Part 2 (1/2)

First of all, think of how you would like to come across, when you are being considered for a job. Make a list of adjectives you'd like the employer to think of, when they consider hiring you. For example, how about: professional? experienced? inventive? hard working? disciplined? honest? trustworthy? kind? What else? Make a list.

Then Google yourself and read over everything the search engine pulls up about you. Go over any pages you have put up on social sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Mys.p.a.ce, Pinterest, or YouTube, and remove anything you posted there, or allowed others to post, that contradicts the impression you would like to make, anything that might cause a would-be employer to think, ”Uh, let's not call them in, after all.” You have the list, above, of what to look for.

If you don't know how to remove an item from a particular site, type or speak the following into a search engine like Google: ”How to remove an item from Facebook” or whatever.

The site itself may not tell you, but using your favorite search engine, you should have no trouble finding somebody's detailed, step-by-step instructions for scrubbing any site.

I guarantee you're hardly the first one with this need, so someone clever has already figured out how to do it, and posted the answer. But you want current instructions, so look at the date on the list of items the search engine pops up. Pick the most recent, and do what they say.

If you want to be thorough, you should do this editing on any and all sites that you find you're on.

Now to the second of the four things you can do about your new Google resume (so to speak):

2. Fill In.

On any of these sites, but on LinkedIn or Plaxo in particular, if they allow you to fill out a profile, fill it out completely. I mean completely; cross every t, and dot every i, have someone check your spelling. Leave no part of the profile blank unless you have a very good reason. If you're on Twitter, fill out your profile completely there, too. For help, see such sites as blazingminds.co.uk/write-twitter-bio-gains-followers or /articles/20005336-promoting-your-profile#.

More importantly, be sure to keep each profile up-to-date. Really up-to-date. There is nothing that makes you look less professional than having an obviously outdated profile.

Last thought here: I mentioned LinkedIn; be sure to get on it, if you're not already. More than 200 million other people have, and it became the first social media site to go public. It's the site of first resort when some employer is curious about you. It allows corporate and agency headhunters to avoid advertising an open position, but nonetheless to go ”trolling” on LinkedIn for what employers call ”pa.s.sive job-seekers.” You ain't lookin' for them, but they are lookin' for you. Of course you have no control over whether they find you, except for being sure you have a completely filled-out profile. (They search by keywords.) Now to the third thing you can do about your new Google resume:

3. Expand.

Expand your presence on the Internet. How to do this? Several ways: Forums. Professional sites like LinkedIn have forums, or groups, organized by subject matter. Other social networking sites, like Facebook, have pages devoted to particular subjects. Look through the directory of those groups or forums, choose one or two that are related to your industry or interests, and after signing up, speak up regularly whenever you have something to say that will quietly demonstrate you are an expert in your chosen subject area. Otherwise, keep quiet. Don't speak up about just anything. You want to be seen as a specialist-knowledgeable and focused. You want to get noticed by employers when they're searching for expert talent in your field or specialty.

Blogs. Start a blog (that's short for ”web log,” which most people now don't remember), if you don't already have one. It doesn't matter what your expertise is; if it's related to the job you are looking for, do a blog, and update it regularly. And if you don't know how to blog, there are helpful sites such as Blogger.com, at tinyurl.com/294vgzr, which give you detailed instructions. Incidentally, there are over 181 million blogs on the Internet. Figure out how to make yours stand out.

If you already have a blog, but it roams all over the countryside in terms of subject matter, then start a new blog that is more narrowly preoccupied with your particular area of expertise. Post helpful articles there, focused on action steps, not just thoughts. Let's say you are an expert plumber; you can post entries on your blog that deal with such problems as ”how to fix a leaky toilet,” etc. Generally speaking, employers are looking for blogs that deal with concrete action, rather than lofty philosophical thought. Unless, of course, they represent a think tank.

Twitter. Some experts claim that blogs are so yesterday. Communication, they say, is moving toward brief, and briefer. Texting has become hugely, hugely, popular. So has Twitter. Twitter now has over 500 million users, who post over 400 million ”tweets” a day.2 Twitter's advantage is that it has hashtags,3 and Google is indexing all those tags and ”tweets.” Savvy employers know how to do Twitter searches on Google (or on Twitter itself, for that matter). All you have to figure out is which hashtags employers are likely to look for, when they want to find someone with your expertise and experience.

Videos. Presentation is moving strongly these days toward the visual. People like to see you, not just read you. Expensive equipment not required. The Flip video camcorder used to be the most popular and inexpensive way to record yourself; but that is ancient history, now. It was displaced, as you might guess, by smartphones, which usually can do video, and sometimes rather surprisingly good video.

As for where to post your video, once you've shot and edited it, the champion of course is YouTube-1 billion users, 4 billion views per day. But there are other choices: see PCGDigitalMarketing's list, found at tinyurl.com/8owtlbo.

Now to the fourth and final thing you can do about your new Google resume:

4. Add.

The kind of resume everyone thinks of when they hear the word (the pre-Google resume) still has its uses. It will take any employer or HR department some time to sift through all the stuff about you that may appear when they do a Google search. You would help them by summarizing and organizing the pertinent information about yourself. You do this by-surprise!-composing an old type resume. And you can post it on the Internet (where Google will find it), as well as taking or sending it to an interested employer.

You wanna do this? Of course you do. Here's an outline you may find useful for gathering that information about yourself.

Since a resume is about your past, this gives you a framework for recalling that past.

A Starter Kit for Writing Your Resume4.

Think of your working and personal skills that you believe you possess innately, or have picked up along the way. Which ones are you proud of? What things have you done in your life or work experience that no one else has done, in quite the same way? Take some blank sheets of paper and fill in any answers that occur to you.

It is important to be quant.i.tative when you do this (e.g., mention dates, percentages, dollars, money or time saved, brand names, etc.).

Volunteer, Community, and Unpaid Work 1. Have you completed any voluntary or unpaid work for any organization or company? (e.g., church, synagogue, mosque, school, community service, or special needs organization) Educational 2. Did you work while you were studying? If so, did you receive any promotions or achievements in that role?

3. Did you gain any scholars.h.i.+ps?

4. Were you involved in any committees, etc.?

5. Did you win any awards for study?

6. Did you have any high (e.g., A or A+) grades? If so, what were the subjects-and grades?

Sales or Account Management Have you ever been in sales? If so, what were some of your achievements? For example: 7. Have you ever consistently exceeded your set budget in that role? If so, by what percent or dollar value?

8. Have you exceeded your set budget in a particular month(s)/quarter(s) in a role? If so, by what percent or dollar value?

9. What level were you, compared to other sales professionals in your company? (e.g., ”Number three out of twenty on the sales team.”) 10. Have you ever increased market share for your company? If so, by what percent or dollar value?

11. Have you ever brought in any major clients to your company?

12. What major clients are/were you responsible for managing and selling to?

13. Did you ever manage to generate repeat business or increase current business? If so, by what percent or dollar value?

14. Have you won any internal or external sales awards?

15. Did you develop any new successful promotional or marketing ideas that increased sales?

Administration, Customer Service, and Accounts Have you ever been in customer service or helped run a business unit? If so: 16. Did you a.s.sist in reducing customer complaints, etc.?

17. Did you set up or improve any systems and/or processes?