.

3. Be accurate – Check spelling and grammar in your profiles and posts

   Take time to check that your profile information and posts include correct spelling and grammar to maint your aura of professionalism. It’s important to remember that poor writing no matter how casual the communication, can be a big turnoff to someone check up on you.

4. Be clutter free – Close down accounts you don’t need

   There’s no point to have accounts open or visible if you don’t use them any longer.

5. Check your profile settings periodically

   Make a habit of checking your profile settings periodically. Social networks are constantly evolving their platforms and as a result, their terms, conditions and management settings may change too.