Personal Profile

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 - Employment, Executive CV, Executive Recruitment, Executive Search, Personal Profile

Personal Profile

photo credit: Valentin.Ottone

There is much talked about at present on Personal Profile and Personal Brand, and about how to project forward an image. But the opportunity to gain employment is differentiated for the Executive into two separate issues:

• Senior Executive: how to change a public perception
• Junior Executive: how to create a profile

In both cases, the tactical answer is fairly similar, but the strategy different

Google CV

A basic check for any modern job search candidate is to undertake a Google search check on their own name, the results of which are known as a Google CV. Simply tap your name into the Google search box, and click search. This basic check is undertaken by all recruiters and employers before making an approach to any individual directly, to enable both background, as well as the positive and negative basic checks to be undertaken. The key answer for any such search is not to be concerned with what shows up, just that it firstly shows up, and that it is consistent.

Personal Brand

The best way of undertaking control of your Personal Profile is to own your own name URL. Your name is John Smith, own JohnSmith.com or JohnSmith.co.uk, etc Why would you want to do this? Firstly, it gives you control of your own brand – can you imagine what the owner of TonyBlair.co.uk did with it in the run up to the first Gulf War? Secondly, it makes you easier to find; and thirdly you can now control all your own publicity – highlighting the good, suppressing or at least putting in context the bad. You can also on your own website, add not only your CV, but add entries on projects you have undertaken, and also personal entries blog entries. All of this activity make you easier to find, and more able to control your own Google CV.

Senior Executive: Senior Executives often have long personal brands, some of which may refer back to old posts and skills which they no longer wish to deploy. Much as though a PR agency could be employed, a good CV followed on by meetings with key network contacts to brief them on your new forward view should enable a quick repositioning of your personal brand. Secondly, much as though many can get away with a new clean Hotmail or gMail account, the eMail address of a Senior Executive needs to be both personal and distinctive.

Junior Executive: The problem for a Junior Executive is about being found: if an Executive Search firm doesn’t know you exist, how can they find you? Rather than generically approaching firms and asking about positions, check organisations first via network colleagues and then only approach once they have a position you could be interested in. This holds your personal brand image as high, rather than desperately seeking work.

Good Luck!

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