Career Peace

Freedom of Speech is a wonderful thing. But someone else’s first amendment right could jeopardize your chances of getting your next job. Here’s what you need to know…and how to defend yourself.

If you’re like the other 48 million Americans who hope to start a new job this year, you want to maximize your chances of getting a job offer from a company you really want to work for. As part of the hiring process, most companies want to check your references to verify your character.

But not all employers stop there. In addition to checking your references, they also do a quick internet search on your name to see if there is anything interesting written about you that might cause them concern. And if they find something they don’t like, it could dissuade them from hiring you.

That’s what happened to Washington attorney Christina Parascondola. A local bar in Christina’s neighborhood made an undue amount of noise and commotion by hosting certain questionable public events.

The local press printed Christina’s complaints. So did some popular blogs and internet message boards. One blogger who disagreed with Christina’s views posted a very negative entry about her in his blog. An entry that ranked very highly in a Google search of her name.

The Wall Street Journal quoted Christina as saying “when you google my name, it looks like I’m some kind of monster.”

As a result, she hired a company called Reputation Defender to minimize the bad publicity. Reputation Defender is one of a growing number of companies who help job seekers find damaging information about themselves on the internet. Then they do what they can to eliminate it.

Reputation Defender and their competitors claim they can either remove or neutralize negative comments, blog entries, or even embarrassing digital images of their clients. Such a service could help maximize job candidates’ chances of getting their next job or making a successful career change.

Sometimes, they’ll contact the publication and pleasantly ask them to delete the negative comment. Other times, they’ll use their SEO (search engine optimization) skills to neutralize the negative comment by making other positive comments that will rank more highly in Google searches.

Services like Reputation Defender can cost job candidates can run into several hundred dollars. But if someone has published some negative comments about you that rank highly in the internet search engines, it might be worth it to look into their services. It could greatly improve your chances of getting a job or changing careers.

But be advised: reputation defense firms cannot force anyone to remove negative comments about you. The Constitutional Rights of Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press allow anyone to post anything they like. And any attempt to coerce a blogger to remove a negative comment may backfire.

This was the case with Christina Parascondola. Reputation Defender sent a letter directly to the blogger who originally posted the negative press. The blogger not only refused, but posted a new entry that mocked the removal request, saying he “had a good laugh over it.”

Tags: Hiring Process, Legal Issues, Reference Checking