Your avatars aren’t blue and sparkly and on another planet, like the ones in the movie of the same name. But, they are in another world: Cyberspace (or maybe we should call it “Google-Bing-Blekko-space”).
In a sense, we’ve been using avatars in our job search for years. We called them “résumés,” and they are still important today, particularly when you are reaching out to potential employers.
Your 21st Century Avatars Bring Employers to You
Unlike resumes, which are similar in function to a product sales brochure, the new, 21st century avatars are more like a smart marketing campaign attracting employers and jobs to you! You aren’t trying to find employers, employers are finding you because they are finding your avatars everywhere.
Seen Avatar, the movie? (No? GO! Or watch the DVD!) Picture your avatars in cyberspace, showing you at your best - demonstrating your skills and knowledge, cataloging your accomplishments and education, collecting and displaying recommendations, helping you pull the jobs in to you rather than you reaching out for them.
You don’t have a 21st century avatar? You could! You should! And you probably do, whether or not you know it. Here’s how…
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Now, in the 21st century, we have many more avatars than just our resumes, and they are much more active and visible than in the past. We have our LinkedIn profiles, our Google Profiles, our Amazon Profiles, our Twitter Bios, and our Facebook pages, even our VisualCVs and (millions of) blogs.
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A recent study, funded by Microsoft, shows exactly how important those new avatars are to our careers and, particularly, our job searches:
- 29% of job seekers think their online reputation is important, but…
- 79% of employers research potential employees online - always or most of the time!
Negative Avatars – or a Lack of Avatars – Can Damage Your Prospects
The newest aspect of 21st century avatars is that we haven’t created all of them, and don’t own all of them, but we need to monitor them, and, as best we can, manage them.
Watch for negative avatars (e.g. report of a DUI conviction) - even if the person involved is not you but someone else with the same or a very similar name. An employer may not be able to discern the difference, and could assume that the negative avatar belongs to you. You will drop off the list of “possible hires” as a potential problem or just someone to avoid hiring.
While being “invisible” is a goal for some, viewed as a means of protection against indentity theft and other hazards, having few or no positive avatars (e.g. a LinkedIn Profile) is both a credibility issue as well as a personal marketing issue. Without them, your job search will take much longer. You will drop off the list of “possible hires” because nothing about you can be confirmed by another source online.
So, Put These New Avatars to Work for YOU
Technology has changed the rules of the game, particularly in the last 18 months, and smart job seekers manage their avatars. For example, in addition to your résumé, you may – or should- have several of these avatars, too:
- Your LinkedIn Profile and LinkedIn presence (Groups, Discussions, Answers, etc.), including LinkedIn for a stealth job search.
- Your Twitter Bio and Tweets (on-brand, hopefully)
- Your Google Profile
- Your blog and/or guest posts on other blogs
- Your Facebook account
- Your Amazon profile (books you read and review, etc.)
- Your Business Week Business Exchange Profile
- Your Fast Company Profile
- Your Visual CV
- Your Brazen Careerist Profile
Manage Your New Avatars
- Don’t wait until you need your avatars to create them.
The longer you work with them, the stronger they become. Just like waiting until you are unemployed to start networking, waiting until you are unemployed to create your avatars is not the best plan. Nurture your avatars when you are employed, and you may never need to job hunt again. - Keep feeding your avatars – new information, new posts, new Tweets, new Friends, new Followers, etc.
Keep them looking cared-for and current to present you at your best.
Put Google to Work for You
Google yourself regularly to see what’s online. Is someone else’s avatar hurting your chances for a new job – has someone with the same name done something that could damage your chances at a job (murderer, child abuser, porn star, etc.)? If you find bad stuff, pick a different version of your name (with or without your middle name or middle initial, etc.). Then consistently use that new version of your name online to separate yourself.
Set up Google Alerts on your name and topics. It’s simple to do and free (thank you, Google!). Google Alerts help track new or high-ranking references, comments, or posts about you and your favorite topics.
For more on this topic, check out my SlideShare show - 21st Century Job Search Revolution.
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Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 1998, her company, NETability, Inc. purchased Job-Hunt.org, and Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt since then. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg.
Wonderful post, Susan!
You’re so right that without a strong online footprint, job seekers will probably face a prolonged job search.
Studies have shown that all other things being equal – skill sets, qualifications, relevant experience, education, etc. – job seekers with stronger web presence are the ones who are noticed by recruiters and hiring decision makers, and chosen over those who have little or no online identity. In fact, lack of online presence may be as detrimental as having digital dirt.
Those job seekers who are hanging onto the old ways — mounting a job search campaign based solely on spending hours on job boards sending out their digital resumes — are being left in the dust by those who have embraced the job search 2.0 methods that yield better results.
They may be dragged kicking and screaming into the new world of search and resent that more effort is required than a few years ago, but they really have no choice but to dive in, as you said.
Meg Guiseppi
Job-Hunt’s Personal Branding Expert – http://www.job-hunt.org/personal-branding/meg-guiseppi.shtml
Thanks for sharing, Meg!
I know that researching and verifying what I find off-line or in email is a habit for me. And I know I’m not alone in being suspicious when I can find NOTHING about someone or something.
Excellent advice… and it works!
A business colleague who is a Marketing Consultant wanted to hang with the likes of Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki and other frequent speakers on the SEO marketing conference circuit. She created her LinkedIn and Facebook profiles which had her avatar – a picture of herself. She “followed” and “linked” to the speakers she was targeting. She regularly commented on their posts and answered questions on LinkedIn…gradually raising her visibility.
The next time she attended a conference where some of her target speakers where presenting, she approached them after their presentations. Each one recognized her from her avatar and said “I know you.” There was an instant feeling of acceptance and intimacy that would not have been there otherwise. They gave her immediate attention and talked with great familiarity with her. They were as happy to meet her as she was to meet them… and she was able to open doors faster.
Excellent points, Karen! That is a great story, leveraging Facebook, too, as an “introduction” to Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki.
I know it works, although I haven’t experienced it at that level. I’ve recognized people at conferences based on their Twitter or LinkedIn avatars. And, you can start a conversation immediately because you already have some common grounds established.
Awesome Susan. It’s official! The days of face-to-face interviews are passe. Shocking reality for those of us over 50. I have a lot of catching up to do.
Thanks for the valuable insight.