Kale Sligh is a corporate executive with a background in communications and marketing; he gives his thoughts on the shifting world of modern reputation and tips to maintain a positive web reputation.
“When I was a teenager, the only digital device I had on me was a pager, and what you had to worry about was receiving a phone number with 911 after it.” Says Kale Sligh. “Today, my 4-year-old is obsessed with getting on our smartphone and watching other kids open toys or play video games. This is to say; times have changed dramatically.”
Kale Sligh is an experienced Senior Marketing Executive with broad expertise in marketing strategy, digital transformation, user experience design, product development, and project management. Kale Sligh has over a decade of telecommunications and marketing experience, and he uses his professional and personal experience to provide some pieces of advice on how to manage your web reputation. “No longer can you get in trouble or do something dumb (we’ve all been there), learn from it and move on. Now, the Internet most often is permanent, and those stupid decisions can follow you for the rest of your life. This knowledge may seem scary, and if I’m honest, it should be. So what do you do?”
Kale Sligh provides his tips on how the average person can best manage their online reputation.
Be aware – The quickest and easiest thing you can do for yourself online is to search for yourself. Put your name into Google or any other search engine to gain and keep a firm understanding of what you or your kids are putting out there. Never put something on any online profile (private or not) that you wouldn’t want your boss, mother, or entire world to see. Even a comment on a random post can be found and can ultimately reflect very poorly on you.
Educate yourself on how the Internet works and especially search engines – There’s no excuse anymore; this technology is here to stay. If you don’t think employers look up people before they hire, you’re wrong. There are plenty of resources out there that explain very directly on how search engines work; it is in your best interest to study or read about how they work. A recent study has shown that over seventy-seven percent of employers do at least cursory search engine research on all applicants, with over thirty-five percent of applicants being rejected based on the results of the search. The number of employers doing searches is just going to continue to go up as time passes.
