Dear SafetyXChange Members:

As the job market tightens and the cost of recruiting and retaining senior-level talent rises, an increasing number of recruiters and hiring managers are using Internet search engines to screen and eliminate job candidates. If you're in or are about to enter the job market, you need to be aware of this trend and its potential impact on your candidacy.

The Growing Influence of Digital Dirt

In February 2005, my company, ExecuNet, published a study revealing that "digital dirt" was shaping hiring decisions long before the interview process begins. In a recent survey of 131 executive and corporate recruiters, we confirmed that the trend remains alive and well and has gained momentum:

"For better or worse, the Internet provides recruiters and employers with a wealth of unfiltered information that's used to help evaluate candidates," says Dave Opton, CEO and Founder of ExecuNet. "From a candidate's perspective, there's no question that managing your reputation online is as important as it is offline."

Checking Your Reputation in Cyberspace

The good news is that job candidates seem to be aware of the Internet's impact on their job prospects; the bad news is that they're not taking measures to deal with it. A separate survey of 218 executives reveals that while a majority (76%) expects companies and recruiters to do an online search of their name during the hiring process, 22% have never entered their own name into a search engine to determine what personal or professional information is uncovered.

This survey also found that 11% of all executives fear that the information found online when entering their name in a search engine could eliminate them from consideration for a new job, but only 20% have taken proactive steps to increase the positive information found online under their name. That's a low percentage but it's up from 13% just one year ago.

3 Ways to Protect Yourself

What can you do to protect yourself? Here are three things:

1. Be Alert

Enter your name into multiple search engines on a monthly basis to determine exactly what information is available to potential employers.

2. Be Proactive

Purchasing a domain name to display your resume, press mentions and professional accomplishments will help create a more visible and professional online image.

3. Be Prepared

If there is negative information connected to your name online, expect that it will be uncovered before the interview process begins and develop key messages designed to answer questions that may arise.

Conclusion

Like it has most other aspects of life, the Internet has changed the job market and how recruiters and companies decide who to hire. It's not enough to be aware of these changes; at a minimum, you must also take steps to ensure that they don't hurt your job prospects. Better yet, by acting proactively to carve out a positive presence in cyberspace you can enhance your hire-ability.

Wishing you career success,
Lauryn Franzoni
ExecuNet, www.execunet.com

TOP 10 LIST
Job Satisfaction

By Glenn Demby

One of the things I admire most about safety professionals is how much they care about what they do. Unfortunately, having a passion and belief in a professional cause - in this case, the protection of the workforce - doesn't always equate to satisfaction with a particular job.

Still, a recent survey seems to suggest that there is a positive correlation between professional purpose and job satisfaction. Researchers from the University of Chicago compiled about 20 years worth of data from general social surveys asking about job satisfaction. Here's some of what they found.

The 10 Occupations with the Highest Job Satisfaction

The 10 Occupations with the Lowest Job Satisfaction

Relevance to Safety

If you're a safety professional, you should take note that many of the occupations on the dissatisfaction list are the front line workers you're charged with protecting. In another set of findings, the following occupations ranked in the bottom 12 in "General Happiness":

The fact that these men and women don't seem to derive great satisfaction from their jobs probably serves to make your job that much more difficult.

Where do safety professionals land on the job satisfaction list? Unfortunately, safety professional wasn't one of the listed categories. But industrial engineers were listed number 9 in General Happiness.

* Mean score runs from 1 for someone who is Very Disssatisfied to 4 for someone who is Very Satisfied.

Source: Tom W. Smith, Job Satisfaction in the United States, NORC/University of Chicago, April 17, 2007, http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/07/pdf/070417.jobs.pdf

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