Your personal brand is nothing more (or less) than the image you project to others. It’s the whole (although abbreviated) picture of who you are and what you do–professionally. Online, it’s the sum of the parts. A large (maybe the whole) purpose of creating and maintaining an online brand is so that people who don’t know you (employers or potential clients/business partners) can find you, evaluate whether they want to meet you/work with you/recommend you. And that’s why it’s a big deal.

Your online brand is your first impression for people, job leads, or opportunities that might miss you if it’s not everything it could be. And, it’s definitely a piece of the puzzle for those who have met you in person and are looking to find out more. If you don’t think a hiring manager is going to look around online for more information about you before they make the offer, you are seriously misguided. So, what can you do to make sure your online brand identity is a strong recommendation for why someone should hire you?

1. Use every opportunity to establish a presence.

Although LinkedIn is my favorite online networking site, you should also incorporate Twitter, Facebook, Visual CV, and others. (One article says that you should “cybersquat as much social real estate as possible” to both strengthen your online brand and to combat social identity theft.) Make absolutely certain that every site provides a professional profile with dynamic words that describe who you are and what you do.

2. Make sure your photos are professional and consistent.

Attach a head-and-shoulders professional photo to each of your online pages. Having the same photo on all sites will help those who don’t know you recognize you. And please remove the too-personal photos of you with your friends at the party, or you at your political function, or anything else that could cause controversy. If you’re trying to land a job in medical or health care sales, you want potential employers to concentrate on your job skills without anything else getting in the way.

3. Participate.

Join groups and discussions, and try to share something of value to help others. Always keep your brand in mind as you contribute your thoughts and ideas. (It’s not hiding the “real you,” it’s simply keeping a public face that’s separate from your private one. Or, to put it another way…there’s a lot you wouldn’t say in front of your grandmother that you wouldn’t hesitate to say in front of your friends. Think of cyberspace as your grandmother. ) You decide how you want people to see you, and develop a consistent theme. It presents a unified, clear, positive image to the rest of the world that will pay off for you in your career.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

A frequent theme of our blogs is limiting your resume to information that’s truly relevant to the position for which you’re applying.  You should feel free to leave off your high school job serving fast food or your college job working retail if you have years of subsequent work experience.  Also, listing only the achievements from your previous jobs can actually omit an important component of your career: your personal story.

Many of the clients I work with put themselves through graduate programs years into their career, while they were working full-time.  This is no small feat!  If you know anyone who has gone to grad school while they were working, you probably remember that period of their life as one of high stress and limited play.  However, making this career move almost always pays off with greater career opportunities and a higher salary.  It requires (and displays) real ambition to return to school when you already have a job.  So, if you’re one of the many people who has done this, one way to highlight it on your resume is to stick it right into the job summary:

Manager, ABC Company

Managed a department of 20 employees.  Directed all sales and billing.  Earned MBA while working full-time.

Many job seekers have also performed years of consulting services on the side.  Some do not include this on their resume, as they think of it as irrelevant additional information.  Not so!  If you have the business wherewithal to handle some amount of self-employment in addition to your regular job, that’s a valuable skill.  And even if you don’t end up getting the job for which you applied, you may just gain yourself a new client!

Another way to spark great interview conversation is by including any education or work relevant to your personal passions or hobbies.  I’m not suggesting that you put “likes to play golf” on your resume, but if you’re good enough to have won numerous tournaments, that shows dedication and skill that most people don’t possess.  I recently worked with a woman who had taken more than 30 classes at her local culinary school over the years.  I jokingly asked her if her retirement plan was to open a restaurant, and guess what … it was!

Ninety-nine percent of your resume’s content should relate directly to the position you’re targeting.  However, don’t be afraid to sprinkle in a few sentences that differentiate you from the other candidates in the pile.  After all, hiring managers want to work with interesting people!

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Over the past few days I’ve had a series of comments (left on a variety of posts) which have contained offensive material of one form or another. And while I don’t want to get into an argument about censorship or free speech (or the specifics of these comments), I do want to strive to keep this site as family-friendly as possible.

