Digital technologies have become an important part of our working lives. While others are browsing LinkedIn offerings for new opportunities, others are doing tasks that are directly related to social media. However, our digital presence and digital footprint have never been stronger. We do everything online, and every action leaves its mark. For example, we may look for new headphones only to notice that every advertisement we see on the Internet is from a different supplier.
However, while our digital footprints are unavoidable at this stage, it is very important to learn how to manage them. After all, more and more companies are dedicating staff to more in-depth background research on candidates.
This includes looking at search engine results associated with their name. At the most basic level, such research involves looking at job seekers’ social media profiles. Let’s take a look at how specific online behavior can hurt your chances of getting a job.
Table of Contents
What is a digital footprint?
A digital footprint is all of your data and information that you leave online. Every time you create an account, leave a comment, or post an image, you are increasing your digital footprint. This does not mean that you have to start living offline in order to be safe – you must use the Internet responsibly.
Always count on everything you post to be seen by your friends, family, colleagues, and your boss, no matter how private your accounts are.
Your data is stored on cloud computers and the trail remains. There are accounts that we simply forgot to delete. It could be an old social network that we stopped visiting, or an online store we once ordered from that requires an account to be created. The digital footprint we leave behind is really big.
Even when you delete an account from the website you are using, some residual data always remains. Even if you don’t post or comment online, you’re still leaving digital footprints. Such marks are called passive digital footprints, such as web activities. associated with IP addresses.
How will it affect your future
People may go online under fake social media accounts or other platforms. They then feel free to speak out or publish opinions that they would normally keep secret. All those comments, posts and photos may come back to haunt them in the future.
Educational institutions may also conduct background checks on their applicants. Colleges can look up profiles of applicants before deciding to admit anyone. Anything you said or posted before applying to the college can be viewed and used – it could even result in the college rejecting your application.
Future employers usually look for you online when you apply for a job. Just because some of your social media profiles are set to private doesn’t mean your future employer or current boss can’t see the comments you left on a random page or website. For example, an HR representative might send you a friend invite if the hiring process goes well. Then they probably do impressions on social media delve deeper into your personality.
Such specialists usually do not care about exciting or slightly misleading content. One of the key strategies is to look for any attempts to expose previous employers. Also, having you as a social media friend will help HR follow your comments on various posts.
Positive online presence
It is possible that after you learn about the possible consequences, you will be discouraged by communication on the Internet. However, companies worthy of your attention will not refuse you because of some memes. Having an active social media profile can play into your hands. For example, if you are applying for a social media manager position, your employer will expect you to have impeccable profiles.
However, while digital footprints can work in your favor, they can also ruin your chances. Thus, take into account the following tips to keep your online presence clean:
- If you believe that specific search engine results associated with your name are misleading, ask google delete them.
- Another thing you can do to help protect yourself online is to limit the information you share about yourself, especially personal data that can help identify you.
- Create a separate email account for personal and corporate communications. It helps keep things separate.
- Think twice before you post: Anger and social media are never good ideas. In general, stay clean online and be wary of statements that may seem controversial.
- Install a virtual private network to stop IP-based snooping. AND VPN for PC will mask your IP address as soon as you connect to your preferred VPN servers. It also encrypts internet traffic to minimize the use of other tracking methods.
In addition to using a VPN and limiting the personal information you share; you should also check if the sites you visit are safe. In addition, you should also secure your home network and avoid using public networks for security reasons.
Conclusion
As technology has become an integral part of our lives, it is essential to stay protected. Not only can your information be stolen through various data breaches, but the data you share online and the digital footprint you leave behind can affect your life.
The digital footprint we leave behind, from college opportunities to job prospects, can significantly impact our lives and even ruin them afterwards. Also, we have mentioned how we can stay secure online.
