Part of our guide to personal reputation management — part of Job Search Reputation: What Employers Find, and How to Be Ready. This page answers one specific question from that guide.

What should I check online before applying for a job?

From the Personal Reputation Management team · Last updated October 19, 2026

We’re still writing this guide — here’s what we have so far. The short answer below is ready to use today, and the outline shows exactly what the finished guide will cover. In the meantime, the completed guides in the Knowledge Center cover the foundations.

Short answer: Ten minutes: search your quoted name, name plus city, and name plus target profession; confirm your site (if you have one), resume, and headline profile agree on titles, employers, and dates; check that a namesake is not the first story; and look once at images. Fix mismatches before you apply, not after a recruiter finds them — consistency is the whole check.

What this guide will cover

This article is in our writing queue. The outline below is the exact scope it will cover — no more, no less — and the short answer above is the honest summary you can use today.

The ten-minute pre-application routine
Resume/site/profile agreement checklist
Preparing a calm namesake separator

The short version you can act on now

Ten minutes: search your quoted name, name plus city, and name plus target profession; confirm your site (if you have one), resume, and headline profile agree on titles, employers, and dates; check that a namesake is not the first story; and look once at images. Fix mismatches before you apply, not after a recruiter finds them — consistency is the whole check.

Honest by design — including what we don't do

What we do

Show you what people find, result by result, and ask you to confirm what's actually you.
Build your personal site from facts you approved — nothing is published without your approval.
Use licensed search data and official tools only. No scraping.
Keep watch weekly, in plain English, with one clear next step.

What we never do

No fake reviews, fake profiles, fake news, or bought links.
No bogus takedown notices, and no promises to remove results or guarantee rankings.
No searching for anyone but you, and we never sell your data.

See example sites