And while I welcome all forms of comments, questions, and opinions which foster further debate and discussion, I’m going to implement stronger moderation policies starting today to ensure that no one is offended.

This means that comments which include any of the following material will not be posted:

• Hate speech (of any form)
• Threats or harassment
• Excessive “bad language”
• Product Solicitations
• Material Under Copyright (unless you own the copyright)
• All forms of spam

Obviously, I reserve the right to modify the rules any time. But rest assured, if you stay within the spirit of the list, you won’t have a problem.

Thanks for understanding,

~ Trevor

I just wanted to let you know that we are back online after a period of server instability.

You may have noticed that we were periodically down at times over the last few days. It appears that our server was having some issues but we have it all sorted out now.

I’ll be keeping an eye on the situation over the next little while, but everything should now be back to normal (fingers crossed).

Thanks for your patience,

Trevor

If you’re currently searching for a job, LinkedIn offers a free and easy way to create a presence for yourself online.  While some people think of the site as simply another place to post their resumes, it offers many other career promotion tools as well.  For example:

Start a reading list

LinkedIn is not a great place to advertise the trashy romance novel you read by the pool, but it does allow you to show professional colleagues where some of your intellectual interests lie.  Personal hobbies like rebuilding motorcycles or visiting Civil War reenactments make for awkward resume material, but mentioning that you’ve read books on the subject will cause you to appear interesting to an employer.

Join groups

Groups are a great way to network in a somewhat casual way.  Your university alumni groups are an easy place to start.  It might feel awkward to e-mail a stranger who happened to go to the same school you did, however, there’s nothing unusual about saying, “I saw through the ABC University group on LinkedIn that you work in insurance.  Do you have any tips that would help me break into the industry?”  Displaying your membership in various groups is also a subtle way to let employers know how you’re connected and where your interests lie.

Post status updates

Much like Facebook, LinkedIn allows you to post status updates.  These updates can let other people know about a big project you’re currently working on or a conference you’re attending, or they can include a link to an article you found particularly interesting or salient to your field.  Just be careful to not bore your connections with irrelevant personal information or touchy political editorials.

Keep your profile current

If you don’t do anything else to your LinkedIn profile, be sure you keep it updated with your current job title and duties at all times.  It’s confusing for an employer to look you up and see information that’s different from what you’ve presented on your resume.  As an HR manager once told me, “It’s important to care for your LinkedIn profile the same way you would a plant in your office—make sure you check on it at least once a week!”

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Among the advice:

Avoid The Use Of Pronouns

Using the words “I” “he”, “she” etc. in the resume does not leave good impact on the employers. It rather seems weird. Use of pronouns in the resume shows your amateurish and unprofessional nature. Actually there is no need to use pronouns as it is but obvious that the resume is about you.

and…

Use Bullets And Numbering

Bullets and numberings make a resume readable; therefore it is important to use the numberings or bullets in the resume. It also makes your resume look neat.

Check out the full list here.

While I almost always give them a chance to impress me, most of the time they fall short. However, Sara Allen is not in that category.

A few days ago she sent me a link to a blog post called 10 Things I Learned from Graduating in a Recession. It focused on her candid thoughts and experiences from graduating into one of the toughest entry level job markets in recorded history.

I won’t steal her thunder by quoting her post, but check it it out. It’s one of the most uniquely uplifting things I’ve read in the last month.

Enjoy!

According to the article Starting salaries of new college graduates drop:

The National Association of Colleges and Employers said in its quarterly report on salaries that 2010 graduates’ average starting salary was $48,661, down 1.3 percent from the initial salaries of 2009 graduates.

As if new grads need more bad news in this economy…

For example:

[One] ubiquitous problem: the boss who gives you nothing to do. I’m sorry to report that this problem is alive and well at Forbes. In chatting up a trio of interns for this story, one of them asked me for an assignment, since she’d heard nothing from the two editors who were supposed to be supervising her.

Unfortunately, many established professionals don’t know what to do with an intern once they have been hired. This can be for perceived issues of knowledge or skill, or it could be an issue with the workload of the boss. Regardless of the reason, it’s something you may have to address at some point.

Not all internships are like this, but if you want to know some of the common pitfalls, check out the full article here.

