Job-hunting resume? Raising money? I’m surprised how many young-er as well as old-er job seekers don’t realize that the standard resume is dead; that your online footprints, and breadcrumbs are super important. (Do employers agree?)
Regardless of your neatly-formatted formal resume, you are dead to a possible employer or investor if you don’t have an online persona.
That also means you need to watch what you post online. Drunk party pictures, bad language, hate speech, boisterous political comments and similar aren’t going to endear you to most potential employers.
OR to potential investors.
Suggestion: if you’re planning on applying for a job or raising money, __ a) Make sure you have an attractive online persona that will pop up when the employer googles you, one that shows you on LinkedIn, and twitter, at a minimum, __b) Clean up or sanitize your online persona (facebook, IG?); toggle your privacy settings to hide anything you don’t want an employer or investor to see and, __c) Double-check that your profile on LinkedIN and twitter matches your resume. Missing, or additional, info could be a red flag, __d) Review your listings on job boards, or any freelance sites, Craigslist or fiverr. Make private or delete any such listing that could in anyway be detrimental. Some companies shy away from hiring people who look ‘too busy’ outside of work hours. Also, as helpful as the extra money is, if you are doing side jobs for a low rate, that could lower your perceived value. After you land the job, you can list your offerings online again, so long as the new employer didn’t make you agree otherwise. Note: Read every paragraph of that boring employee manual – companies bury all sorts of restrictions in there. I know because I’ve written several. Take this from an employer and investor – your ‘online life’ is just as important an indicator as the pretty resume you hand in. And employers, you owe it to yourself and your team to vet newcomers using online sources. You might decide those drunk party pix are not disqualifying, but do yourself a favor and know what’s “out there”.