Who’s Marketing You?
After a decade of recruiting, coaching and placing hundreds of candidates it’s glaringly evident that even the sharpest most senior candidates don’t do a very good job of professional self promotion. I don’t mean posting every minor accomplishment or the latest woodworking project or the latest batch of home brew they made but rather carefully curating their online professional image via their Linkedin profile and resume.
Well done profiles make me stop as I scroll and scan thousands a day every day in search of standout candidates. I’m sure I’ve skipped over plenty of talented people due to bad resumes and profiles but think about it- what else do recruiters have as a resource other than a profile or resume?
I feel strongly that candidates should always be carefully, thoughtfully curating their professional image always with an eye toward competent self promotion. One can argue that more time should be spent doing this rather than the time some folks invest in their Instagram profiles, but I digress.
This includes critically Inspecting your Linkedin profile- starting with your photo (you do have a current photo right? Something in a professional setting, not one from your vacation to Cancun doing shots and getting your first tatoo), your title, your heading, an overview of who you are and what you do. Something that’s clear, sincere, plausible and real.
The folks calling themselves CEO’s and Philanthropists, Servant leaders, Ninja Warriors, Goddesses, Gurus’ etc somehow don’t resonate as sincere but maybe it’s just me. I prefer folks who in two succinct sentences communicate exactly what they do and therefore the positions they’d be best suited for. I don’t want to have read the heading four times, scratch my head and say to myself- holy crap, I literally can’t figure out what this person does, wants to do or has ever done - therefore they must not know either. On to the next profile or resume.
Companies aren’t looking for generalists or jacks of all trades. They’re looking for experts (mythical experts often I’ll admit), and if you corner a hiring manager and ask them to simply tell you who they’re looking for in a sentence or two its almost always an expert in a particular area- not a generalist. Therefore, resumes and Linkedin profiles should be marketing positioning pieces that clearly communicate your focus and strengths- not 40 bullet points covering every buzz word you’ve read in the latest Forbes article that’s bloating your computer with video pop up ads.
When I see “Hunter, Farmer, Operations Expert, Finance, Accounting, Data Analysis, Coaching, Marketing, Digital Media Expert, Budgeting, Forecasting, Shaman, Snake Charmer, Tightrope Walker, Sword Swallower” etc. on a resume I more often than not move on to one that’s more focused and plausible. So do hiring managers. And, no, adding 40 bullet points to your resume really doesn’t make you somehow pop to the top of 600 hundred resumes that a resume CRM system gobbles up from candidate submissions. Contacting the hiring manager or a good recruiter might though.
Sometimes a seasoned candidate will tell us “I don’t really have a resume, I haven’t needed one for years. I keep getting hired by people who know me, I guess you can use my Linkedin profile (which is usually 4 bullet points, has no detail and 27 connections). Not a great way to market yourself to the universe of opportunities and to me an indicator of an unmotivated candidate.
I’m also a big fan of profiles and resumes being sprinkled with numbers, metrics, results that the candidate drove and delivered; projects managed, objectives obtained, numbers of people managed etc. Too generic and I’m left wondering- either the candidate doesn’t have much to humbly brag about or doesn’t think making the effort to include the details is worth the time.
We won’t even submit an operations oriented candidate unless their resume is chock full of this data- we’ve learned the hard way from clients kicking back the resume and asking why an ops person can’t be bothered to put any metrics in their resume.
Stating the types of position titles you’re interested in at the top of your profile and resume is also helpful- it sets a range for a recruiter or employer when they review your resume. It may also signal an approximate salary range you’d be most like to be within.
I started this by saying I realized that so few candidates know how or bother to market themselves but think about it- if you don’t market yourself who will? No one else will be looking out for your career path and opportunities- if they’re any good they’ll be busy looking out for themselves first!
We’ve been taught (thought social media’s done an amazing job at erasing a lot of this by encouraging endless bragging of the most trivial accomplishments) to not be too self promoting, to be humble, to share credit etc. – yes, this is all still good advice. However, when it comes to your career path, tastefully and professionally mapping out your accomplishments and career goals is not considered to be bad taste but rather a very smart, logical part of your own career pathing.