Who Are You?

Who are you?

Your hiring manager also wants to know who you are, not just what you do. Few candidates communicate this effectively.

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Most people use a resume and other marketing materials to tell a hiring manager what they are – an accountant, a software developer, a customer service manager, an administrative assistant. Few candidates are effective in telling a hiring manager, HR rep, or recruiter who they are.

Why?

Like so many things about today’s job search, most candidates were never taught how to easily describe who they are, or even the importance of it. In addition, many people aren’t comfortable telling strangers about who they are personally. A great number of candidates dislike talking about themselves – many of us as children were taught not to talk about ourselves, that it was a bad thing.

All of these factors lead up to most candidates ineffectiveness in describing who they are.

How can you solve this problem, to tell your reader who you are in addition to what you do?

1. Resume - Make your resume less formal, more conversational. Many candidates use a short personal or interests section to tell who they are. While that reveals a bit, your reader can tell far more about who you are by the language and tone of your resume. How you describe your experience gives your reader insight into who you are. While we've been taught to write a very formal, stiff, highly structured resume, it's not conducive to revealing much personality.
2. Facebook - Facebook can be a great way to reveal who we are to hiring managers, HR staff, and recruiters. Just make sure to monitor your Facebook profile - some pointers here: http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/02/job-seekers-20-ways-to-brand-yourself.html.
3. Twitter - Much like with Facebook, hiring managers can tell a great deal about who you are based on your conversations. While Twitter is also a great tool for this, there are some key differences between Twitter and Facebook. Twitter has no privacy controls, so everything is public. Twitter has no delete capability, so Twitter is permanent. Don't let this scare you - a well managed Twitter account can do you so much more good than the small risk of harm (see: http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/03/job-seekers-20-ways-to-brand-yourself.html).
4. Blogs - Blogs are one of the easiest and most powerful ways to show who you are, yet least understood. Blogs are simple to set up, candidates have many easy options, they are free, and you don't even have to write the content if writing isn't your thing. For some hints on blogs, see: http://recareered.blogspot.com/2008/05/you-dont-have-to-be-shakespeare-to.html).
5. Google - Google is one of the first places employers turn when they want more information than what's on your resume. As a candidate you make a choice about Google... either you can control what Google says about you, or you let others control how you are perceived. For more details about how you can manage who Google says you are, see: http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-does-google-affect-your-job-search.html.
6. Linkedin - While most people use Linkedin in a similar mannner as their resume, it doesn't have to be that way. Linkedin can also be used to convey who you are, depending on both your language, what you include in additional information, groups, comments, questions, and status updates. See: http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/02/job-seekers-20-ways-to-brand-yourself_25.html.

How will you change your marketing materials to tell your audience …

Well, who are you? (who, who, who, who?)
I really wanna know (who, who, who, who?)
Tell me, who are you (who, who, who, who?)
‘Cause I really wanna know (who, who, who, who?)



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Related Articles:
Why use Social Branding to search for a job when you’ve already got a job?
Best of reCareered: 7 Ways to Discover - Who Do I Want to Be?

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Source: http://reCareered.blogspot.com