Why you need an online profile

The world of work is changing rapidly during the past decade due to increased globalisation, the proliferation of online social media and technological advances.

‘Change is the law of life.  And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future’. John F. Kennedy, 35^th President of the United States

Combine these changes (the online revolution) with the fact that competition for senior jobs can be INTENSE  – it becomes increasingly important to understand that shaping your career is something that is an ongoing activity, not about updating a resume when a new job arise.

One of the key elements in shaping your career is shaping your online profile.  The best time to work on an online profile is when you are fruitfully employed, (not when you are looking for new opportunities).

Having an online profile matters. Why?

• Increasingly employers and recruiters are head hunting online.
• The majority of employers and recruiters Google you during the job selection process.
• Colleagues, clients and business partners use the web as the first place to go for information about you.
• Without an online presence you are effectively a ‘nobody’ (In the US many employers won’t hire people, who don’t have some sort of online presence. While this trend is not so prevalent in Australia, it is increasingly heading this way).
• You can use your online presence such as LinkedIn and website as a place you can refer people, if undertaking a direct job search.

‘Your visibility (among your target audience) is critical to successful career management. Your Google results powerfully influence those seeking to make decisions about you’.   – Career Distinction:

Now that I have hopefully convinced you that an online profile matters, your next step is to determine how visible you are when someone searches for your name.  Tools to do this:

Google.com – simply go to Google.com, Yahoo.com, or Bing.com and type or name in quotes, such as “John Smith”.

You can also use the following tools to see the breadth and scope of your current online identity:

HowSociable – www.howsociable.com

Addictomatic – addictomatic.com

Once you submit your name for search, it will compile results on the page from sources such as Twitter, Blog Search, Digg, Google Blog Search, FriendFeed, WordPress, Truveo, Flickr, Blinx, Wikio, Yahoo, Tweetmeme, Google Images, Bebo, YouTube, Facebook, and more.

If you currently have a non-existent or poor online presence, your objective over the course of the next few weeks and months is to establish one.  It is also important to Google yourself on a regular basis – and the more senior you are, the more important this process becomes.

Ways to establish your online identity include LinkedIn, blogging, online web portfolio, Twitter and online article writing.

I would not recommend that you dedicate every single spare hour of your time developing an online profile, but if you are serious about your career or a professional or executive, an online profile increasingly matters, so if you don’t have one, time to establish one.