How many of you believe that finding a job is not about overnight success but rather the culmination of building your online brand painstakingly over time? Kudos to those who raised their hands for yours are the jobs of the future. Readers of this blog are probably aware of the many posts I’ve written over the past years on the growing importance of your online brand.
Bank Intern loses job because of above Facebook picture. Click pic for more examples.
I’ve debated with my good friend, Tamar Weinberg, on what’s the easiest way to control your online reputation. How that can save you from a layoff or after one. And, why it’s important that you keep your social and professional brands separate (hint: see above pic).
So, it is with great interest that I read Fred Wilson’s blog post on owning your online brand, which resulted from a recent panel discussion that he was a part of. As always, he raises a bunch of great points, some of which I thought I’d reiterate in this post.
Has the time arrived for “blog as resume”? Are we there yet?
I agree with Fred that a career blog is one of the best ways to showcase a portfolio of your professional expertise in long form. Fred writes:
Chris Dixon and Charlie O’Donnell both advocate the value of the “blog as resume” and recommend starting one to everyone who asked for their career advice. I’ll join that chorus as well. We have hired all of our junior investment professionals largely on the basis of their blogs, not their resumes or linkedin profiles. You can learn so much more about a person by reading their blog.
That said, I’m not sure if a blog is ideal resume material, when viewed within the traditional meaning of the term as a succinct summary of one’s professional qualifications. But more importantly, I see a couple of adoption challenges for the “blog as resume” in today’s world.
Problem #1:
First off, I personally know how challenging and time consuming the art of blogging can be and also know how most professionals may not have the time to dedicate themselves an extra two to three hours a day to share ideas and collaborate online with fellow bloggers. But, I do believe those who choose to make that extra effort will be duly rewarded.
Problem #2:
Most 9-to-5 professionals these days are probably most concerned with three things: their day-to-day work, family responsibilities and hanging out with friends to relive or relieve the stress of the day. I’m not sure career blogging is top of mind for them today.
Problem #3:
Aren’t there easier ways to establish a succinct online presence that could double as a resume for busy professionals. Whether it be LinkedIn where you can set up your online brand in a matter of minutes or Twitter where you can tweet relevant professional interests whenever you find a minute or two in the middle of a busy day’s work. Moreover, a dead blog does more harm than good for your brand.
Now, I’m of course playing devil’s advocate here given my immense passion for blogging in general. And, the question is not whether professionals need to manage their online brands. But rather, is blogging the simplest online brand building platform for professionals? Or are mainstream professionals content with easier ways to get that job done?
What do you think? What sites do you use to build and maintain an online professional brand that’s both current and relevant?
Filed under: Linkedin
Mario Sundar's Speakeasy 
Hey Mario,
excellent post. Co-incidentally I have been talking about “issue” of CV in my latest video blog. http://ivanasendecka.com/2010/02/26/video-special-live-book-review/
I have declared there, that I am refusing to submit my CV to anyone, because firstly I don’t have any formal pdf. two pages standard CV and secondly, because if someone who wants to work with me/hire me doesn’t Google me >>is not polite2.0,see http://ivanasendecka.com/2010/02/23/video-are-you-polite2-0/
I simply cannot think of collaborating with this kind of old-fashioned set up company.
Blogs and online social profiles can tell you loads about the person. And those who says they don’t have time for building it, is like putting head into the sand, because in upcoming days, what will matter will be your social profile, who and what are people talking about u, who are you connected with, etc.
Hiring globally and in interactive way is the future of HR.
😉
Ok, enough as I could go on and on;-)
cheers from Slovakia,
i.
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@ivana,
you also raise another important point I missed re: the benefits of using “LinkedIn as resume” – the ability to map your professional profile. Agreed.
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Hi Mario, have you had a look at Noteca? It’s a great tool for managing online brand.
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how exactly does noteca work?
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I could not agree more – people need to be pro-active about managing their online brand and especially when it comes to finding work. I have just been looking around the web and like http://www.idlogik.com. There is no 100% fool proof way of managing your online brand, people can write what they want about you but you should go out there and take control of it.
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Thanks, William!
I haven’t checked out the site you recommend. The fact remains: we have numerous tools to network. The right mindset is what’s more important.
Will continue educating users with upcoming posts. Please feel free to continue participating in these conversations.
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[…] Shared The growing importance of managing your online brand. […]
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Hi again Mario! Noteca is a web app for working with Social Media and managing online reputation. With Noteca, it is very easy to build relationships with people who talk about your brand, your company or whatever your needs are.
Noteca was especially designed to converse an participate in Social Media. In the channels where the reputation of a brand is build. Moreover, you can track all the conversations that you take part of, and measure the influence of your brand and compare it to other brands thanks to the statistics generated.
Actually, I found out that you have responded to my comment through Noteca.
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Thanks, Noteca! Looks like a lot of companies are jumping into the social media tracking and measurement space.
I’m also aware of the presence of twitter measurement tools like Hootsuite or coTweet. I believe your offering encompasses multiple platforms.
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[…] approach the art of friending strategically and with greater seriousness like your career and reputation depends on it. And, trust me – it does. I think “People you may know” is a great place to start […]
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How do you handle employees that are bloggers / have social presence that leave the company?…
Given today’s fast job turnover rates, IMO, it is not in the best interests of either the company or the employee to tie their personal or professional brand/s with their company’s brand id in social media. Let me give you three possible ways your em…
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Since people have CV, professional LinkedIn page and blog, why some companies have to track employees to Facebook?! Facebook is supposed to be a relatively personal place. I think it’s common for some people to put some silly photos on and have a laugh with friends. Building personal brand is very important, but not necessarily anywhere online.
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