Negative Online Reputation Can Cost You Your Dream Job

When the internet was not in existence all you needed to worry about was building up your professional resume, making and building professional relations, having strong recommendations, and staying out of trouble. This was the formula you needed to build up in order to land that job that you coveted.

The internet world does exist now and you must use it to your benefit, but at the same time keeping out of trouble from it as well. There are six ways your internet reputation can harm and each will be analyzed below. 

1. Search Engine Link- It is very common for a potential employer to just type in your name in Google in order to see what comes up. Actually, it will happen most likely than not. They are looking for what kind of light shows up when your name is typed in. For example, if your name provides too much of a negative light that company may not hire you. First impression is key in many aspects of life, it is no different when it comes to online reputation. 

2. Are you a complainer? If you tend to complain a lot about your current or former employer and you are sharing it all over Facebook, many companies may not want to hire you. Keep your comments to yourself, posting on social media accounts will only make things worse.

3. Inappropriate Information- You may think that the night you went drinking with friends is perfect to share with other people through socialmedia. Wrong! You do not want your future employer to be looking at these kind of photos. Links and other offensive topics that you decide to post will only harm you. Keep it professional online because it is not private when you decide to post things. 

4. Do not offer too much information- It is already advised that you refrain from posting about religious views, politics, or anything related to that matter. Think about it, when you post controversial topics online you are only attracting attention. This is negative attention and a future employer may not want to have anything to do with your controversial ways. 

5. Friends, Colleagues? Recruiters usually want to hear comments that are made about you from friends or former colleagues. Negative comments made them will only do harm to you, so remember how you maintain your relationships and the experiences you have with them. 

6. Groups- If you are part of a controversial group online, and you share it publicly this will also play a part in a company wanting to hire you. It may be very wise for you to get rid of any evidence of being part of a controversial group if you would you like to be hired for your dream job. 

Keep Calm and Repair

In today's society given all that we have access to sometimes things will go awry and will simply be out of your control. How you can respond to these events will be very telling about you and your business. Those who panic are setting themselves up to either fail or seriously lose business, while those who are calm and have taken the proper precautions and have the right people set up will get through it with relative ease.

There is always a time to panic and a time to stay calm and as a business owner it is very important that you know when to do both. Timing is everything in business so you can't get thrown out of motion at the first sign of distress that your company comes across. It doesn't give the public a good perception of you or your company it shows that under pressure you crack and are unreliable.

While that may be the signs of a weak company a business that is prepared to take on any task big, small, bad or good is one worth investing in. What this type of company shows is its ability to do great damage control which is very important for businesses especially if it is a big multinational business that services a wide array of people.

But it is not too late to transform your image in fact there are firms that can help you repair your reputation from a company that used to panic and fold under pressure to one that now stands tall no matter what is thrown at you. As a business owner you should be prepared to go through some type of adversity during your tenure.

Reputation Management will be needed because your company will have the reputation of one that can't do business without panicking and so begins the comments and rumors spreading about you online when that happens you must be prepared to take control of your firm's reputation. If you choose not to do anything you will see how the rumors and doubts about your company will continue to grow and place you to the back of the pack.

The best way to deal with an attack on your company's reputation is to make sure you are prepared to deal with it. That means having hired an great Reputation Management firm or having a good in house PR team that can take on this task. Proper preparation is the key to success in any business.


You're only as strong as your weakest link. Standing tall and succeeding in the face of adversity shows there are no weak links in your business.

Your Future Is In Your Hands

The future is what we are looking at today. The technology is only going to get bigger and more advanced making our lives easier in some aspects but we will continuing to be exposed to the pitfalls and dangers of it, especially the younger generation.

Powerless is what can best describe us to the ongoing evolution of technology, there is no stopping it or preventing it. You have two options either use it or don't. Being that we are in the technology era those who choose not to use it will find themselves at a serious disadvantage. But what does this mean for the children growing up in today's world. while they have more access to online educational and learning tools which is a major benefit how are they going to be able to cope socially when they do not have the luxury of a laptop or cell phone in front of them.

