Admit it.  We’ve all done it. We’ve all typed our own name into the Google search box to see what turns up.  To Google yourself is to commit an act of “self-Googling” or “eco-surfing”.

T-Shirt available at stores nationwide. Or so I would imagine.

After entering my name into the Google search box and looking through the results, I discovered the following about myself:

– I am an award-winning designer of children’s products, having been the first designer for Leapfrog

– I have spent time working as a congressional staffer in Texas

– I am a teacher at a public school in Toronto, Ohio, with okay ratings on ratemyteachers.com

– I am scheduled to marry a man named Joseph in New York in September. Right before I marry someone else named Nicholas in December. Wait until I tell my family!

It wasn’t actually until the end of page three before I found a search result that was actually related to me.

The act of Googling oneself is recommended in several situations, but especially in advance of beginning a job search. You never know who might be looking to discover more information about you. About.com recommends that all entrepreneurs use the Internet to complete background checks on any potential employee, contractor or consultant up for hire. Other tips from this web site include:

– Make sure that your name comes up as one of the top results listed if you want to be found

– Look beyond just the first three pages of results to see what all information turns up

– Put your name in quotation marks in the search box to narrow the results

– If something negative turns up in the results, try to contact the person who posted the information or look to do damage control

On the other hand, Time Magazine recommends creating a Google profile, which will bring up a user’s name, location, occupation and photo at the bottom of the results page whenever that person’s name is entered in the search box. Not only does this feature allow users to control what information is returned in the search listings, but it gives Google the opportunity to have its own networking features to try to measure up to Facebook and MySpace.

 In the end, you never know what might happen when you enter your own name into the Google search box. Who knows? You might even land a job.

I’d like to end this post with a quote from myself. Well, these are not actually my words. But if you ask Google, they are.

On the importance of leaving the workplace to experience other things and get inspired:

“Innovate in the world, execute in the office.”