Job Search Strategies - How Your Online Profile Can Help the Right People Find You

By Rebecca Metschke

John was just promoted to VP of Sales. Almost immediately, he's up his eyeballs as he scrambles to get up to speed - he's on the road to meet and greet his teams, sitting in on product roadmap meetings, reviewing the operating budget and revenue forecast...

Then one day Rachel from marketing pokes her head in your door and reminds John that he needs to submit a short summary of his bio so she can get it posted on the company website. He's thinking to himself, "You have got to be kidding. This is the last thing I need to be wasting time on right now."

After some procrastination and three more reminders from marketing, John blasts out a few paragraphs, crosses that annoying item off the list, and get back to more pressing matters.

Has this ever happened to you?

In the overall scheme of things, your bio on the company's public website may seem somewhat trivial. If you work for a large corporation, there's a good chance an in-house PR person will write yours for you so you won't have to worry about it. It's not uncommon, though, for employees to pen their own.

So often, in order to get the task off their desks, people pull a few excerpts from their resumes, or quickly write a few lines with little thought. Done.

In fact, you should take some time and craft your electronic profile with care. If you wrote yours in haste, go back and take another look at it.

Why does it matter? It could affect your career.

Recruiters routinely scan corporate websites looking for talent; management team bios tend to get a lot of traffic. Does your profile project the image you want to convey? Are your accomplishments clearly expressed? Is it free of typos and grammatical errors? Your online profile should be as compelling - and polished - as your resume, even though it's much more concise.

Likewise, when it comes to the company intranet, the bio you post is equally important. One that's well written and packed with as many details and relevant keywords as space provides will be more likely to get you noticed. Managers often search these pages looking for employees with specific skills.

Presentation can be essential. Get the most out of your online profile; take the time and do it right.

Rebecca Metschke is the author of The Interview Edge, a comprehensive career guide for those who are serious about their careers. Gain a professional advantage using proven tips, tools and strategies that will help ensure you're as marketable as you can be. http://www.TheInterviewEdge.com

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