It is amazing how Google has made their company into a catch phrase without even trying. How many times a day do you Google something? How many times a day do you say "Google it."? Odds are, a lot. Google has done something that few brands have been able to do, they have created a new lingo that not only describes the process of looking something up, but also advertises it's business everytime it is said. They have taken the market when it comes to websearching. (Other companies that have been able to do this include; Kleenex and Wite-Out.) The amazing thing is that it happened without any push from the company itself. The catch phrase emerged from the fact that you can find anything by simply typing it in Google.
Emerging New Use #1: To Find Yourself
Have you ever googled yourself? There's a good chance your future employers are. Most HR people I've talked to have said that they use the internet to do research on candidates for jobs. Many also say that they have been turned off of a candidate because of what they found.
If you have any sort of profile such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, ect. it will come up in the search results. If you have discriminating content on your pages, you might want to take it off or set your security settings higher.
Another consideration is do you even come up in search results? If your name is common (such as John Smith) you may have trouble finding sites that actually pertain to you. Also it may be that you don't have anything on the internet that will come up in search engines. This is both a good and bad thing. Good because employers can't find discriminating information about you, bad because they can't find any other information either. You want employers to be able to find more information about you when they are looking to hire.
Anything that you can do to put yourself over other candidates is vital. Find ways to get yourself in the results. Good ways to do this is to make a website, blog, or join networking sites (make sure that your full name is in the either the site name or in the body text of the site). If you have a common name like the one above (John Smith) maybe consider putting your middle name both on your resume and on the sites that you want to come up in results. There's bound to be less John Ray Smith's than John Smith's.
Emerging New Use #2: To Research Companies
As I said earlier, you can find basically anything on the internet, this includes information about your next potential job. Basically all businesses now have a website, and on these websites they usually have more information about their company than you'd typically need. But when you are looking for a job, the situation isn't typical. The more information you have about the company the better. You don't want to spend the entire interview asking what the company does, you want to be telling them how you can help their company, and to do this you have to know what they do. Is there some big new merger in works? Ask them how it's going. Did they just gain a new client? Ask them about the client. It shows that you know the company. Someone who knows what's going on (or shows that they are willing to find out themselves) is more useful than one that needs everything explained or basically knows nothing. Google the company first.
Another interesting idea that I've heard that could help someone going into a creative environment is to find out who their clients are and come up with a new idea for that client. Go through the whole process as though you were actually working for them (set up the campaign, the advertisements, and the concept behind it). Remember to try to stick to the style that the company typically displays. Put this in the portfolio that you will be giving them to look at. It shows that you have the initiative to do the work, and the creativity to work in their company.
Emerging Use #3: Google Stalk Future Employers
Know who you're going to be interviewing with for that job you want so badly? If you've got a name, you can Google them. Find out what they have in common with you and use that to make the interview less formal. The more you can talk freely about during the interview the better the person hiring will remember you. The thing to remember about this is that you don't want to go over the top.
Bring up casually that you 'just went fishing last weekend' if you know they like fishing. You don't want them to actually think you are a stalker. Never go on to list all the things you found on their personal blog, and say that you like everything that they do. Don't lie, don't scare them, and don't bring up things that might make the conversation uncomfortable. The idea is to make two strangers less uncomfortable and make yourself seem like someone that the employer would actually want to work with. An example of a bad conversation filler would be "I saw online that you and your wife are getting a divorce. How is that going?"
A good article for more on this concept is ArtBistro's "Stalk Your Way to a New Job."
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