Here are responses to recent tweets by people about personal branding and resumes, tweets, teeth whitening and sales.
Resumes of the new world
Garth Braithwaite, @Br8thw8t, twittered: Will resumes be a thing of the past? Will Personal Branding via Social Medium be the measure by which employers make there pre-selections?
Jacob Share, @jacobshare: Our notion of what is a resume is what is changing.
Paper resumes may eventually become a thing of the past, but resumes – personal compilations aimed at marketing you to a potential employer – aren’t going anywhere.
Before the Internet, paper resumes were by far the easiest way for companies to learn about job candidates. Back then, the onus was on hiring companies to check references, usually by phone, and they often didn’t because of the effort involved.
Nowadays, the main difference isn’t that resumes are gone; they’re still there, just in Word or PDF format. It’s the reference-checking that’s gotten much easier, and since it’s only one Google search away, hiring companies are much more likely to do it.
Tweeting about your personal brand
Ken Christie, @thebrandwhisper, twittered: If you tweet what you ate for breakfast or where you are driving or thoughts on today’s weather, what does it say about your personal brand?
Jacob Share, @jacobshare: That depends on your personal brand.
If you’re a nutritionist, chef or a fitness expert, your eating habits might interest a lot of people.
If you’re a chauffeur to the stars or handing out prizes for a radio station, where you’re driving will certainly interest a lot of people.
Thoughts on today’s weather probably won’t interest many people, unless you’re a bird watcher or storm chaser.
In other words, as long as it’s related to your personal brand, tweet it. And if it isn’t obviously related to your personal brand, the occasional “personal” tweet will humanize you and make it easier for your audience to identify with you.
Teeth whitening
Roberto Simmons, @RobertoSimm, twittered: Should Personal Branding Include Teeth Whitening?
Jacob Share, @jacobshare: It seems like more and more toothpastes include teeth whitening chemicals, so you might be getting yours bleached whether you realize it or not.
Most people don’t need teeth whitening, and if they are whitening their teeth, it will only help if:
- Their job requires brilliant smiles, such as in acting, television, etc.
- Their non-whitened teeth were leaving a bad impression
What many people do need, but which usually costs a lot more, is teeth straightening. No matter how white your teeth are or aren’t, they won’t leave a good impression if they’re clearly gapped or aren’t straight.
Your personal brand sells
Michael Spadaccini, @digienvoy, twittered: Why does a personal brand make it easier to sell?
Jacob Share, @jacobshare: People become customers when they can trust sellers enough to give them money because they believe they’ll get a service or product in return.
A great way for the seller to build that trust is by having a strong personal brand, which by definition means you’re credible and can be trusted at least within the area of your expertise, and probably beyond.
When customers need that expertise, your strong personal brand will get you found and trusted sooner than your competitors, leading to more sales and easier ones.
Author:
Jacob Share, a job search expert, is the creator of JobMob, one of the biggest blogs in the world about finding jobs. Follow him on Twitter for job search tips and humor.
