Online Brand Management – A Career Management Must

Social Networking can provide career opportunity, help with career information, help with career planning and even help you advance your career….but you’ve got to manage your on line “rep.”

It’s almost as if we don’t have a choice.  Earlier this year…(and when I checked it was January…phew has time gone fast)…I wrote a post about integrating social networking into your career management strategy, which includes career search. In that article, I mentioned being careful about what’s out there about you, at least in terms of what you have control over.

I recently ran across a site that offers a useful tool that can help you actively manage your on-line presence or brand. One of the things this tool/service helps you do is regularly monitor if your name shows up in a search and what it says.  Why does that matter?…because people are becoming more “free wheeling” with information not just about themselves but about US TOO!  AND….it may not be all good.  I mean some of the stuff I’ve read has absolutely NO discretion.  Remember recruiters search…those who hire search…for stuff about you – online!!!

Though I’ve not engaged this service yet, I wanted to bring it to your attention to consider…to let you know it exists.  This service for some of us will be a save time issue.  I mean how many of us have time to consistently do searches on ourselves one line. (Though I do recommend that’s done  at least once a quarter.) The site is Brand-Yourself.com.

In fact what drew me to the site was an article of how someone found a job using Twitter. Rather than comment, I’ve provided the link for you to read in full. Hey ready for a career move?….be ready to “tweet.”

Here’s the bottom line.  Social networking is here to stay. It is only going to gain more of an influential foothold in our lives AND in our professional lives.  My coaching tip is to embrace it, leverage it, and effectively manage it.  In fact make it a career goal to do so.

Coaching Question:  How can you use social sites more strategically than you are right now?  My next post will have  at least one practical answer to that.

Should you need help in this area, don’t hesitate to contact me…if it’s just for free advice or formal career coaching:  Work Life 911 is the link you should have and use….and pass it on to friends…just in case they need it!

To your success, JoAnn