Jobhop Jobhop's blog : Pimp Your Profile

Are you ready to pimp your profile?

It really depends on you and what you’re about, but if you want to be recognised as a professional, a business person, an expert, then put your best face forward without the bling.

When you pimp your profile make your online photo your first priority.

Your online photo is your online face, everything is important, the way you present yourself, the colours, the background, this is your personal brand. This is your opportunity to market yourself to employers, first impressions count and first impressions are visual.

Your profile has to work immediately for you, do you look confident? do you look approachable? would you want to connect with yourself? Will your Bio attract your target market, like minded people, employers?

Your profile has to be like a magnet to attract the right people,the right employers. Don’t worry about attracting everyone, you don’t want everyone, you only want to attract the people that matter.

We live in a “word of mouse” society so make it easy and comfortable for others to refer you..even if someone knows you’re the expert in your field and you have the right skills, just think, would they refer someone to you if your profile picture looked less than professional and your bio says “I love Vodka and having a wild time” ?

Eyetrackshop.com is a company that runs eye tracking studies for advertisers and they believe that profile pictures really do matter.

Go for a head shot not a body shot, that would be a complete waste of space! People want to see you immediately, not as a dot in the distance so always make sure that when people see you for the first time they can see straight into your eyes. Eye contact is so important, the eyes speak volumes, even online people love eye contact.

If your photo looks like you’re growling or slightly scary then get another one taken where you’re not growling! Don’t use a photo of yourself from 20years ago, this can be very confusing for someone interviewing you or meeting you for the first time.

Look at the colours that you’re using, can you use colour to get people to automatically think of you?..look at Virgin and the colour red, JobHop and the colour orange, check out Mari Smith and how the colour blue goes everywhere with her.

Perhaps you could use your favourite colour in all your Bio photos, maybe a jumper or a scarf or perhaps a nice coloured backdrop.

On social media instant recognition is important, once you have a profile picture keep with it, consistency is key. If you keep changing your profile picture you may start confusing some people and you definitely don’t want that to happen.

Have a good bio which should consist of who you are, what you do and a link to your online CV.

What you put into your bio really does matter.

Make sure it is keyword rich ie, if your profession is location based then include that, for example... Dental Nurse, Norwich. Include a call to action, this could be a link to a web page all about you and what you do, or your online CV, a video CV or if you have another professional profile with more information then have a signpost to that.

Have a look at your online profiles now, do they need tidying up? Have you completed them? Have they got good photos ? Can someone see immediately what you do?

Are you using the additional benefits available to give your profile klout? ie social proof, recommendations, awards, education.

It’s good to have profile presence, make sure they are memorable, consistent and professional.

JOIN Jobhop and spread the word.

Julie Bishop Jobhop.co.uk

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