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…

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.

More on Social Media & Job Search: Social Media & Job Search Home How to Get Started with Social Media Top 6 Employer Magnets Activate & Manage Your Avatars Social Media Is Like Online Dating Social Media No-No’s 5 Ways Social Media Keeps Skills Up to Date Social Recruiting LinkedIn vs. Facebook vs. Twitter vs. (Fill-in-the-Blank) Social Networked Out?

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:

1. Your LinkedIn Profile and LinkedIn presence (Groups, Discussions, Answers, etc.)
2. Your Twitter Bio and Tweets (on-brand, hopefully)
3. Your Google Profile
4. Your blog and/or guest posts on other blogs
5. Your Facebook account
6. Your Amazon profile (books you read and review, etc.)
7. Your Business Week Business Exchange Profile
8. Your Fast Company Profile
9. Your Visual CV
10. 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.

In the Age of Google, what you do online has an impact on your career, both negative and positive.  Learn how it works, and what you can do to both leverage it and to protect yourself.

For follow-on information, based on the questions the audience asked during this presentation, read the blog post, On-Brand Tweeting for Your Career.”

This is the presentation I made in New Hampshire on April 9, 2010 at the Spring New Hampshire Women in Higher Education Leadship (NHWHEL), a great group!

I encouraged my audience to focus on Tweeting “on brand” for their careers.  Near the end of the talk, one of the questions focused on what an on-brand Tweet would look like – what it would contain and how it would be worded. That’s when I realized I had a gaping hole in my presentation.

What is “on-brand” for your career?

Using myself as an example, “on-brand” for me is simple:  solid, relevant information about job search, employment, and careers.

I look for good articles to share and good Tweets to Re-Tweet, all good enough to be Re-Tweeted by others, hopefully.

“On-brand” is anything related to your career or to what you want your career to be.  If dermatology is your career of choice, Tweet about things related to dermatology – research, trends, news, leading practitioners, etc.

“On-brand” for someone interested in movies could be Tweets about new movies (reviews and announcements of new releases), movies going into production, movies under consideration, books that would be great movies, books that would be terrible movies, directors, actors, box office trends, protecting copyright, etc.

“On-brand” for someone interested in restaurants would be Tweets about new restaurants, new recipes, maybe new foods, etc.

I try to focus on the positive rather than the negative, but it’s a personal choice.

What is NOT on-brand for you career?

Tweets that are NOT related to your career: what you ate, what your kids are doing, what your pets are doing, vacation plans, etc.  Those kind of Tweets can certainly be considered “sharing” and “conversational,” but not really on-brand for most of us, unless your brand is related to kids or pets or vacation plans.

When I’m presenting my career brand, I’m careful about what non-career information I share because I think my Followers view the off-brand Tweets as “noise.”  They’re worried about their careers, their job search, their jobs, and, while I find my pets fascinating, most people won’t find Tweets about them to be relevant to what they want and expect  from me.

Finding on-brand information to share

I find information by:

• Visiting the sites I regularly read to stay up to date.
• Google Alerts I have set up to send me daily updates of news and blog posts on specific keyword phrases.
• The New York Times has an “Alert” function for readers that sends me daily alerts every morning on what is in the current issue of the Times.
• Twitter (of course!) – a wonderful source of information IF TweetDeck organizes it into digestible columns of Tweets for me.  The whole Tweet stream is just too big.
• LinkedIn News posts shared on the Groups I follow.
• Articles or blog posts you have written or friends and colleagues have written.

Structuring on-brand Tweets

When I find a good article that I want to share, this is what I do:

• Do a “Find People” search to see if the writer has a Twitter account (e.g. @JobHuntOrg) that looks active.  If the writer doesn’t have a Twitter account, I look for one for the publication.
• Structure the Tweet to not exceed 110 to 115 characters, to leave room for Re-Tweeting, hopefully.
• Start with the article title, perhaps shortened, if necessary.
• Include the publication where it appeared (e.g. NYTimes, a blog, Website, etc.).
• Include the Bit.ly version of the URL for the article
• Finish with appropriate hashtags, which in my case are usually #jobsearch #jobhunting, etc.

Example 1 – Tweet about a great on-brand article

Jodi Glickman Brown has written 2 excellent blog posts on the Harvard Business Review site delineating an effective process for getting written recommendations from people for your job search.

It was very hard to find Jodi’s Twitter account using Twitter’s “Find People” search, but she sent it to me when she saw this post – @greatonthejob.  (See Jodi’s comment below.)  And the Harvard Business Review has an account that is easy to find.

Jodi’s article is entitled, “How to Ask for a Reference Letter, Part II: The Template” and the URL is http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/04/how_to_ask_for_a_reference_let_1.html

This is a 112-character Tweet:

Reference letter template process, by @greatonthejob in @HarvardBiz: http://bit.ly/cr2GNz #jobsearch #references

That’s not very inspiring or enthusiastic, so here’s a 121-character version:

Excellent! How to Ask for a Reference Letter by @greatonthejob in @HarvardBiz  http://bit.ly/cr2GNz #jobsearch #reference

Example 2 – Re-Tweet an excellent on-brand Tweet by someone else

If you have an on-brand truth that resonates for you and would help others, Tweet it yourself (if you “discovered” it) or Re-Tweet it, if you see that someone else has Tweeted it.

Gayle Howard, a professional resume writer and job search coach, typically sends out a constant stream of Tweets about mistakes she sees people making as she is helping her clients.  They are definitely on-brand for me, so I Re-Tweet them when I find them in my Tweet stream, like this one.

