Job Hunt and Google

"You're all over the Internet" someone once said to me. I looked at them worried about the potential meanings of that statement, and they replied: "Don't worry, that's a good thing."  And looking at it in a professional sense for the media business, it is a good thing.

It could also be a bad thing.  I'm start to look seriously again for a part-time job in order to suplement my freelance income.  It could be retail, it could be office work as long as it brings in a regular pay cheque.  My resume contains all of my media-related positions, and reads like someone waaay over qualified for retail, or without enough administrative experience for office work.  Naturally a hiring manager looks at it and thinks "this person is gone the moment she gets a media job.

 It isn't just me that's running into this.  A lot of people my age are either unemployed or under employed and looking for work.  The question we all face is how to tailor our resumes.   Do we simply do it by re-order and condensing my positions? Or do we hit the delete button on a couple of our  positions to make it seem like we're qualified?

The problem with that, is if you google my name you're going to come up with my twitter feed (third one down, page one), my facebook page- I often use it for promotion.  Then there's my LinkedIn profile as well; containing details to pretty much every position I've ever held.  If some of these details aren't on the resume is it considered tailoring? Or is it considered lying? Google could end up killing my shot at a job. 

 

The Twesume... really??

When I was in journalism school my instructors suggested that we be a bit more careful about what we put up on social networking sites because our future employers would likely find it.  Just as social networking sites such as LinkedIn, facebook and even twitter are used to check out future employees,  they are being increasingly used by job searchers.

Enter the Twesume; that's right you can now tweet your resume.  Mashable.com has a detailed article  on it.  Basically get a twitter account, and tweet your professional achievements, and what your career goal is; it can even include whether or not you want to relocate.  According to the article, it's recruiting using social networking or social recruiting is considered the next trend in job searching in 2012.

Now, I'm a fairly active user of social networking sites- I use mainly facebook, twitter, and LinkedIn.  But I think this is going a little too far.  Tweeting a resume?? Granted it does force job searchers to focus in a little more on their field, say directly what they want without wasting any words.  But how do you sum yourself up in 140 characters?  I don't think it's possible.

Take me for example; I mainly tweet about politics- but I have other interests, and I don't like being so serious all the time.  I tend to be a little less guarded on Facebook, using it mostly for socializing.  On LinkedIn, I'm professional focusing in on my career related experience in Journalism.  And again I feel I've done enough that I can't exactly sum up those experiences in merely 140 characters.

What is facebook but a snapshot in time? What is Twitter but a lingering thought to be shared with the world? People are more  than facebook, more than twitter.  Arguably you can present yourself any way you want to online, and you can never get the full picture of someone.

Don't get me wrong, technology, and social networking are both great.  Just keep in mind job searchers are more than their online profiles, and definitely more than 140 characters.