It’s amazing how “electronic” the world is. There isn’t anything you can’t find online. From addresses and phone numbers to birthdays and ages, it’s all at your fingertips. (We just better hope our social security number and credit cards aren’t accessible through Google.)

As we were completing our family Christmas cards this year, I was amazed at the information you could find about a person through Google. Our latest discovery was age. We can find out how old anyone is – clients, friends, co-workers – all with a simple Google search. For those of us protective of our ages, that’s a frightening reality!

But as much as there is information we don’t want people to know, there is also information we do want people to find – like how to reach us. Just today I received a call from a business associate from days gone by. She said she simply Googled my name and found me at my newly formed company. This lead me to Google myself – just to see what would show up. I was amazed! Information on the birth of my last child (who is now five) committees I’ve served on, notes from the church bulletin etc.  All of it is available with one simple search.

At the recent AEM conference, presenters talked a lot about the importance of your online presence. What will people find when they search for you? There are those that claim your future career development will be futile unless you have some online presence. Is that true? I don’t know. I can certainly say the electronic world is changing the way we look for jobs and employees.

Our agency is currently looking to fill a writer position. As such, I’m baffled with where to place the ad. Tradition would say the newspaper. But, are people looking there for jobs anymore? Or has the employment search gone completely electronic?  I decided on a combination approach. I must say that to this point (with the ad running for 2 days) I have received more applicants referencing the online listing than the print listing.

Whether they find me by print or electronic, I can assure you I will use the power of Google and other tools to discover what I can about likely candidates. I’m not looking so much to make sure they exist in the electronic world, but rather to make sure no red flags exist in what I might find. As managers, we use whatever tools are available to make sure we choose the best candidates for a job. Google and other search engines certainly make that search easier.

So how has the electronic world changed your business? Are you using the online sources to scope out employees, vendors and associates? Have you checked your online presence? What does it reveal about you or your company?