Are You the Only One in Control of Your Résumé?

The short answer is no; you are not the only one in control of your résumé.

Most people would answer ‘never thought about it.’ That’s understandable. But do yourself a favor and acknowledge that you are not the only one in control of your résumé.

So many people are in control of your résumé that Google’s Eric Schmidt said “parents will have to have the online privacy talk with their children before the sex talk. It might be when the child is eight years old and you’ll be saying ‘don’t put that online! It’ll come back to bite you!’ and then have to explain why.”

The following list will offer insight into just a few of the people who are in control of your résumé. The list is in no particular order. The names are fictional and are for illustration purposes only.

1. Mark: in your response to a LinkedIn comment from your friend Mark you used improper grammar and also had a typo. While your résumé may be error free this exchange with Mark is very costly. According to Jobvite's 2012 survey, 54 percent of recruiters had a negative reaction to grammar and spelling mistakes, while only 47 percent of recruiters had negative reaction to alcohol references.

2. Jessica, Sarah, and Jerome: located in separate offices around the country, these three members of your search committee Googled you and found different results that raised some questions. There once was a time when Google displayed the same results for everybody, but those days are gone and are changing at a rapid pace.

3. Adam: during a birthday party you were in a picture with him, his wife and their 19 year old niece Emily who was holding a beer bottle for fun. She never took a sip since she was underage but no one knows that just by looking at the picture with the caption “Emily’s 19th birthday party.” Since the posting of inappropriate pictures on a social media site is one of the top reasons why an employer will not hire someone, this picture, no matter how innocent, could impact your résumé and current job search.

4. Jaleesa: you went to college with her and now you two exchange Tweets about movie stars and famous people. In one tweet she facetiously refers to a star using a derogatory word. You respond using that same word and do so during work hours. The software your company uses to monitor social media usage of its employees during working hours captures your exchange.

5. Lisa: that funny picture you Snapchatted to her yesterday just got posted to this site that contains random pictures from Snapchats. Need I say more?

There are many other people that control your résumé. That should be obvious with these five examples.

The domino image at the top of the post serves as the easiest reminder of your actions. But that's the key.

At the moment you are going to respond, post, send, text, email, or do whatever else you are about to do - STOP AND THINK ABOUT WHAT IT IS YOU ARE DOING AND THE DOMINO EFFECT IT COULD HAVE ON YOUR CAREER.

People often say "I didn't think about it." Start to think about it and realize you are not the only one in control of your résumé.