Reputation management matters more than most job seekers realize.

While it is still mind-boggling to me that many people continue to resist getting onto social media platforms, the future looks even more technologically-oriented.

As the information uploaded, posted, stored, and mentioned on the Internet continues to grow, what starts to emerge is a composite picture of job candidates and their reputation management.

Think of it as a giant resource that adds up to the sum of you and the reputation that you have built.

And employers / recruiters / headhunters are turning to this resource as a way to cloud-source their next hire as well as check out your reputation / influence level within your industry sector.

Vala Afshar, CMO of Enterasys Networks in Boston, MA, in a recent interview with Career Cloud, said that the Web is quickly becoming your resume.

And he’s not wrong.

Your reputation management results and resume are everywhere on the web.

• Where you work can quickly become an online directory listing.
• Where you volunteer can be a Facebook post by that organization which thanks you for your involvement.
• What skills you possess are validated by endorsements and recommendations on LinkedIn.
• What awards you’ve won are posted in online press releases.
• How relevant you are to your industry is calculated by online influence and reputation calculators such as Kred or Klout.

It’s already all there, online. And your reputation is quickly becoming your career currency.  And that reputation will get your hired. 

The shift is moving from not so much of a formal “resume” to actually demonstrating influence in your industry, and therefore sending a strong message about how your reputation management strategy is working.

The worse case scenario is to not have ANY content out there… if an employer searches for you and nothing comes up in the search, you are seen as NOT RELEVANT.  No reputation is actually worse than a bad reputation.

Everyone needs to be thinking about how all of these pieces add up to the bigger picture of who you are and what you represent.

Proactively building online content can help you take some control of what’s posted, but you also need to be aware of any potential liabilities out there and address them as best as you can.  In essence, just like you spend a lot of time building up your resume, you also need to spend equal time building up your reputation.

Your career future can depend on it!