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Social Resume: Something Besides LinkedIn, Please! [Part 1]

ByAndrea Rickett
When you start talking online resumes and professional social networks, the conversation always finds it way to LinkedIn. This may be justified, it is the number one place as far as a professional social media site is concerned. However, it’s not the only place you need have your information (especially if you’re looking for a job), in fact there are some really important sites you should be on if you’re not already.
Getting a job is about who you know and getting found. Since 80% of employers use social media in their recruitment process, you should own a profile on every site you can. These tips were inspired by one of the lessons from our new class, ‘Building A Killer Social Resume’. If you want more on how to own your online presence and put social media to work finding you a new job, better job, or job period, visit our Salty Waffle classes page.
Here is your weekend project, first read through today’s tips and then set up accounts on the sites we talk about. Then, come back to Salty Waffle tomorrow and read part 2 and set up accounts on all those sites too. It won’t take long and you’ll leave the weekend with a ton of new value to your name and ownership of some pretty slick social resume tools.
  • Google Profile: Google+ has made the Google Profile much more important. As Google+ grows, it will be important to have a profile to share content on there as well. On top of that, Google’s +1 button tells the Google search engine that a certain piece of content is valuable and moves it up the search rankings. People can +1 your Google Profile, your articles, even your Facebook and Twitter pages. You can set up a Google Profile without joining Google+ right away. Take the time to link your other sites like you blog, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to the ‘Links’ section of your Google Profile. Aggregating them here gives your Google Profile a huge boost in search results, don’t be surprised if after doing this, your Google Profile is the first result for a search of your name.
  • VisualCV: We said earlier, the days of paper resumes are numbered. With VisualCV you can put a more traditional resume that you once had on paper online. This way it’s living, media rich, and highly shareable! Link to this resume on your LinkedIn and Google Profile as well. Get it out there, it will impress talent seekers. “VisualCV is the first website that allows you to create an Internet-based, media-rich resume, build and manage an online career portfolio, and securely share professional qualifications with your customers, partners, employers and colleagues.”
That’s it for today, come back tomorrow for 3 more crafty ways to boost your professional image online, have a Salty Saturday!