What Color Is Your Parachute?

anything that might cause a would-be employer to think, “Uh, let’s not call them in, after all.” Look particularly for unflattering pictures or four-letter text.

If you don’t know how to remove an item from a particular site, type or speak the following into a search engine like Google: “how to remove an item from my Facebook page” or whatever. I’d tell you right here how to do this, but the last time I looked, it took about nineteen steps to do a thorough “scrub” on Facebook, for example; and I’m sure those instructions will be outdated by the time you read this. You want current information; so look at the date on any items the search engine pops up. Pick the most recent, before looking at the suggested posts that are further back in time.

Do this “scrub” on any and every site that you know you’re on. You should have no trouble finding detailed instructions for any site. The site itself may not tell you, but I guarantee you’re hardly the first one with this need, so someone clever has already figured out how to do it, and posted the answer.

Now to the second thing you can do about your new Google resume:

Fill In. On any of these sites, but on the professional social network sites in particular (like LinkedIn or Plaxo), if they allow you to fill out a profile, fill it out completely. I mean completely; cross every t, and dot every i. Leave no part of the profile blank unless you have a very good reason. If you’re on Twitter, fill out your bio completely there (69 percent of all users already have).

More importantly, be sure to keep each profile up-to-date. Really up-to-date. There is nothing that makes you look less professional than having an obviously outdated profile.

Last thought here: I mentioned LinkedIn; be sure to get on it, if you’re not already. More than a 100 million other people have, and now it’s become the first social media site to go public. It’s the site of first resort when some employer is curious about you. It allows corporate and agency headhunters to avoid advertising an open position, but nonetheless to go “trolling” on LinkedIn for what employers call “passive job-seekers.” You ain’t lookin’ for them, but they’re sure lookin’ for you. Of course, you have no control over whether they find you, except for being sure you have a completely filled-out profile. (They search by keywords.)

Now to the third thing you can do about your new Google resume:

Expand. Expand your presence on the Internet. How to do this? Several ways.

Forums. Professional sites like LinkedIn have forums, or groups, organized by subject matter. Other social networking sites, like Facebook, have pages devoted to particular subjects. Look through the directory of those groups or forums, choose one or two that are related to your industry or interests, and after signing up, speak up regularly whenever you have something to say that will quietly demonstrate you are an expert in your chosen subject area. Otherwise, keep quiet. Don’t speak up about just anything. You want to be seen as a specialist—knowledgeable, and focused. You want to get noticed by employers when they’re searching for expert talent in your field or specialty.

Blogs. Start a blog (short for “web log,” as you probably know), if you don’t already have one.[16] It doesn’t matter what your expertise, if it’s related to the job you are looking for, do a blog, and update it regularly. And if you don’t know how to blog, there are helpful sites such as http://Blogger.com, which can give you detailed instructions.

If you already have a blog, but it roams all over the countryside in terms of subject matter, then start a new blog that is more narrowly preoccupied with your particular area of expertise. Post helpful articles there, focused on action steps not just thoughts. Let’s say you are an expert plumber; you can post entries on your blog that deal with such problems as “how to fix a leaky toilet,” etc. Generally speaking, employers are looking for blogs that deal with concrete action, rather than lofty philosophical thought. Unless, of course, they represent a think tank.

Twitter. Some experts claim that blogs are so yesterday. Communication is moving toward brief, and briefer. Texting has become wildly popular.[17] So has Twitter. Twitter allegedly has over 20 million users, though in truth 2.2 percent of Twitter users generate 60 percent of all those “tweets.”[18] Twitter’s advantage is that it has hashtags,[19] and Google is indexing all those tags and “tweets.” Savvy employers know how to do Twitter searches on Google (or on Twitter itself, for that matter). All you have to figure out is what hashtags employers are likely to look for, when they want to find someone with your expertise and experience.

Videos. Presentation is not only getting briefer, but it is moving more and more toward the visual, these days. People like to see you, not just read you. You could guess that just from the enormous popularity of YouTube. As for shooting the videos, the Flip video camcorder used to be the most popular and inexpensive way to record yourself; but this year it was allowed to go belly-up. Sad! It was displaced, as you might guess, by smartphones, which usually can do video, and sometimes rather surprisingly good video.

As for where to post your video, once you have it, there is the obvious—YouTube—of course; for other possibilities see Friday Traffic Report’s list at http://tinyurl.com/yjnokur.

Now to the fourth and final thing you can do about your new Google resume:

Add. The old classic resume still has its uses. It will take any employer or HR department some time to sift through all the stuff about you that may appear when they do a Google search. You would help them by summarizing and organizing the pertinent information about yourself. You do this by composing an old classic resume.

Here’s an outline you may find useful for gathering that information about yourself:

A STARTER KIT, FOR WRITING YOUR RESUME

This is adapted, with the written permission of my friend Tom O’Neil, from an original document of his, which was and is copyright protected under the New Zealand Copyright Act (1994) © cv.co.nz 2001. You may contact Tom at www.cv.co.nz.

A resume is about your past. Here is a framework for recalling that past.

If you cannot think of any achievements under the categories below, don’t be concerned, as the Flower Exercise in chapter 13 will help you greatly.

For now, think of your working and personal experiences and skills that you believe you possess innately, or have learned. Which ones are you proud of? What things have you done in your life or work experience that no one else has done? Take some blank sheets of paper and fill in any answers that occur to you, please.

It is important to be quantitative when you do this (e.g., mention dates, percents, dollars, brand names, etc.).

Volunteer, Community, and Unpaid Work

1. Have you completed any voluntary or unpaid work for any organization or company? (e.g., church, synagogue, mosque, school, community service, or special needs organization)

Educational

2. Did you work while you were studying? If so, did you receive any promotions or achievements in that role?

3. Were you given any scholarships?

4. Were you involved in any committees, etc.?

5. Did you win any awards for study?

6. Did you have any high (e.g., A or A+) grades? If so, what were the subjects—and grades?

Sales or Account Management

Have you ever been in sales? If so, what were some of your achievements? For example: