Whoosh... There Goes that Opportunity

Whoosh... There goes that opportunity

Ok so you won't hear "whoosh" because you won't even know it happened. You'll just be silently losing out on opportunities.

Why? Because your online profile isn't up to snuff.

Yes, we recite "don't judge a book by its cover" to our kids as a piece of wisdom, but it's just a fact of life, humans do it all day long. Call it superficial, unfair, whatever you like, but its real.

One of the best examples is when you're job hunting. I've talked with enough recruiters and hiring managers, as well as hired people myself, to know that your online identity matters a LOT. After sifting through resumes, your next stop is usually LinkedIn. When you see someone who (excuse my language), doesn't have their s&#t together, you move on to the next one. It happens that fast, whoosh, you're toast.

This is just as true whether you're looking for a job or not. People are looking you up and forming judgments that can impact your future opportunities, be it career, sales or otherwise. 

So that may sound harsh but its true. If you haven't put some thought into your LinkedIn profile language, and your photo is a cropped shot from your sisters wedding, it tells us you haven't invested in yourself. That you don't take this seriously enough. If you're either out of touch with this reality or just haven't put forth the effort, it becomes very easy to dismiss you as a candidate or buy from the person who looks more put-together.

The easiest thing you can do that costs you nothing is complete your profile. Get it done, now, its not that hard and there's lots of advice out there on how best to do it.

The next thing is invest in a real headshot; it shows you take yourself seriously. Ideally, you want to find a photographer who specializes in headshots. You want someone that knows how to bring out genuine expression and create a shot with lookability that gets a reaction from the viewer. I wrote a whole post on that here.

I may be dosing out some direct medicine here, but I'm just that passionate about it. The truth is, most people just don't understand the value of their online identity and the significant impact it can have on their opportunities.

Take yourself seriously, and others will too.