Now that school is out, it’s a great time to remind your college student to check their online image. Have him or her start with the Google Test by googling their own name.  Have them also make a list and check all their social media sites, including old ones they no longer spend time on.

This is the type of content to avoid:

• Bad language
• Photos of drinking or drug use
• Inappropriate or suggestive attire
• Posts that are derogatory towards others
• Posts that complain about a boss, company, professor or school
• Tags or posts that make them look incompetent or lazy or disrespectful of others

Remove the Negative: Negative content can be removed. Your student can deactivate old sites or unused social media platforms.  If they don’t keep it current, it’s best to remove it altogether. Your son or daughter can remove posts or content that they created themselves very easily. They can also “untag” and “delete” wall posts from Facebook. Delete inappropriate Twitter posts. Friends can be asked to remove content that points or connects to your son or daughter.

Build the Positive: You can overcome negative mentions and content by building and enhancing very positive and comprehensive online content. The new positive content will eventually move up higher via the search engines.  The best sites for new professional content are LinkedIn and Google +. Advise your students to make a 100% complete profile page for the best optimization. Assuming the use of LinkedIn and Google + is purely professional, the profiles should be “public” and therefore easily found by others.

The best strategy for your college student:  Maintain positive and professional content online at all times. Recruiters and hiring managers are now using all of the social media sites.  Even though some students have migrated from Facebook to Twitter or Instagram for increased privacy, they need to know that those sites may be professionally risky depending on their personal content. Make sure your student really knows privacy policies and techniques for each social media site. 

Have you had this conversation yet with your son or daughter?