 What leads this tech boom is SocialMedia which has transformed how we communicate with each other. But for every good that it offers there is a bad lurking around in the background ready to jump out and take advantage of an unsuspecting victim. Those victims are the ones who become exposed online either by picture, personal message or rumor. We see more than often that today if you want to find out something about somebody that you can just go online no need to pick up a paper or magazine.

This is very alarming because with a paper at least you knew you had some time start damage control before it spread all over but with Social Media it can be across the world within a matter of seconds. For younger kids growing up this is their future so it is more important than ever to educate them on the does and don'ts of Social Media activity.

Without guidelines or proper training businesses will not be the only clients of online Reputation Management firms, but you will see an influx of individuals seeking help from firms like Centel Media™ to help rebuild their reputation online. It also can't be stressed enough that whatever you do will follow you and is there for everyone to see if you are not careful with your dealings online. One piece of advice I would give is not to post anything that might seem private or personal if you do then you are setting yourself up for a long and hard fall that will take a lot of hard work to get up from.

Educating the youth is the best way to help them avoid making the same mistakes that the previous generation has made, especially when it comes to the internet and Social Media.

Don't Believe the Hype

Being a celebrity or a person of famous status has perks that we regular people can only dream of. Whether it’s going to fashion shows all over the world or VIP treatment at the hottest restaurant in town, it doesn't get much better than that. As easy as it may seem to get to the top one little rumor or claim can rapidly bring all the special treatment to a standstill and leave you trying to repair your reputation.

There seems to be two worlds, the world that normal people live in and then you have the celebrity world which we will most likely never live in but hey anybody can dream right. The job of a celebrity is very hard if you ask me one must try and save face in both worlds and not manage to get caught up in any type of scandal that can destroy your image in both worlds.

Believe it or not your favorite celebrity is a brand and that brand is represented every time they step outside into the public eye. So it is in their best interest to make sure they are staying clear and away from trouble if not the brand in which they represent becomes diminished. The same path should be taken when it comes to Social Media activity as well. Since the rise of Social Media there really hasn't been a day where you haven't seen a celebrity being crucified for something the put on Facebook or Twitter.

As I always state a person should never get too personal when it comes to posting things on Social Media. No matter what it is because often times when they do post things the words get twisted around and then you have celebrities blaming the media for this misunderstanding. One must understand that when you put something online 50% of people will understand it in the context you put it in and the other half will try and make a big story out of nothing.

When situations like that arise it is in your best interest to have either a great PR team on standby or quickly hire and online Reputation Management firm to help with beginning the process of rebuilding your brand back up to respectability. These two options are very necessary because as soon as your name becomes embroiled in some type of trouble the online press will have a field day with you. Web searches to SocialMedia the first thing you will see is the bad not the good doesn't matter how much money you donated or what good you did the bad is going to overshadow that.

The best way to deflate the hype bubble is getting a professional team or firm to help you. Doing this all by yourself will take too much of your time and is not the best method because you might feel compelled to argue back which is the worst thing you can do. Doing it the right way ensures you that your brand will make it out and be stronger than ever which can only mean success for your career.

The biggest people make the easiest targets to hit. Protect yourself from all attacks that can diminish your brand.

The Facts and Myths of Your E-Reputation

E-Reputation can make or break you. E-Reputation has to do with the presence you have online. Blogs, social media accounts, professional presence are all examples of what it is made up of. It is very important that you learn how to manage your e reputation so that you could keep your job, or  getting hired for that dream job that you have been seeking.

Technology has gone a long ways in today's age, and thanks to the help of social media, a lot of personal things about you can exposed to future employers. It is not smart to think that being careless on the internet is not going to harm you. Think twice about what you are doing, because a future employer may decide to hire you or not due to your e-reputation.

The myth that you do not an online presence to get hired today is false. As explained earlier employers search on Google to find out more about you as a person. They want to see that you have the qualifications that are necessary to perform the job. Do no be scared of what social media accounts can do to your image, instead find the positive light in the situation and be more resourceful.

Having negative information online can lead to you being terminated. Just as it is important to monitor and have an online presence, it is also important to maintain it clean and professional. Social media accounts tend to show humiliating otherwise embarrassing photos that you would not want your employer to see. It has been statistically proven that many employees have been terminated due to the abusive use of their social media accounts. DO NOT BE CARELESS!

