So much for my word, huh?
I promised all those updates and then gave up after only a few days! Pathetic.
I heard in a meeting today that more and more employers are googling prospective employees, finding not very nice things on myspace, facebook, and blogs like this one. I thought to myself, "What do you write about, Ginger? Is it time to reel this baby in?"
I don't want to be discounted simply because I keep a silly website, but since I never write a peep about what I actually do for a living, you'd think all I do is party. It's paradoxical, I can't write about my job because that's unprofessional, but I can't not write about it because it looks like I can't take anything seriously. What to do? Take down the blog? Only write about politics or something equally boring?
What do you guys think? And not just what should I do, but what would YOU do?
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Ginger, you can't take down your blog. Just remove anything that associates your name with it, can you do that?? Just so it doesn't get picked up on Google but we can all still read it. Probably not possible, huh?
Are you looking for a new job? I have heard employers like to google prospective employees too. I don't think anything on your website would make an employer not want to hire you. I am guessing they just look for lewd comments and pictures...things that might go against a workplace code of conduct.
Not looking for a new job, just getting older... plus my dad was just teasing me for having a mixed drink in my hand in the last pictures. I didn't realize it looked so bad??
i solve this by not having any full names on my internet stuff, ie my blog, if i can avoid it. theres a setting that disallows people to find your blog in a search - i'm not sure how it works with your site, but bloggers was pretty easy to manipulate....
i dont know - in the case of "which is more important, a job or a blog?" it seems its an easy question. a girl's gotta eat, right? ;)
I wouldn't take down the blog. The pictures of you with a drink are on your birthday. If an employer would frown on that, you wouldn't want to work there. Generally, I like your blog, and I think it's honest and often insightful. I would keep it up.
The people who get in trouble at work for blogging are the ones who post "My boss, John Smith, is an idiot. Let me tell you some secret corporate information to explain why."
You pretty much never write about your work, so I can't imagine any remotely well-adjusted employer caring particularly.
Of course, it's always possible that you could get an employer one day who isn't well adjusted and who obsesses over the minutiae of their employees' personal lives. But do you want to live your life in fear of offending petty little people like that?
You're doing fine with your blog. I wouldn't worry about it.
Oh, and one more thing...
Re: Lauren's comment about search engine visibility. One of the hardest things for most people to understand is that removing everything you've written from the Net _does not remove you from the Net_.
You're still going to come up in searches -- the only difference is that what people will find is stuff that someone ELSE has written about you, rather than stuff that YOU wrote.
It's much smarter to carve out a space online and establish your own image, rather than letting someone else establish it for you.
simple, password protect the blog, then allow people who want to read it request a password via email..... dont recognize the name? dont provide the password....
Mom and I manage to have a semi-interesting (I think anyway) blog without talking too much about work or politics. Those long periods where I don't blog? That's when I'm really busy with my job and nobody wants to hear about that!
Good thing I'm not professional enough to get a job where they actually care about me.