Social media resume, or blog?
Posted by Jessica Dennis on Wed, Jan 13, 2010 @ 07:00 AM
Given current economic conditions and job changes, we at Red Shoes PR have done a lot of education on how people can use social media sites to differentiate themselves from other job seekers. This got me thinking about how much has changed online and how we communicate versus how we apply, interview and eventually land a job.
Companies are now using Twitter, LinkedIn and the like to post jobs rather than taking out an ad in the local newspaper. Job seekers are also using social media sites and online word of mouth to learn of available positions. With all of the recent advancements it surprises me that people are still using the old way, written, resumes to showcase their talents and experience.
As public relations professionals, one of the new tools we utilize to share stories with the media is something called a social media news release. A social media news release is similar to the traditional news release in its format, but includes more social interaction in the form of links, photos and video. Social media news releases also allow you to share the release via Twitter, Facebook, Digg, etc. What if we were able to apply this same logic to the traditional resume?
The entire purpose of the social media news release is to harness the power of the social Web to further explain the content contained in the release. The same idea would be powerful for resumes. How can an employer really get to know a job candidate from a one-page Word doc.? Your background and experience is only half of the picture. What is your personality like, what things do you like to do in your spare time, what are your passions? An article in the New York Times I read over the weekend talked about this very subject. The article featured Tony Hsieh, the chief executive of Zappos.com. It talked about how important company culture is and how when a job candidate is interviewed it is imperative that the individual is a good fit for the company.
A lot of smart job seekers utilize their Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts to put their best foot forward, and if you are one of those people, certainly include these links on your resume and make sure your profile is open. If it’s not open, what other ways are you going to show your potential employer who you really are?
Could there be a Web-based document program that allowed users to include their background and experience but then also a section for video and photos? Dan Schawbel wrote an article about this topic for Mashable about HOW TO: Build the Ultimate Social Media Resume. In his article he talks about how to build a personal blog, but a personal blog shouldn’t only look like a resume. A blog is a great way to share more information about yourself if you dedicate quite a bit of time to build it up. What if there could be a platform that allowed people to build an online resume in just an hour? Another benefit of a social media resume would be that companies could open the video and photos. A lot of companies still have social sites blocked so even though you may have tons of great videos on YouTube, no one will ever see them.
What do you think? What would be included in your social media resume?