Resume 2.0

In this pervasively digital age, is the traditional “paper” resume obsolete?

I started thinking about this question when I stumbled upon some articles introducing the “visual resume”. What is a “visual resume”, you may ask? Essentially, with the advent of user-friendly design software, free images, a creative approach and good ol’ Powerpoint, you can set up a visual representation of your resume – which may be more impactful in helping you stand out from among a plethora of other potential job candidates.

My initial reaction to this idea was one of wonder: “Wow! What a great idea! I’m done with boring paper resumes – this is the future!” But as I thought about it further, I also realised: contrary to common misconceptions that it’s “out with the old and in with the new” especially when it comes to digital media, digital media merely expands the channels for communications rather than replaces them (hrm… something to expand on in another post).

Still, the idea of visual resumes are quite compelling and this is the presentation that set me off on them:

5 Lessons On Personal Branding

Over at 10,000 Words, Mark S. Luckie shares 5 lessons he’s learned on Personal Branding. I appreciated how he brought the discussion from talking about tools, brand assets both offline and online to being more “personal” – the whole point of managing your “personal brand.”

I especially appreciated this (under-appreciated and often overlooked) thought:

A successful “personal” brand requires you to be a “person”

With this as the starting point, here are Mark’s 5 lessons:

5 Steps To Manage Your Brand Online

I think it should go without saying that you need to manage your brand online these days, whether you’re doing it for yourself or your brand. You should realize that, these days, customers, professors, potential employers – all of them turn to Google, Facebook and other online avenues to find out more about you before they even encounter you.

So what can you do to manage your brand online? Here are 5 steps, which I’ve reworded and summarized for my own application from this great article:

Worst Job Titles 2010

Since I’ve been thinking about job titles today (here and here), I thought I’d share these really great examples of several truly worst. job. titles. ever.

Here’s a list of 30 worst job titles for 2010, via Examiner.com. The winner for 2010: Erection Engineer.

Here are a few of my other favourites:

The length of your job title…(Quote)

Over the years, I have come to realise this bit of truism when it comes to job titles:

The length of your job’s title is in inverse proportion to its significance.

Corporate Title Inflation

I have a friend who was once in a situation where she was offered a position that was, in this particular company, several rungs lower down the corporate ranking system compared to where she was at that time. Without going into comparisons and details about the job scope, it is suffice to say that she felt it felt like “a step back” compared to her job scope at that time. So she mentioned to the interviewer saying that she was presently only one step away from this “Senior Position” at her present job, while the job being offered was three steps away from a similar “Senior Position” title.

Then, the interviewer countered with the fact that such Senior Position titles were inflated – especially in the financial services and institutions that she was in at that time. He said, “Everybody’s a Senior Position in such institutions and organisations.”

Social Networking and Personal Branding

I know this is pretty much accepted as conventional wisdom, but I thought I’d put it down here anyway.

Social Networking – both offline and online – remains a vital tool in personal brand management.

As an example, I just found out enough about an incoming personnel both good and bad (unfortunately, it was mostly bad) – to have already formed my first impression. This means, the person will be coming in and, unknowingly, having to prove themselves already.

Is this good or bad? I don’t know – I only know that this is how things work.

It used to be what you know.

But then, it’s also who you know.

Now, you need to also think about who knows you… and what they know about you.

Hence, your personal brand: What you know < Whom you know < Who knows you < What they know about you.

Thoughts?

5 Tools That Measure Your Online Brand

You should know that brand management – whether personal or as an organization – now encompasses your presence online. So, here are five tools for you to measure your online brand via The Ladders.

5 Tips On How To Build A Social Media Resume

Dan Schawbel, author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success and owner of the award winning Personal Branding Blog, shares 5 tips on how to build the ultimate social media resume: