Just as fashion awareness is evidence that someone is hip to what’s hot or not, so Internet use in an executive’s career illustrates that he or she is attuned to what’s relevant in the world.
We live in a time-pressed, attention-deficit world, in which most are sure to experience several career transitions. Somehow, we must embrace the profound impact of technology on our careers and rise above the noise to communicate personal career brand.
Truth is, while most people are skilled at several things, they often fail to narrow that down to a personal brand. Most of us fail utterly at conveying our personal brand online.
The reality of online personal brand is inescapable. A recent Microsoft study on the growing impact of online identity management underscored the increased role that online identity plays in hiring decisions.
Over 85% of North American executive recruiters report Googling candidates as part of today’s search process; half said they eliminate candidates based on information found (or missing) online. Smart companies are making online candidate screening a formal requirement of the hiring process.
We all Google others to learn more about them. The Internet knows all, and never forgets. Having a digital past might mean that the regrettable thing you did is the first thing people learn about you online.
For a skilled management professional, isn’t a solid career and years of experience enough? The answer: not anymore. Career development is more complex now, communication channels more varied. People must be thorough and thoughtful to source lucrative work quickly.
And it’s not just about career: love interests, prospective business partners, employees, news media – all routinely search online.
Amazingly, despite the growing role of online identity management, a third of individuals do nothing to enhance, protect or manage their online personae. This “head in the sand” mentality is especially flawed for those in career transition.
Early online adopters developed personal and professional identities by maintaining multiple profiles, separating work from play and locking down privacy settings. It’s a lot of work, a constantly moving target, and increasingly ineffective.
Managing online visibility matters a lot. That’s why Vizibility offers search buttons linking inquirers to such personal data entry points as online profiles, websites, resumés, email signatures and business cards.
Embracing the Internet as a career development tool yields real advantages. Happily, individuals can enable, control and optimize their online personal data in five basic ways:
- add profiles, set up keyword alerts on search engines (Google);
- be on business networking sites – LinkedIn being the most important;
- use Twitter microblogging to position personal skills;
- control and guide content on social networking (Facebook) and photo sharing websites (Flickr); and
- create a personal website.
Since 1996, veteran technology management consultant David Greer has relied on a personal website to convey key personal differentiators – those of approachability and personal storytelling. Greer believes “anything you do online is part of your brand. You can manage it proactively or you can post without purpose and suffer unintended positioning.”
When competing in business, certain basics hold true. First, we have but a moment to grab attention. Second, we must be memorable and different. Third, we must convey special skills and leave a clear value impression. Few online tools do all three so well as a personal website that highlights personal value.
A personal website is core to online identity management and simplifying one’s business life. It provides a centralized platform where you can direct others, control content and ultimately raise value perception by communicating interests, accomplishments, specialties and goals.
It can be a portal to aggregate personal data in preferred words and format and can showcase visually interesting work (art, graphics, design) or deliver information (password-protected case studies, white papers). While it’s impossible to condense a life’s career experiences into one page, a website can offer a good snapshot.
Just as companies market online to customers, individuals can drive people to personal websites and track online activity. It’s now easy to create personal websites with minimal time and little technical skill and, using tools from Vancouver’s HootSuite, monitor and post to multiple networks via a social media dashboard.
Centralize your online life, use technology to simplify and monitor it and take personal control of your digital information and, by extension, your career.