Although it’s wise to be on the lookout for interesting opportunities, the key to successful job searching and interviewing is to be discriminating about which opportunities are right for the individual.  To be discriminating, it is essential to know and understand the person’s target position.  Hiring managers and recruiters expect the job seeker to have self-knowledge about their strengths, interests, passions and motivators.  Therefore, the very first step in the job search process is to understand personal values, priorities, and career direction.

Why do some job seekers jump at any opportunity that passes their way without regard for their goals?  Here are the top seven reasons an individual may pursue the wrong opportunity, and how to prevent being caught in this trap.

1. Career options have not been explored thoroughly, and there is no focus or commitment.

Some job seekers are guilty of poor career planning, and have fallen into an opportunity simply because it appeared at the right time.  Sometimes these careers work out, but more often times they don’t.  To avoid falling prey to this scenario, always take the time to confirm that a solid career plan is in place.  An individual should be in charge of their professional life – not the other way around.

2. The job seeker sets sights too low, and settles for a lesser position – due to fear or lack of confidence.

Two people with equal qualifications might land very different jobs, depending on their confidence in themselves and belief that the “right” position is out there for them.  For job seekers who sense that lack of confidence is undermining their interview performance, they must realign their self-beliefs to combat this situation.  Take the time to role-play tough interview questions, consider working with a career coach, or connect with a career agent who can build confidence and help navigate the job search waters.

3. There is pressure on the home-front.

Anyone who has ever been out of work, or been employed in a position that their spouse of family approves of, understands the negative effects of extraneous pressure.  Perhaps the family member feels the job seeker is not trying hard enough to land a job, or is in the wrong career field altogether.  It could be an individual’s current job is not paying as much or enough as another position.  Unfortunately, while family-members believe they are trying to help, their pressure-packed messages don’t always have the job seeker’s best interest at heart.  Sometimes there’s a payoff for the other person to see their spouse stay where they are – the other person is fearful to watch him or her grow and develop professionally.  Break free of others expectations by having personal goals, and creating a strategic plan to attain them.  Spouses, family members, friends, and colleagues who previously exerted pressure are far less likely to continue doing so when the job seeker has a clear personal vision for their career.

4. The company or position title is impressive.

Every position out there is unique.  The company may be one of the most reputable and prestigious in the industry, but if the duties and responsibilities don’t align with an individual’s short and long-term goals, the opportunity will not be a good fit.  Job seekers must evaluate each prospective position in light of their priorities, and know what matters to them.  During the evaluation process, if the job does not coincide with personal wants and needs, it is better to turn down the job now, than quit just down the road.

5. The new position has a convenient and easy commute.

A job seeker has received an offer for a position located right around the corner.  Think of the savings in gasoline expense!  Better yet, they will only have a 20 minute round-trip commute each day; making him or her available to pick up the kids from school and save on child care expenses.  Seems like a match made in heaven, right?  Not necessarily.  Perhaps this position has more duties and responsibility for the wages earned.  Maybe the company has mandatory over-time six days per week.  Possibly the savings in gas and child care are not equal to the salary for the same position at a different company.  Job seekers should not let a little less time on the freeway become the reason for accepting just any position.

6. Dangling the carrot – higher compensation.

Income is important, no doubt.  It can quickly become less critical, when every ounce of energy is being sucked out of an individual by working in the wrong job.  As a rule of thumb, an employer pays according to the work performed.  Why does this company pay more than others in the same industry?  Are the duties and responsibilities the same as positions within other companies?  While it’s easy to take the job that pays the most, this should never become the only reason to accept a position.  Always do the research, and make sure this career move works cooperatively with professional objectives.

7. The requirement of making ends meet can lead to career compromises.

When an individual is unemployed and has limited financial reserves to sustain a job search, work smarter – not harder.  The job seeker should choose a position that enables them to learn new, marketable skills, or will serve as a stepping stone to their target position.

Above all else, it is imperative the job seeker understand his or her professional goals, and have a deliberate career plan to fall back on when facing the challenges presented here.  Don’t compromise strategic career goals in light of any situation, and experience the rewards of managing a successful professional life.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.