Beware of the Web
Your reputation could be getting tarnished online and costing you jobs.

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参考文稿

Reputation’s tarnished online. But let's say you are not out there putting photos out of yourself that can hurt your reputation, you have perfect credentials, you have a great degree from a top-notch law school, your resume is perfect, but when you try to get a job, you come up empty-handed, because you are the victim of virtual sabotage. You’re about to meet one of those victims.

The Internet, a minefield of information, sometimes true, sometimes not, and gravely damaging. This year a law student found out the hard way. She’d only talk to us anonymously because she’s scared of even more harassment

"I was really upsetting 'coz I found that I had a remarkably hard time getting jobs.” She applied to 16 law firms, but got only a few call-backs and no job offers. “I couldn't understand, why I kept getting negative reactions from people when everything else was in order, when my grades were in order, I was polite and had good manners.”

But she also had a trail on the Internet. She soon realized that with one simple search, employers could read a series of derogatory remarks people had posted about her on an online message board. “They asserted that they wanted to sexually violate me, they made comments about my appearance, they posted private photos that have been posted on my private website.”

What she experienced in her job search isn't out of the ordinary. A reported quarter of employers use the Internet to research potential hirers. “Some of it is factual, some of it is hearsay, some of it is completely false.”

But it's attacks like this that prompted Howard law grad Michael Fertik to start reputationdefender.com, a website that promises it will fix your tarnished online reputation. "People who call us talk about not getting jobs, they talk about not feeling whole as people, they talk about humiliation, feeling invaded, feeling exposed.”

Exposed the way many teens are when they build profiles on websites like “myspace” and "facebook”.

"Are you, at 27 or 37, going to want to see the same thing about you on the Internet that you see now when you’re 17? And the answer is probably no.”

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