iEntry 10th Anniversary Human Resource Directory
iEntry 10th Anniversary Human Resource Directory
Posted by Bill Hartzer
As a manager at various companies search marketing agencies over the years I have had to do my fair share of hiring. I believe that it behooves me to share with the job-seeking public, some words of advice. Having been in this industry for over 6 years, I have seen the landscape change. In fact, the whole game is different and people who are looking for employment have to work with different rules and requirements today. Because I don’t source suitably qualified applicants for any one field in particular, I hope you will receive my advice in the holistic tone in which it is intended. If I were giving a lecture, my opening statement to you would be simple – You people are messing up, royally. A little harsh, a little succinct, but very necessary.
I’ve reviewed many applications and processed hundreds of resumes for various companies and positions and what I am encountering is disappointing and scary to say the least. It would seem that book sense has almost completely taken the place of common sense, leaving applicants all thumbs when it comes to what they need to do and how they need to fight to be seen online.
To give you some real life perspective, I am at a point where I will short list candidates who lack both experience and credentials simply because of the way in which they present themselves on paper and because of how well they have managed their online presences as well. Shocking? Maybe – but the reality is a lot of applicants seem to negate the importance of keeping personal and professional lives separate and while you may not put all your activities on your résumé, trust me, if you’ve done it and its online, I will find it. And if I can find it, don’t put it past a potential employer, your potential coworkers and potential clients to find it all too. So in an effort to help save you from yourselves, I present a quick list of things you should and shouldn’t do to get into my good books or the good books of any recruiter worth their weight in gold:
1. Don’t have a link to your personal facebook in your email signature. Facebook, while widely popular, is still for social networking. If you’re fresh out of college or high school and you don’t have a circle of professional friends, access to your facebook gives me too much insight into who you are off the clock.
2. Do include your LinkedIn url in all professional e-connections. This is the facebook for professionals. You won’t see pictures here of anyone scantily clad or in any other state of inebriation or undress. This is where people put up their work and education history and connect and network with people within their fields.
3. Don’t staple a picture to your hardcopy résumé and application unless you are told to do so. This is a fairly outdated concept and again, if I want to know what you look like, chances are I can find you online.
4. If you can’t keep track of your online reputation, get professional help to do so. For example, Reputation.com is the online reputation management source. Go through their list of services and choose the ones that will help you find those comments and pictures that no one, especially a potential employer, should ever see.
Author Miguel Salcido has managed staffs as big as 55 people at one given time over the years and has built two companies of his own. Feel free to follow him on Twitter.
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This entry was posted on Thursday, October 11th, 2012 at 8:30 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
About the Author: Bill Hartzer currently is the President of BillHartzer.com, a Strategic Online Marketing Consultancy that includes services such as search engine optimization, social media marketing, and online reputation management. Bill Hartzer formerly managed the Search Engine Marketing division of Vizion Interactive and MarketNet, leading interactive marketing and website design firms in the Dallas, Texas area.
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