Social Media for Your Career
Today’s career environment is different, at least for the information workers. What’s different is that there are more ways to influence getting a job than in the past. You probably already know that the old saying is true: “it’s not what you know; it’s who you know.” Well, the people you know has expanded a bit, thanks to social networks, and what people know about you has grown, too, thanks in part to the various tools you can employ in social media.
What follows are some ideas on building your online presence with your career in mind.
Your Blog Is A Resume
If you’ve not considered this yet, let me explain that my blog has been responsible for HUNDREDS of inquiries over the years. Why? Because people who might want to know about using video, or blogging, or making podcasts, or tying this all together into a strategy see examples, almost daily, of what I think, what I know, and how I’ve accomplished some of this in my own life and career.
Blogging about this stuff is like writing out my experience for a resume line by line. (Only less boring).
Use These Tools for You
The story of our work lives, and the story of what we do after work when we’re expressing our passion can now be captured in ways we didn’t have available to us before. With free tools, free or inexpensive distribution, you can share your accomplishments with the world, and with Google, which most prospective employees use as a matter of course these days in their hiring diligence.
Elements to Consider
Once you start thinking that way, about your blog as a way for people to know more about you, what you stand for, who you are, you might consider doing a few things.
- Consider adding a picture of you on the main page. I admit that I take this to the extreme, but whatever. You won’t ever NOT recognize me at a conference or a social event, and that’s my goal.
- Make your ABOUT page robust. I write a lot about who I am, where to find me, what I am passionate about, and other things on my about page. In my case, I even have a speaking page, so that people know what I speak about at events (or some of what I speak about).
- Make it easy to contact you. My email is right there on the blog, as well as my phone number. People use them both all the time, and these bring me interesting opportunities that don’t always land in the comments section.
- Consider WHAT you talk about in your blog. Even if you don’t consider your blog your resume, Google will help your prospective employers figure out your web presence.
The Social Media Resume
Listing your previous jobs and titles is not nearly a full picture of who you are, what you know, what you’re capable of, and who you know. There are other ways to do this. You might want to give more thought to posting more information about you online. There are ways to do this that don’t seem as threatening to current employers, by the way.
If you haven’t considered using LinkedIN, that’s a baseline. But LinkedIN is still a resume of sorts, only with a few (really useful) features added in. LinkedIN can be explained to wary employers as a way to network with fellow professionals in your field and to find people who share interests. But don’t stop there.
A few people have talked about a social media resume. My first exposure to it was Bryan Person’s post about it, with a link to his own social media resume. I’ve not employed this specifically, because I feel my profile on LinkedIN covers all that ground, but I could see someone choosing to split out their professional credentials from their social media experience, and then this would be the right tool.
Social Networks for Networking
First, I have to say that I have a problem with the notion of traditional networking, in the social sense. I perceive networking to mean those cocktail gatherings where you stand around and ask each other what you can do for each other. Though I understand it’s usually genuine in intent, I’ve rarely found the right kind of relationship by doing the cursory dance at these events. Too shallow for my tastes.
Online social networks are different, insofar as we have the opportunity to know more about someone through repeated interactions. If you and I are friends on Twitter, I get to see what you deem interesting enough to post into a box. If we’re friends on Facebook, I might learn a LOT about your interests and the like from what you put on your profile, which groups you belong to, your other posted media.
One more thing about Facebook: the repeat question of whether or not it’s for business is only coming from people who aren’t in there messing around with it. It’s not the best thing in the world for businesses, and I can tell you lots of things I hate about it, but it’s a way to find a more enriched profile of someone than what you get on LinkedIN, and that’s the value statement there.
I think social networks, blogs, and all these various places like Seesmic, Utterz, Flickr , are great touchpoints to understanding someone’s personal interests, tastes, and learn about their professional proclivities as well.
The Bonus Round
You might consider putting up a video about yourself. There’s something different and more intimate about making video, and people can see even more about who you are, how you act, in a video.
One friend, Ben Yoskovitz, made a startup out of the idea of video in recruiting. It’s brilliant, really, because it adds that piece that’s missing.
And making video isn’t especially hard these days. You can use a Flip video camera and pop a video onto YouTube without a lot of effort.
Now, making a GOOD video is another matter altogether, but then you might consider getting some help from a local expert. I’ve got friends in video all over the place, so if you want a little help with that, let me know.
A Note About WHERE to Find Jobs
This has changed a great deal over the last few years. Popular blogs and websites now have their own job boards (37 Signals, TechCrunch, and tons of other places, for instance). It’s not just the world of Monster or HotJobs. Now, people and individuals are becoming hubs for jobs. Oh, and don’t forget Craigslist.
At any one time, I have someone pinging me for either a social media position that’s open, or a software engineer, or someone with an Internet skillset that isn’t easy to find by sifting through resumes. So, be attentive to that as well. Sometimes, jobs aren’t circulating in the traditional places, so the folks who might want to find you, are the same ones spending time online.
Did We Miss Anything?
What didn’t I mention that you’re curious about? What are YOUR tips and ideas that you want to share about social media as a career tool? Want to share a success story?
The Social Media 100 is a project by Chris Brogan dedicated to writing 100 useful blog posts in a row about the tools, techniques, and strategies behind using social media for your business, your organization, or your own personal interests. Swing by [chrisbrogan.com] for more posts in the series, and if you have topic ideas, feel free to share them, as this is a group project, and your opinion matters.
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Comments
[…] Duane Forrester had some great ideas on this topic.You can read a snippet of the post here.Today’s career environment is different, at least for the information workers. What’s different is that there are more ways to influence getting a job than in the past. You probably already know that the old saying is true: “it’s not … […]
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?)
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.)
Hi Chris,
I’m a new reader to your site and have found it very interesting and helpful. Thanks for this great post!
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.
You can see the past winners here: http://www.jibberjobber.com/blog/archives/category/monthly-winner
@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. : )
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!
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.
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.
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.
A good site for career articles is:
http://www.EmploymentDigest.net
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
[…] discovered Chris Brogan’s blog tonight through Utterz, and this article called Social Media for Your Career really got my attention. Maybe I could find a job through some of my online endeavors? We’ll […]
[…] and social media will not even know what this means, Chris Brogan has a great post that explains exactly how to use a career in social media to find a job, thanks to the various tools available in this arena. “Today’s career […]
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