You Wouldn't Go Out Looking Like That Would You?
We all have that old favorite pair of sweat pants and a wrinkled shirt that we often lounge around the house in, right? Particularly when we know that no one is around and the likelihood of being face-to-face with someone other than an immediate family member is a minimal risk. You know that look don't you? No shower, maybe a little pillow-hair and looking pretty scary versus your normal "together" self. You'd never leave the house in that condition, would you? NFW!
In terms of image, there's one thing we all have in common: When we have an important social event, a business meeting or client interaction we put our best foot forward. And on those really special occasions we might even get a fresh haircut and purchase something new to wear--all in an effort to make a quality impression and hedge our chances of success by carefully controlling the image that we portray to others. We all have different looks for different occasions but one thing's for certain... if we know someone important is going to be looking or evaluating us we go out of our way to be not only on our best behavior but we make ourselves look the best we possibly can--we naturally want to impress as it seems to be both common sense as well as an intelligent act of self-promotion.
So, what about your online presence? Your digital footprint? That seemingly ubiquitous presence you now have with all of your online profiles, activities and interactions. And those profiles are visible 24/7 to anyone in the world galaxy that decides to look. And yet many choose to have a crappy photo or no photograph at all, complete with background information that is sketchy and in many cases with grammar that could use some serious work. You're on display to the world around-the-clock and you're presenting yourself in the equivalent of that old pair of sweats and the wrinkled shirt. Really? We can probably all agree that a sketchy, incomplete and poorly worded profile won't provoke any confidence with the person looking at your profile or social resume. People with these types of profiles should definitely rein in their expectations, as there's little chance of an offer... of any kind.
Search engine functionality has improved to the point that anything and everyone can be found. If your profile is constructed properly, positioned strategically and coordinated with the proper keywords and phrases--you will be found and you might want to be looking the digital equivalent of professionally polished. Passive recruiting has always been popular among search firms but the transparency caused by today's search functionality has given worldwide access to anyone interested in performing a search. That includes the larger search firms all the way down to the one person HR department. Maybe it's a start-up looking for advisors or a board looking for expertise. Someone, somewhere is attempting to match people with opportunities... are you discoverable? Moreover, are you presentable?
Seriously, take a shower, comb your hair, put on your best outfit and make yourself presentable--meaningful people with meaningful opportunities are looking for people just like you and you'll want to be the most presentable virtual version of yourself whenever they might choose to look your way.
We all have that old favorite pair of sweat pants and a wrinkled shirt that we often lounge around the house in, right? Particularly when we know that no one is around and the likelihood of being face-to-face with someone other than an immediate family member is a minimal risk. You know that look don't you? No shower, maybe a little pillow-hair and looking pretty scary versus your normal "together" self. You'd never leave the house in that condition, would you? NFW!
In terms of image, there's one thing we all have in common: When we have an important social event, a business meeting or client interaction we put our best foot forward. And on those really special occasions we might even get a fresh haircut and purchase something new to wear--all in an effort to make a quality impression and hedge our chances of success by carefully controlling the image that we portray to others. We all have different looks for different occasions but one thing's for certain... if we know someone important is going to be looking or evaluating us we go out of our way to be not only on our best behavior but we make ourselves look the best we possibly can--we naturally want to impress as it seems to be both common sense as well as an intelligent act of self-promotion.
So, what about your online presence? Your digital footprint? That seemingly ubiquitous presence you now have with all of your online profiles, activities and interactions. And those profiles are visible 24/7 to anyone in the world galaxy that decides to look. And yet many choose to have a crappy photo or no photograph at all, complete with background information that is sketchy and in many cases with grammar that could use some serious work. You're on display to the world around-the-clock and you're presenting yourself in the equivalent of that old pair of sweats and the wrinkled shirt. Really? We can probably all agree that a sketchy, incomplete and poorly worded profile won't provoke any confidence with the person looking at your profile or social resume. People with these types of profiles should definitely rein in their expectations, as there's little chance of an offer... of any kind.
Search engine functionality has improved to the point that anything and everyone can be found. If your profile is constructed properly, positioned strategically and coordinated with the proper keywords and phrases--you will be found and you might want to be looking the digital equivalent of professionally polished. Passive recruiting has always been popular among search firms but the transparency caused by today's search functionality has given worldwide access to anyone interested in performing a search. That includes the larger search firms all the way down to the one person HR department. Maybe it's a start-up looking for advisors or a board looking for expertise. Someone, somewhere is attempting to match people with opportunities... are you discoverable? Moreover, are you presentable?
Seriously, take a shower, comb your hair, put on your best outfit and make yourself presentable--meaningful people with meaningful opportunities are looking for people just like you and you'll want to be the most presentable virtual version of yourself whenever they might choose to look your way.
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