Hey Chris, great post as usual and very relevant to me at this time. How about on your actual paper resume? How do you suggest integrating your blog/online life into it (if at all? maybe just talk about it and give a card with URL on it?)
JasonFalls
· 2 years ago
Just wanted to add a thought, Chris. While walking around Blog World Expo with a friend, lots of people came up and introduced themselves to me, but I never really went all Chris Brogan on folks with my picture on my blog. My friend asked why.
I made sure my avatar for all my social networking sites was my head shot. Now, I've since changed it to an artsy-fartsy version of my head, but my head shot with the white polo shirt and blue background (found on my about page) became intrinsicly linked to me because it was my avatar.
Just another thought.
And thanks for the advice ... AGAIN. I need to do some sprucing up on my site to better represent myself (video, etc.)
Sarah
· 2 years ago
Hi Chris,
I'm a new reader to your site and have found it very interesting and helpful. Thanks for this great post!
Jason Alba
· 2 years ago
Great post Chris... the career environment is definitely different. I love the ability we have to create our own career brand and presence online. You ask for success stories, I'd like to share some that I've found.
Over a year ago I started looking for people who I thought were using online tools the right way to help them with their personal branding. I created a You Get It award, given out once a month. I found people who are using blogs, LinkedIn and other tools in a way that really helps a recruiter or hiring manager find them, and understand their breadth and depth, professionally.
@Andre- Yes. You could put your resume as a URL on a business card. And/or you could be like Christopher S. Penn and turn your LinkedIN profile into a resume.
@Jason- very good point, and yes, using your graphic certainly helps people get to recognize you faster.
@Sarah- Glad that you're here, and thanks for commenting. Let me know what else I should cover, or ask these great folks who come here for stuff, as they're really good about that. : )
chrisbrogan
· 2 years ago
@Jason- awesome stuff! Glad you shared that.
David Michaels
· 2 years ago
This post was really interesting and I really never thought of creating a blog as a personal resume. I am really considering doing that in the future. Up to this point, I have just made my blog a place to share varying aspects of my life...which is okay too. I'm just saying that I have another way of looking at it.
Thanks!
Mack Collier
· 2 years ago
Great post Chris, and very relevant as more and more people are blogging. It's also worth noting that blogging is a great way to stand out in Google search results, and quickly develop a presence online.
Marc A. Pitman
· 2 years ago
Hi Chris,
One weird thing happened to me last week. A local radio station looked up a Wikipedia article on our city and found a disparaging remark. They then went into history and found that I'd made lots of changes so blamed it on me...on air...for 1 1/2 hours!
We live in a small city (we like to call it a micropolis...sounds sexier than "rural Maine" *grin*). This scared me enough I blogged about it at: False News Reports About Me.
What intrigued me was the interconnectedness of it all. I wasn't drunk by a toilet. I was in Wikipedia helping our town's article. But I got publically lambasted for a disgruntled comment I didn't make.
You and I know we can look at the history and see who made what comment. But the DJ's didn't. They knew just enough to look in the history--no more.
Given this, I think it'll be increasingly hard to have a "professional" face (ie. LinkedIn) and "fun" face (ie. Facebook). That has never been my goal but I hear others talking about it.
Thanks for your great post!
So your comments are really helpful.
BillVick
· 2 years ago
Social Media and all that it means has truly changed the ground rules for careers and employment in general. The other side of the coin, and one I speak on, is the Recruitment and Human Resource use of Social Media.
Their are more ideas and concepts floating around than you can count on the 'right' way to use social media but the one that stands out to me is that it is more important to be found than to find. Too many of us look at the various networks as a search tool to find others not realizing that being found is the real payback. Many of the ideas you and others have addressed touch on that and simply treating your online presence as a key part of your career branding strategy is a good first step.
Great post! Sounds like I may need to make a trip to Glamour Shots before I put my picture up.
jonnygoldstein
· 2 years ago
My social media presence got me my last 3 jobs.
1) Manager for a techology education program in the Bronx where we taught teens from tough neighborhoods how to videoblog
2) Host and producer for Reinventing Television, a live interactive internet TV talk show
3) Producer of New Media at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.
I am sure most people making hiring decisions google people who are applying for jobs with them.
If you are engaged in social media, they will find stuff about you when they do that google search. If that stuff reflects well on capabilities and accomplishments, it will help you in your career.
Lauren Vargas
· 2 years ago
Since I posted my sm resume in August, more opportunities have come my way! I track the number of page views and referrers. My portfolio is a huge scrapbook. I wanted my work to stand out from the crowd, but I did not go too artsy. I am in the process of scanning my pages to Flikr.
Ben Yoskovitz
· 2 years ago
Thanks for the mention Chris. I would also add this: for many companies (and the list is growing) if they CAN'T find stuff about you online (be it a blog, linkedin profile, etc.) will consider that a point against you or not even consider you as an applicant. For information workers in this day and age - especially in the tech world - having a certain level of profile online is becoming a requirement.
whitney
· 2 years ago
I started podcasting and blogging to provide an online resume- an interactive sample of my writing, thoughts, beliefs and point of view. It's been a wonderful experience, and I am always amazed at who finds me and from where. I have an international audience, people I would have never run across in real life, or perhaps never spoken about these topics in depth, yet online we create a meaningful connection.
