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.

As humans we are strong social creatures and since caveman times – belonging and fitting in has been imperative to not only our survival but also feeling like we have value and worth.  This feeling of wanting to belong means we look to our peers and society for standards and for what is the ‘norm’.  Along the way, we learn from peers and society as to what is deemed to be acceptable and normal when finding a new job.

We absorb the marketing messages from Universities and Training Organisations that tell us that the key to our future career success is to simply enrol in the latest and greatest training courses.  We then proceed to spend thousands on training and education without any understanding of what ‘job’ or ‘career’ will truly make us happy.

We absorb the message from the major job boards like SEEK, and CareerOne that the only place you need to look to find your dream job is on their job board.  I mean where else to you go to find a job – plus everyone else is doing it, so it must be the only way to go.

We seek resources online and copy ‘bland’ resume templates and we end up sounding the same as everyone else– after all we don’t want to be ‘different’, it could damage our prospects! So we all end up sounding exactly the same as everyone else (down to the same templates) and using old clichés that we think employers want to hear, like ‘reliable’, ‘excellent communication skills’ and seeking ‘a dynamic and fast paced environment’.

We recall lessons from the career advisor or teacher at school and write that template cover letter that starts with ‘Please find attached my application for the position of Marketing Manager, advertised on SEEK’.

The result – a whole lot of blandness, sameness, averageness, and absolutely nothing that distinguishes you from the ‘masses’ and from the job search ‘norm’.  We end up chasing the same jobs that thousands of others chase on the job boards, we write the standard bland resume and cover letter, we enrol in courses everyone else enrols in, and we end up disappointed and frustrated with the whole process.

If you want true career success, STOP being the ‘norm’ and following the herd and start distinguishing yourself from others.  When I’m talking about distinguishing yourself from others, I’m not talking about using scented paper for your resume (Legally Blonde), adding flower graphics, or showing your true ‘zingy personality’, including those nose piercings at interview.  What I’m talking about is taking a completely different path from the majority of job seekers (the so called norm).

Stop using the job boards as your only source for finding a job.  Instead do what only a small handful of job seekers do and that is ‘tap into the hidden job market’.  Did you know that up to 80% of jobs are never advertised and yet over 95% of jobseekers chase the remaining 20% of jobs that get advertised on job boards.  It is madness to follow the norm.  Instead start networking, researching, strategically approaching decision makers (not Human Resources) in companies you want to work for – and become the 5% that chases the 80% of jobs available to you right now.

Stop being so bland on your resume and cover letters and get rid of overused clichés, boring formats, repetitive information and long lists of tired duties and responsibilities.  I’m not talking about using ‘bling’, but turning these documents into marketing tools that distinguishes you from others.  What sets you apart from others? What value do you offer the employer? What solutions to you offer the employer?

Avoid doing what is normal for most job seekers, which is turning your attention to finding a job only when you need to.  Instead become the new breed of job seeker that views their career and job search as an ongoing process.  Develop an online presence; build your networks and LinkedIn profile and continually look for new opportunities.  By building your network and online brand, opportunities will find you.

By not being the ‘norm’ and avoiding the ‘herd’ mentality you substantially increase the odds of your job search and life long career success.