Using your Google+ profile
Many clients hire me to help them tweak their resume, thinking, understandably, that as they continue their process of creating the professional opportunities they need, they’d like to have a perfected copy of their resume, on stand-by, as it were. That’s fine. If that makes you feel more secure, and able to engage the process, knock yourself out. But I’d also argue that in 2014, a person’s resume is almost the last thing they need to worry about, because social media gives us so many prior occasions to experience each other, in fairly significant depth, before the resumes even come into question. Therefore, if you’re obsessed about your resume, but neglecting your LinkedIn profile, Facebook, Twitter, and haven’t even considered using your Google+ profile…baby, why you gotta be like that?
Your resume is important yes, of course; but if you’re using social media correctly, you shouldn’t have to send out your resume as much, because people will be reaching out to you, requesting your resume. Head-hunters and HR people in general will be interested, having seen intriguing aspects of your personality, and intellect, that’ll make them think, “I should get this person’s resume. He could really help our company/project/whatever.” If you’re using social media correctly, you’re already showing people all you have to offer, you’re already demonstrating, in real time, your expertise, your passion, your essential je n’ai sai quois in a way that no passive resume could ever compete with! (*bursts into song*)
Right now, I’m really excited by my upcoming workshop (Shameless promotion here) for female artists wanting to use social media to promote themselves, and create viable opportunities for their art, since I’m planning on doing a whole section of nagging encouraging people to use Google+ as a platform for their talent and vision.
If you check out my Google+ profile, you’ll see that I use it to share articles I’m reading, as well as info about events that I personally plan to attend, or think could be useful for clients and friends. I follow companies and groups that interest me, and I share my blog, and general whining ideas. I’ve had clients follow me on Google+, and when they eventually approach me, they feel that they already know me, so when I start dropping f-bombs and yelling at them, they’re not (unduly) appalled. (Loving me means loving all of me. I am not the right coach for everyone.) Using Google+, I’ve gotten clients throughout New York, across the US, and in the United Kingdom, and Eastern Europe. In fact, given how my business is rapidly expanding, a lot of new clients don’t even read the bio on my website, they just use Google+.
Obviously, being self-employed, I use Google+ a little differently than someone who is, for example, an attorney working for one firm, who wants to transition to a better firm. As regards that prospective client, I’d want her to use her profile to discuss her education and interests, link to the important cases she’s worked on and articles she’s written. I’d have her follow her firm on Google, as well as the firms she’s interested in, legal websites and journals, industry groups and leaders and commit to some kind of daily interaction. That way, over time, she’ll create a paper trail as an attorney who is committed to, and intellectually involved in, her area of practice. That course of action will also create interesting opportunities by allowing her to meet other attorneys at the firm(s) she’s interested in. That plan of attack will be likely to bring her to the attention of head-hunters who are always on the prowl for smart, aggressive attorneys. That’s one way to use Google+.
If you’re an artist, think of Google+ as a living portfolio: share your completed work, talk about the process behind your craft, and discuss upcoming events you’ll be holding, as well as attending. Follow the museums, galleries and performance spaces you’re either a member or, or you’d like to join, so you can get an idea of what they’re focused on, and thus see how you’ll bring yourself to their attention, i.e. join their conversation. Follow the competition, to see what they’re doing, for better or worse; see what inspires you, and even what makes you think, “Dear god, do not want!” The more comfortable you, as an artist are, in sharing your vision with the world, the more likely you are to create a receptive world community that wants more and more of your work, which means more and more of you.
I think Google+, and all of social media, is especially crucial to people like makeup artists, or professional photographers, or graphic designers, just to name a few. The types of creative people who aren’t really served by a paper resume. I don’t care about the brand names on a makeup artist’s resume, unless they’re huge names, and by that time, makeup artists don’t even usually need a resume. When you’re at that level, your resume is a given. But at the beginning, when you’re trying to get in front of those brand names, creating a palette on social media of your work, can be hugely powerful and helpful to your ambitions.
Want some personalized ideas on how to use Google+ to promote your vision? Of course you do! Become a fan of my business Facebook page, “Carlotaworldwide Creativity Yenta,” and shoot me an email at carlotazee@gmail.com, and we’ll start the conversation.