The New Resume

In The Job-Hunter’s Survival Guide, Richard Nelson Bolles talks about everyone having a “New Resume,” which is the record we leave online.  A person’s online reputation can make or break a job search as Andrew Sullivan demonstrates in the Daily Beast. I don’t believe that 50% of employers check all applicants, but I would put serious money on their checking people before scheduling interviews.  It’s important to keep your “New Resume” clean. 

How can you protect your reputation?  Keep personal social media private.  Ask friends to take down any information or photos that an employer might find objectionable.  Whenever you post something online, think about how a stranger might look at it and judge you.  Think twice about that person if he or she is a potential employer.

Making Your Own Job

Writing in the Daily Beast, Andrew Sullivan collects some interesting ideas about work and jobs.  The experts cited seem to agree that it’s time for people to make their own jobs again. This idea sounds great, but I don’t think it’s realistic (even when it’s pushed by Seth Godin in Linchpin). 

Can enough people make their own jobs to make a difference?  I don’t know.  But thinkers who present this model do not give any kind of model of what such a society would look like or how it would work.  I’d like to see a blueprint before I buy in. 

A big thank you to Bill Savage for sending me Sullivan’s interesting post.