Drumming up your best online profile

Multimedia resumes, networking sites can help sell your skills, recruiters say…

An article in The News & Observer draws together some threads of general and local interest:

• Recruiting and the “next generation resume”
• Reputation management and candidate screening
• The South Florida Interactive Marketing Association
• Observations from local commentators

Recruiters say having a professional online presence is becoming more crucial. Vital bits of information on candidates are found through Internet searches as the market shifts to passive recruitment, and Google searches as background checks have become common in the hiring process.

Paper and electronic resumes are not extinct, but they are only the beginning. Getting a job offer may depend on social network profiles, personal Web sites, blogs and YouTube videos. It’s about your online footprint and the management of your personal brand.

Joe Laratro, president-elect of South Florida Interactive Marketing Association, has been hearing the term “reputation management” tossed around recently in marketing circles.

Do you know what comes up when you do a Google search on your name? Reputation management is getting the links you want people to see to show up on top.

“You don’t want someone searching your name and seeing you passed out drunk somewhere,” Laratro said.

Read the article here…