<p>So I know that sometimes employers do this to get a better idea of who their job candidates are. I don't really have an active online presence, so I don't have incriminating information about me on the internet. However, I do have a very common name (it's a very common name for my ethnicity, although many people may not know this if they do not know much about my ethnicity). Anyways, when I google my name, there are many different people with my name. One person in particular has a very large internet presence because she is a model or something california. She does have a lot of pictures and videos posted that are not at all appealing to employers.
I'm afraid that employers (who don't know a lot about how common my name is) may mistaken me for these other people, and if they do, will not even consider offering me an interview. How do I work my way around this strange situation?</p>
<p>Anyone who routinely googles prospective employees is aware of this problem. And even if your name is surprisingly common, when they look it up and see all the many entries, they would realize that you could be anyone or none of them. In this case, if nothing in your history suggests California model, the HR people would easily see that that person isn’t you.</p>
<p>You could take the extra step and create a web presence (open to everyone) that quite obviously matches your resume, including a photo that is unmistakably not someone else. Put the address on all correspondence so people will look there first, before they even try Google.</p>