I think the next topic that goes along with this one is managing your digital footprint and transparency- how you decide what to put out there for all the world to see, and what to keep closer to the vest.
DefogMyBlog
· 2 years ago
OMG and I thought the man was plain vain for having his picture all over the place!
I think if people need to clean up their digital profile especially if just out of college then blogging and social media could be useful too.
tom summit
· 2 years ago
Coming from the recruiting viewpoint, Mr. Vick is right on. It is about being found. Pundits aside, for most people it is still all about accomplishments. So when one is googled and there are thousands of citations but they are all the candidate talking, it is not as powerful as quantifiable accomplishments. For example, if I was interviewing an engineer for my startup and I found that he had done 10,000 twits ;) I might be concerned that he is not focused on building product. On the other hand if I found one press release where he was mentioned as a developer that shipped a successful product, that would count for more. I spoke with Bryper about video resumes and unfortunately there is a problem with issues regarding discrimination etc.. let alone favoring certain people that are "camera ready" Bottom line to paraphrase Tom Brady "its about what you do rather than what you say" so what you have done and where you have worked are still the most important factors effecting career equity.
Stephen
· 2 years ago
This is an excellent article that really made me think. I did some cleaning-up of my online life tonight. Thank you for writing this.
troy
· 1 year ago
Your site was really helpful. I look forward to more future postings. Thank You
Joe Mescher
· 11 months ago
Thanks for the inspiring blog ideas Chris.
I took a cue from your '100 Blog Ideas' post and ran with the one titled 'Turning Media Into a Business Card':
Hi Chris, excellent article. I am really plugging myself now using social media. I found another useful site zoomspec.com, which has got me my first contract postion as a freelancer - and put me in touch with some cheaper resources for my materials, as businesses are also members.
All Comments
I made sure my avatar for all my social networking sites was my head shot. Now, I've since changed it to an artsy-fartsy version of my head, but my head shot with the white polo shirt and blue background (found on my about page) became intrinsicly linked to me because it was my avatar.
Just another thought.
And thanks for the advice ... AGAIN. I need to do some sprucing up on my site to better represent myself (video, etc.)
I'm a new reader to your site and have found it very interesting and helpful. Thanks for this great post!
Over a year ago I started looking for people who I thought were using online tools the right way to help them with their personal branding. I created a You Get It award, given out once a month. I found people who are using blogs, LinkedIn and other tools in a way that really helps a recruiter or hiring manager find them, and understand their breadth and depth, professionally.
You can see the past winners here: http://www.jibberjobber.com/blog/archives/category/monthly-winner
@Jason- very good point, and yes, using your graphic certainly helps people get to recognize you faster.
@Sarah- Glad that you're here, and thanks for commenting. Let me know what else I should cover, or ask these great folks who come here for stuff, as they're really good about that. : )
Thanks!
One weird thing happened to me last week. A local radio station looked up a Wikipedia article on our city and found a disparaging remark. They then went into history and found that I'd made lots of changes so blamed it on me...on air...for 1 1/2 hours!
We live in a small city (we like to call it a micropolis...sounds sexier than "rural Maine" *grin*). This scared me enough I blogged about it at: False News Reports About Me.
What intrigued me was the interconnectedness of it all. I wasn't drunk by a toilet. I was in Wikipedia helping our town's article. But I got publically lambasted for a disgruntled comment I didn't make.
You and I know we can look at the history and see who made what comment. But the DJ's didn't. They knew just enough to look in the history--no more.
Given this, I think it'll be increasingly hard to have a "professional" face (ie. LinkedIn) and "fun" face (ie. Facebook). That has never been my goal but I hear others talking about it.
Thanks for your great post!
So your comments are really helpful.
Their are more ideas and concepts floating around than you can count on the 'right' way to use social media but the one that stands out to me is that it is more important to be found than to find. Too many of us look at the various networks as a search tool to find others not realizing that being found is the real payback. Many of the ideas you and others have addressed touch on that and simply treating your online presence as a key part of your career branding strategy is a good first step.
A good site for career articles is:
http://www.EmploymentDigest.net
1) Manager for a techology education program in the Bronx where we taught teens from tough neighborhoods how to videoblog
2) Host and producer for Reinventing Television, a live interactive internet TV talk show
3) Producer of New Media at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.
I am sure most people making hiring decisions google people who are applying for jobs with them.
If you are engaged in social media, they will find stuff about you when they do that google search.
If that stuff reflects well on capabilities and accomplishments, it will help you in your career.
I think the next topic that goes along with this one is managing your digital footprint and transparency- how you decide what to put out there for all the world to see, and what to keep closer to the vest.
I think if people need to clean up their digital profile especially if just out of college then blogging and social media could be useful too.
For example, if I was interviewing an engineer for my startup and I found that he had done 10,000 twits ;) I might be concerned that he is not focused on building product. On the other hand if I found one press release where he was mentioned as a developer that shipped a successful product, that would count for more.
I spoke with Bryper about video resumes and unfortunately there is a problem with issues regarding discrimination etc.. let alone favoring certain people that are "camera ready"
Bottom line to paraphrase Tom Brady "its about what you do rather than what you say" so what you have done and where you have worked are still the most important factors effecting career equity.
I took a cue from your '100 Blog Ideas' post and ran with the one titled 'Turning Media Into a Business Card':
http://tinyurl.com/85ku89
Cheers!