This is a 132-character Tweet which is too long, but it’s such great advice. Note the use of “RT @GayleHoward” is telling readers who originated this Tweet.

Right! RT @GayleHoward No matter how friendly & engaging the interviewer, don’t commit faux pas of bad mouthing a former employer.

Bottom Line

View your professional Tweet stream as your own personal AP Newswire about your profession.  It can help you build and expand your brand.  And a strong brand is great for your career!  It’s only too late for you if you don’t start now.

——————————

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.

The good news is that these sites are free for you to use, currently.  The bad news is that this will take some time and work to create and to manage.  Not a lot because much of what you create for one site (LinkedIn, for example) can be used with minor modifications on other sites.

In addition, these effort will pay off for you when you have captured the interest of a recruiter or potential employer who researches you to see what information is available about you on the Web because they will find these sites, often at the top of the first page of search results.

[If you haven't already set up a Google Alert on your name, do that, immediately.  This is not the time to be modest.]

More on Social Media & Job Search: Social Media & Job Search Home How to Get Started with Social Media Top 6 Employer Magnets Activate & Manage Your Avatars Social Media Is Like Online Dating Social Media No-No’s 5 Ways Social Media Keeps Skills Up to Date Social Recruiting LinkedIn vs. Facebook vs. Twitter vs. (Fill-in-the-Blank) Social Networked Out?

This will take a while, so get started ASAP, and set aside one or two hours a week (or more, if you are unemployed) to create and manage your Web identities.

1.  Your LinkedIn Profile

Whether or not you are actually job hunting right now, a LinkedIn Profile is a MUST-DO these days.  And, if you are currently happy in your job, a robust (”100% complete” in LinkedIn terms) LinkedIn Profile can make you more effective in your existing job.  It also lays good groundwork for your next job because LinkedIn is so important to recruiters.

See Add Common Misspellings to Your LinkedIn Profile and all of Job-Hunt’s Social Media for Job Search articles for more information.

And, don’t forget to join Job-Hunt’s Job-Hunt Help LinkedIn Group to get help with your job search issues.  It’s free for anyone to join.  Also join Groups that are associated with your profession and location, and be active in those Groups.  They are great for expanding your network!

2.  Your Google Profile

This will show up at the bottom of the first page of Google search results on any search with your name, and it can be as robust as your LinkedIn Profile.  Meg Guiseppi, Job-Hunt’s Personal Branding Expert, wrote an excellent article on Leveraging Your Google Profile.
3.  Your official Twitter account.

Be sure to complete the Twitter Bio, including a description of who you are and where you are.  Read the Twitter SEO for Job Search blog post for more details.  Stay on-topic with this account.  Use a different Twitter account to talk about the kids, the dogs, and Starbucks.

4.  Your Business Week’s Business Exchange Profile.

This will also connect with your LinkedIn account as well, and offers the opportunity for credibility in the business world.  Submit content on various appropriate topics and also comment on what has been submitted by others.  If you see a niche which is not covered by Business Exchange topic, you can suggest a new one and become it’s “currator” with personal credit in the description of the topic.  You can also follow other members of the BX community.

5.  Your personal account on Amazon.

Review products, books, videos, and other items on Amazon using your personal account and your real name.  Make them thoughtful, well-written, and logical.  You’ll be able to pull these into your LinkedIn account, and they’ll also be visible to the entire Web when someone Googles your name.

6.  Your own Website or blog (on your own domain name).

Register your name as a domain name, and also register the common misspellings of your name to forward to your “real” domain name.  You can register domain names at GoDaddy.com for $8 a year, and it’s worth it to “capture” your name, even if you don’t immediately create a Website using that domain name.  This is not a blanket endorsement of all of GoDaddy’s products and services, but they do a good job of inexpensive domain registration and make it relatively easy to manage domains, too.

Once you have registered your domain name, you can use it for many things that will enhance your online identity and help raise your visibility in the world as well as the job market.

• Use the domain name for your blog , your personal resume Website, and/or an online portfolio of your work.
• Put your personal URL in your email signature, along with your LinkedIn profile, etc.
• Use search optimization techniques with your name and profession as the keyword phrases to be optimized – in the title tags, in the meta tags, in the headings, etc.  http://www.job-hunt.org/resumeHTMLfinal.shtml
• Link TO your personal Website from the various online community sites LinkedIn, Twitter, Yahoo, etc. etc.
• Write articles or “guest” blog postings for various appropriate industry/professional sites which offer links back as “compensation.”
• Register your personal Website with Yahoo, even paying the $299 for a Yahoo Directory Submit.  Nothing puts a Website on “the map” (ANY Website) like a Yahoo listing. http://add.yahoo.com/fast/add?2052727
• If appropriate, add your speaking calendar, book reviews, testimonials/recommendations, mentions in the press, etc.
• Issue press releases offering new, relevant information about the appropriate industry/profession, distribute on the Web, with links back to your Website.

Also check out VisualCV, ZoomInfo, Emurse, and other similar sites where you can establish and control your public profile.  Google the name of someone you think has a good public profile and see which sites link to them.  That will give you some ideas on how to leverage the presence you have and increase it.

Bottom Line

We all need to become very good at establishing and managing our public personas, whether we label it personal marketing or personal branding.  It is unavoidable in the 21st century.  If you manage your public persona, you’ll be vulnerable to bad luck or someone else’s agenda.

And, remember it is VERY important to keep all of Job-Hunt’s advice in protecting your privacy, identity, and family in mind while you do this!

About the author…

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.