Finally, time to prepare your resumes and online profiles (e.g. LinkedIn, Google, and Indeed Resume). In the 21st century, they are critical marketing and sales documents both for your job search (short-term) and your career (long-term).

Job Search Tutorial: Job Search Tutorial Home Part 1: Starting Your Online Job Search Step 1: Get Help with Your Job Search Step 2: Decide What Job(s) You Want 2A: Start a Career Change Step 3: Determine Your Online Reputation Step 4: Manage Your Online Reputation Step 5: Manage Your Personal Communications Step 6: Prepare Your Resume and Profiles Step 7: Shop for Your Next Employer Part 2: Implementing Your Online Job Search Step 1: Implement Your Job Search Step 2: Find Jobs Online Step 3: Keep Track of Your Job Search Step 4: Stand Out From the Crowd Step 5: Tap the Hidden Job Market Part 3: Preparing for Your Next Job Search Prepare for Your Next Search Additional Information Recover from Job Loss Career Changer's Guide to Careers Create Your Best Resume How to Research Companies New Grads' Job Search Boomers' Job Search Introverts' Job Search Veterans' Job Search Federal Government Job Search Stealth Job Search Free Job Search and Career eBooks Online Job Search Guide - many more topics and help

6.  Preparing Your Resume and Your Online Profiles

Once you know the job you want and have collected information on your target employers, you need to create your resume, actually several versions.  And you also need to have online profiles available for recruiters and potential employers to find.

Resumes

The traditional resume has morphed into a marketing and sales document, selling your desirability as an employee to potential employers.  Don't think of it as just a chronological list of every job you've ever had, because it shouldn't be only that. 

Now, smart job seekers customize their resumes for the employers and the job(s) they want.  The customization helps show the employer that you are paying attention and that you are really interested in them.  You don't want just any job; you want a job with them. If you have done your employer shopping, that is true - you do want a job with that employer.  And customizing your resume is one way to prove that to them.

Job-Hunt offers you some excellent help with your resume:

• Susan Ireland's section on Resumes is top-notch, as is Susan who has written several best-selling books on resumes.  If you are in a hurry (and even if you aren't in a hurry), I highly recommend that you check out Susan's Ready-Made Resumes, an online resume and cover letter builder.
  
  
• See the Internet Resume section on Job-Hunt for help with creating the different versions of your resume that you need - from Word versions, to "plain text" versions, and finally web pages.  It also includes sections on how to protect your privacy with a cyber-safe resume and where and how to include "keywords" in your resume, all of which are very important to online job search.

Find professional resume writers through a professional certification organization - Career Directors International- if you need professional help with your resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn Profile, and other social media options.

Online Profiles

Online profiles, particularly those on LinkedIn, Google, and Indeed Resume are very important for online job search and online reputation management in the 21st century.

NO LinkedIn Profile = out-of-date = no credibility or mistaken identity

LinkedIn is now THE Website where recruiters are most likely to go when looking for candidates for their job openings. Consequently, not being in LinkedIn, and not having a good, 100% complete Profile, is being invisible to the vast majority (estimated at 80%) of recruiters.

The sooner you get started building your LinkedIn Profile, the better. LinkedIn provides help using LinkedIn for Job Search. Learn more about them in Job-Hunt's LinkedIn for Job Search and Personal Branding sections. (More about online reputation management in Step 4.)

Read 5 Ways You Look Out-of-Date in Your Job Search for more reasons if you need them.  Invisibility does not mean privacy, it means vulnerability!

NEXT: Step 7 - Shopping for Your Next Employer

© Copyright, 1998 - 2012, Susan P. Joyce. All rights reserved.

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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 and on Google+ .

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