Online Reputation Can Hurt an Early Childhood Education Job Search

In today’s high tech, Internet savvy world, your online presence is much more important than you may realize, especially for those seeking employment in the early childhood education (ECE) field. Along with each application and resume you submit, it’s highly likely that a potential ECE employer will type in your name for a Google search at some point in the hiring process to see what pops up.

What they discover can have a tremendous effect on whether or not they decide to call you in for an interview or continue further in the hiring process with you.

Here Are 3 Ways Your Online Reputation May be Hurting Your Chances of Obtaining a Job in Early Childhood Education:

1. 1. You Show Up All Over the Internet

While having a strong, active online presence may not sound like a negative, to a potential employer it could hint that you spend way too much time online and not enough time focusing on your career goals.

Some employers can see too much time online as a distraction. They want to know that you’ll be focused on the task at hand, and not slinking off into the corner to update your social media status every five minutes.

2. You Are Opinionated and Controversial

While being opinionated and passionate about certain topics may also be considered positive traits to have, there is a fine line between being opinionated and being obnoxious. While building an online presence, and especially while searching for a job, it is always best to keep your opinions to yourself. This is especially true if what you share is controversial and offensive to others. By keeping the political comments and religious rants off of the Internet, you are doing yourself a favor.

3. You Are Careless About What You Post

Even if you had the best time of your life attending last weekend’s music festival, a potential employer isn’t likely going to want to read about how hard you partied, or how you stayed up all night, slept in and missed an important meeting or deadline.

Remember, you’re wanting to get hired and will be working with young, impressionable children. You want to be viewed as a respectful role model, not someone who is immature, irresponsible, and could use a little educating or babysitting themselves.

In addition to posting inappropriate and potentially unflattering material, how you conduct yourself online is always under the microscope when job hunting. Potential employers will likely notice frequent spelling and grammatical errors in your written content as well. That’s not to say you have to spell or write perfectly all the time, but when applying for jobs in early childhood education, these things matter.

If your current online presence is less than flattering, don’t beat yourself up about it. There are a few simple solutions that you can implement immediately, such as doing your own online searches on yourself and making sure you clean up and delete anything that you wouldn’t want a potential employer to see.

Of course, it’s always best to investigate and improve your image prior to beginning the job searching process, but if you’re already in the midst of hunting for your ideal ECE job and find that you just aren’t getting the results you desire, your online reputation could be the culprit.

Pursuing a career in early childhood education is a rewarding, fulfilling path. Athena Career Academy offers an amazing ECE program with no wait list. Contact Athena to learn more about this exciting career, classes are forming now. Schedule a campus tour today!