For years I have been helping job seekers tell their story in a clear manner. At some point almost all job seekers figure out the importance of being able to tell potential employers their story, and to respond to “tell me about yourself” in a clear and authentic manner.
In today’s world managing your personal brand online and offline is not just a good idea, but a requirement. If you are serious about your career, your job search and your reputation you not only need to be able to tell your story in person in a clear, consistent manner to be known, liked, trusted and hired, you must also be able to tell your story online.
Your online presence, and your online your identity will tell a story. You can either manage your online presence and your online identity to tell your story or you can allow search engines and maybe others to cobble together information about you.
If you are still sitting on the fence, hoping those around you are wrong about all “the buzz” about social media, or if you still think social media and an online presence is just for tech savvy professionals and not for you, for those in your industry or professional – think again!
There was a time you could elect not to have an online presence, I believe that time has passed. Not having a strategy for an online presence may be very costly. So maybe you will be lucky and find a job before you need to worry about your online profile, or online identity or maybe not. Stop making excuses and think of the benefits of offering your story.
A solid personal story communicated via your online presence offers a consistent message to help you grab the attention of your audience. It defines who you are, and what you have to offer with the right amount of history and detail about the value and impact your can offer without choking the reader’s interest with unwanted or surplus details.
Telling your story well helps your create an emotional connection. It can be the first step in helping someone, get to know you, and like you. Once someone has knowledge of you, and finds you likable, you are on your way to creating a foundation for trust. All lasting relationships are built on a solid foundation of know, like and trust.
You can overcome first impressions, and the cobbled together story search engines may tell about you, but at what cost? Do you have time to do that? Do you want to do that?
In most cases it really comes down to “pay now, or pay later”. Do you want to invest time and energy now, to be prepared, to establish your brand, and take time to building your online presence now or later? Do you want to set yourself up to be known, liked, and trusted? Then spend a little time and energy each week managing your brand, and your online presence, or do you want to take your chances and invest later.
What are the costs the missed opportunities and that you need to overcome a poor first impression? Maybe you believe the cost will go down over time! That has not been my experience neither the experience of most of the people I know.
Everyone has a personal brand and an online identity. Is your story helping your online presence? Does it help you accelerate your search? If not, what are you doing about it?
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