In Spring 2008, Andy and Rob started discussing the value of having an established online personal brand when actively looking for a job. It was having a tremendous impact on their job search efforts. The reality was, and still is today, that prospective employers and hiring managers, will almost certainly google you prior to a job interview. Furthermore, hiring managers do appreciate job seeker referrals from insiders and staff they trust. Online networking is an increasingly important job search dimension.

The problem is that most youth do not realize how transparent they are on the web – you are what you post. Because anyone, anywhere, at any time can say anything about you and, reputations are scarily open-source. Student’s need to get educated about this, but how?

Our solution was to build a program that also helps educate students about their online persona, how to tell their story by establishing a positive reputation on the web, help them standout and proactively position themselves to get hired!

With feedback from our ever-growing community and lots of nerdy elbow grease, the WhyHire.me Student Success Network and personal branding program has become something that we are quite proud of.

Currently, we have over 2,000 registered students and you can find us in the following academic institutions: Algonquin College, Ryerson University, Centennial College and Carleton University. We are also in the midst of announcing a major partnership.

For a better idea on how to integrate the WhyHire.me program in your class, visit our educators section