In today’s jobs market, your online presence will count a lot. Headhunting agencies and prospective employers will be sniffing through search engines and social media platforms to look for exceptional talents. Be reminded that this will make competition much fiercer while job vacancies continue to be uptight. This is precisely why learning to market yourself online as a professional is crucial to landing the job that suits you best.
While it is easy to simply create a professional website and link it to a social media page like LinkedIn, marketing your skills require utmost care. You need to “brand” your own capabilities in such a way that you will “sell” to the right employers and eventually enjoy the best career opportunities in the industry you wish to belong. So, how to do just that? Here are some tips to get you on the right path:
1. Be yourself and make sure you know that “self”. As a professional, it is imperative to be aware of both your strengths and weaknesses—and make them work to your advantage. Take a good look at your experiences and correlate these with your skills and talents while considering the path you wish to carve for your professional life.
2. List down your career goals. A professional journey requires some form of direction. This will give you a sense of purpose and focus on how to brand and promote your skills set and your capabilities. Your goals will deliver clarity and direction on when, where and how to invest your time and efforts.
3. Carefully map out an introduction or summary about yourself. The key is to be concise, complete and credible on all the things you write. See to it that you clearly present who you are, your mission and vision, your expectations, and in what way you will be an asset to the company. Focus on your strengths when doing this.
4. Create an online presence tailored to the industry you wish to pursue. A personal website with your curriculum vitae (CV) duly connected to your social media profiles can also come handy. Keep information up-to-date and accurate. Be precise in your educational background, skills, past experiences, certifications and qualifications, and other notable aspects related to your professional goals. Doing so will help increase your job search success rate.
5. If you are careless on using social media before, today is the time to revamp your online presence. Accounts on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are a heavily utilized tool by headhunting agencies and employers. What could be a fun post can easily damage your reputation.
6. Network extensively. Use platforms like LinkedIn, online networking events and referrals, professional organizations and groups, discussion forums, and so on. Make connections with alumni friends and former work colleagues. This will allow you vast access to information in the industry as well as more hits from prospective employers via referrals and recommendations.
7. Be on the point in your chosen field. Make good use of short and long keywords that will attract online crawlers to find you. Litter your professional website and social media profiles with such keywords to make you more visible. This is the digital world after all. So, try to convert your passion into catch words and phrases that attract Internet searches.
There are many ways to market your own professional self to employers. The key is to show what you got, pique a prospective employer’s interest, and to instill trust. Selling yourself is but a small part of the job search game. Make sure you don’t short-sell your own and downplay your potential to succeed.
