The heavy bass from the loud music startles you, spilling your drink slightly below your neck to your off-white sweater. Disappointment quickly turns into a nonchalant hand wave; cranberry juice will come out in the wash, right? A night of fun is well deserved after all those applications you sent out this week, and this Friday night couldn’t look any better. Dancing and good friends, the night is young and so are we, not a worry in the world. 

       Smile big…

               Flash. 

Going out with friends is innocent enough when you are in control and playing it safe, but pictures don’t lie. The internet has become a large piece of society’s socialization and our generation in particular has become obsessed with quickly taking as many digital pictures as possible, and posting them online even faster. We have slowly become our own paparazzi, posting unflattering pictures for anyone to see, especially potential future employers.

Would you hire someone who posed in a picture with a large pink stain on her shirt, sweaty with dance moves? Or the party hero who could do a keg stand for more than thirty seconds? Employers everywhere are more interested in who you really are online as opposed to who you say you are on an application.

Brand-Yourself.Com is a website made for the potential future employee, before they apply for a job. It helps build up a good name for yourself and show who you really are. Instead of being “that person” on Saturday night everyone just needed to take a picture of, Brand Yourself gives you the opportunity for positivity on the internet. According to the website, 83% of employers today will Google their applicant’s names. 43% of employers will base their decision on what they find.

Signing up is free, giving you your own online profile and helping you establish a professional existence on the internet. Although Facebook and MySpace are entertaining social networks, when it comes time to being serious, how do you want to be seen?