Thank you to all for their responses!

After my last post asking if someone would hire me based upon a Google search of my name, I got good news: People said they would hire me. Between finding writing samples from this blog and columns of mine that have run in the Denver Post, comments and e-mails indicated that people felt that google had hooked me up by submitting writing samples for me.

There was a downside, though. My long-standing fantasy football league’s website (”The Littleton Drunks”) did leave a bit of a question in most people’s minds. From the responses I got, most said that a quick examination was enough to reveal that the site (titled “Drunk Records”) is related to fantasy football, and not binge drinking. Nonetheless, it did raise a few questions I don’t want potential employers asking about me. You can expect that the site will be getting revised at some point in the foreseeable future so it doesn’t show up and get those questions asked at all.

That said, I do have a few observations on the responses:

1. Everyone noticed the “Drunks Records” page. Clearly, that kind of thing stands out, no matter how innocuous it proves to be.

2. All of the young folks who responded said that . We’re a generation who has grown up with this, so I think that on some level the assumption amongst Gen Y is that almost everyone has a few embarrassing moments that have found their way onto the web. We’re hardly willing to hold that against someone, and I think many would be a bit irritated if we were rejected for this kind of a reason.

3. My distinctive name is a mixed blessing. On the up side, it makes it easy to find the writing projects I’ve completed. On the down side, each typo, misspelling, and alcohol-themed website I’ve ever put my name on is also very visible. Imagine how difficult it would have been to sort me out from all the others if my name were John Smith.

4. Millenials are considering their online brands. One commenter said he recognized why my name popped up in a half-dozen places and suggested a way to help minimize some of the less flattering pages in search results. Another e-mail said that he has been thinking about the same things I have, in terms of carefully controlling his brand, and detailed the steps he had taken on Facebook to minimize any over-disclosure. One thing I think you should take away from this observation:

We know you’re looking at our social media. We know you’re googling us. As such, we’re beginning to look at what we’re disseminating via these channels, and we have a variety of tools at our disposal to help control information. I think you’re going to see a downward trend in the over-disclosures you find on the internet, but I do think that means that finding that your people (or potential people) are sharing a little too much information is that much more telling.