Organize Your Online Presence Before Launching a Job Search

Launching a new job search is more than sending out resumes. These days your resume, online presence, personal and professional life need to be organized to tell a cohesive story. Here’s how to organize your online presence before launching a job search.

1. Google Yourself – It’s important to know what a prospective employer is learning about you when they do an Internet search on you. You need to find out first and clean up any erroneous information. To Google yourself, enter your name, city and state, and, if you’ve moved recently, your previous location into Google. Check both website and images. Contact any sites with information that could harm you in a job search and ask them to delete it.
2. Go Social – Make sure there are no forgotten social media profiles – including blogs – on the Internet (MySpace anyone?). If there are, delete the accounts. Set the privacy settings on your Facebook, Twitter, Meetup, etc. and any other social media sites so all anyone can see is your name, profile picture, and location. Change your banner images to be politically neutral or make them private. Scrub your newsfeeds of anything you would not want an employer to see.
3. Ditch the Selfie – Your profile pictures should be current and across all professional and social platforms. Dress up in interview attire, stand against a neutral background, and take a picture with an actual camera. Change into your “play” clothes and repeat. Crop both pictures to show only your face and shoulders and use a program like Photoscape (http://x.photoscape.org) to balance the lighting. The first picture goes on your LinkedIn profile. The second goes on ALL of your social media sites.
4. Match It Up – Your resume should highlight your skills and career achievements first. It should also be Search Engine Optimized (SEO’d) around the type of job you are looking for. It should also exactly match your LinkedIn profile. You do not want an employer reading your resume and then seeing something different on LinkedIn.
5. Use the Technology – You want to stand out and grab attention when you are searching for your new job. Besides a standard resume, how else can you present yourself? Use video, Pinterest, a website, or blog to highlight your creative side. Showcase your work! Join and actively contribute to groups that align with your current and/or desired industry and profession. You need to show that you understand the power of digital platforms and are technologically savvy. Saying it is one thing but showing is more powerful.

Coming Up: Organizing Your Resume and Job Search Application Paperwork.

Photo: Pixabay – Gerd Altmann