How to Review What Comes Up About You Online Before You Apply
Assume somebody will search your name. Not always, not everyone, but often enough that finding out after the interview is the wrong time.
Give this an hour, once, before application season.
Search yourself in an incognito window
Logged in, Google shows you a personalized version of reality. Incognito shows you closer to what a stranger sees. Search your name, your name plus your school, and your name plus your hometown.
Go to page two
Nobody looks at page two except the person deciding whether to interview you.
Check images and video separately
They are their own tabs and they surface things the main results do not.
Search your usernames, not just your name
Old handles connect accounts you forgot existed. Tumblr, Reddit, an old YouTube channel, a Venmo feed that is public by default with captions you wrote at nineteen.
Look at what you are tagged in, not just what you posted
You control one and not the other.
Sort into three piles
Delete anything with a slur, a threat, or something you would not defend out loud. Lock down anything that is just personal and none of their business. Leave the ordinary college photos alone, because a recruiter who disqualifies you for existing socially was never going to be a good manager.
If something unflattering ranks and you cannot remove it, the fix is not erasure. It is volume. A complete LinkedIn, a public project, and any real profile will usually outrank a stale result within a few months.
Do this today
Incognito window. Your name. Two pages. Ten minutes.
Build a profile that outranks the old stuff.
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