CREATE A BRANDMichael Weiss highlights the importance of not only creating, but also becoming a brand, stating that ‘people and brands are blending.’ Therefore, this brand must be promoted by telling a story about our experiences and skills across multiple online platforms.

According to The Balance, platforms may consist of LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter or a professional website to name a few. Creating a consistent & synonymous brand is also important, as shown on the next slide.

CREATE A BRAND

CREATE A BRAND

Furthermore, as with any brand, you must be easily contactable. For this reason, contact details should be readily available within these profiles. This ease of accessibility means that firms can contact you so simply that it becomes more of a difficult task for them not to, further increasing your chances.

FIND THE RIGHT BALANCEWeiss also highlights the importance of ‘selling yourself online.’ He claims that clear and concise information should be available at a ‘quick glance.’ For example, one could include a summary of previous projects under an initial heading, with more details available by clicking. This way, employers are more willing to give your application more time, delving deeper into your online professional profiles in order to access more information. Click to the right for a real example.

FIND THE RIGHT BALANCEHowever, it is important to find the right balance. Having too much information may become overwhelming for potential employers, putting them off from giving your profile a chance. Therefore, it is important to find the right balance. This is a difficult task, but one that can be done by highlighting the most important and impressive of your accomplishments, whilst discarding those that may not carry so much weight.

USE MULTIMEDIAFurther to my previous point, a largely text based profile, with very little to break up these chunks of writing may be unattractive to read. Also with the increase in competiveness when applying for work, it is vital to create a professional online profile that stands out. This can be done through a good balance of textual and graphic data.

USE MULTIMEDIAIn contrast to a text based CV, a less traditional means of portraying yourself online also means that the visualisation of said data should also be less conventional. Time highlights the importance of ‘including multimedia examples of your work.’ Images are much more visually appealing than text, therefore, Time claims that you should include pictures, videos and links on your profile.

As shown, a profile with these key ingredients is much more aesthetically appealing for employers.

USE MULTIMEDIA

By ‘thinking of your profile not just as an online resume but as a portfolio that highlights the scope of your career’ you are able to create a more compelling professional persona, and one that will draw more positive attention, leading to a better chance of being recognised.