Worst case scenario, if you have not been monitoring your e-reputation is to establish your own positive presence. Do not let others tell stuff about you that is not true, cut out the negative and stat on top of all the social media accounts out there. Type in your name regularly on Google to make sure your name is not tainted to the point where it is affecting your life.

The best thing to do is to stay on top of your e-reputation. Do not get to the point where you have to tell everybody to stop posting things about you, or having to delete unwanted pictures. Hiring an online reputation management such as Centel Media™ will do wonders in helping you build your online reputation. Get rid of those unwanted comments about you and have positive ones come up on Google.

The Book of Horrors

Social Media is one of the world’s greatest lines of communication and if has affected us to the point where our society has literally shaped and molded itself around it. But there is also a dark side that can create havoc in your life it you are not careful dealing with Social Media.

Facebook is at the front and center of what I like to call the Social Media boom. We literally have hundreds of networks to choose from but only a few can really stand up with Facebook but none can go toe to toe with it yet. Facebook has allowed us to reconnect with long lost family members, love ones, friends as well as the person sitting right next to us. Yes we all are connected in some way.

As time has progressed technology has become more advanced and that includes Social Media. This is good for several reasons it allows for software updates so hackers cannot easily take over the site which would have dire consequences. But the ease of use has also changed too making things a little more complicated when you're trying to post messages either privately or publicly. We are now seeing people have their lives exposed because they were not careful when they were sending messages online.

What's kept online is kept for a very long time especially on Social Media networks like Facebook and it can easily be passed around the all of your mutual friends. I for one could never understand why anyone would put anything personal on Facebook no matter if it was a message or post. If you should feel the need to contact someone a simple call or text would be much safer than a Facebook message.

The effect that this can have on you can be crippling not physically but professionally, imagine a potential employer coming across some message of yours that was supposed to be private but ended up public. There’s no telling what the message was about but you can rest assure that you won't be hearing back from that job. Or maybe you tried your luck with online dating and the person whom you are courting decides to do a little search online of you and they come across this, just like the job there will be no call back.

While you can try and repair this all by yourself it can take a really long time, your best bet would be to get an Online Reputation Management firm to assist you. Having professionals in your corner will take some of the weight off your back and allow you to continue with your life. Of course you can avoid all of this by not getting caught up in the Social Media frenzy but it’s easier said than done.

You can love Social Media one moment and hate it the next, but whatever you do make sure it doesn't control you or what people think of you.

Corporate Repair

A corporation can have a major influence on the world it inhabits. But how does the corporation repair itself after it has created a firestorm that has backed them into a corner and forced them to rethink their strategy or maybe even their existence.

A big corporation can be looked at like a huge river and when it is successful and thriving the waters are cool and calm. As soon as the slightest rock is skipped then you have a major ripple effect that will affect the whole company in every department. Its even worse for companies that do business on a global scale because the ripple doesn't just move domestically it moves all over damaging your reputation overseas.

How many times have you turned on the tv and seen people protesting outside of a company's headquarters denouncing its business tactics or its unfair labor laws. While it may seem that they are not really having an effect that very moment over time it will, if you chop at a tree long enough eventually it will weaken and fall. Most companies don't fall completely but they weaken because of the ripple effect I mentioned earlier. Business will be effected all over and the company now has to repair its image as well as its reputation in order to get back to respectability.

Unlike a small company repairing the online reputation of a large corporation is a several step process that should be handled by experienced people or an experienced firm. I say that because this process is very delicate and one slip up or mistake can cost you dearly, especially on Social Media. Social Media is going to play a major part in online reputation repair it's the only way you can get up and close to your fans without being in person. So who ever is in charge of this should keep the account professional at all times.

Making sure your reputation is clean when it is searched online is just as important as Social Media. When your company is searched you don't want the negative things to show up first because that will be the first impression that we get of you. I believe if you can't repair it yourself you should hire a firm that could. Having professionals take care of this problem is the best way of ensuring that you are getting top service, exceptional product and most importantly a commitment to seeing your company get back to excellence. Centel Media™ is a great online Reputation Management company one that will go above and beyond with excellent service that will soothe the ripples and make the water calm again.


 It can be a nightmare trying to repair your company's online reputation, luckily you don't have to go at it alone as help is always there if you need it.