Earlier this year, I spent a great deal of time explaining my theory on the Social Media Credit Score concept and how our actions on the internet could begin are influencing other parts of our life.  The overall idea behind the SMCS is that people should be careful of what they post and manage what others post about them on the internet.  Whether or not you like it, every mention of your name (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) has become part of your “real life” and others are taking notice.

In December of 2009, as part of Microsoft Data Privacy Day, research commissioned by Microsoft found that 79 percent of United States hiring managers and job recruiters review online information about job applicants.  Interviews with over 1,200 hiring and recruitment managers and 1,200 consumers lead to the publication of Online Reputation in a Connected World and revealed some sobering statistics/facts.

• 70% of professionals surveyed have rejected candidates based on information they found online.
• 85% say that positive online reputation influences their hiring decision to some extent, while nearly half say that a strong online reputation influences their decisions to a great extent.
• 30-35% of consumers surveyed don’t feel their online reputation affects their professional life and take no steps in managing their online reputation.

Potential employers are looking at your SMCS (online reputation) and the only way to make sure that it doesn’t work against you is to make sure that it works for you.

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