“What have you done for your career in the last 3 months?”
This is a question I heard at the SQL Saturday event this past weekend at LSU.
Isn’t this a great question to ask yourself? Start thinking of yourself like a
brand. What if you were in charge of Dr. Pepper? You would want to make sure
Dr. Pepper is being promoted in the best light, and you would become protective
of it. Well you are a brand and you have to start managing yourself.
One of the best things you could do to manage your brand is
to keep your resume and LinkedIn profile updated. If you ever plan to join a
social media site LinkedIn is well worth it. LinkedIn is pretty much a site for
professionals. You post details of your resume, and begin connecting with other
professionals. After every training class or continuing education class you
take add it as a skill on your resume. If you self-taught yourself something or
gained a skill relevant to your area of interest add it to your resume.
Another thing you can do is to manage your online presence is to separate your personal and professional lives by creating separate accounts for
your social media sites. This way you could list your professional social media
sites on your resume, and now you’ll be in control in what employers and
clients see about you. If you have an area of expertise create a blog and share
your professional experience. These minor tweaks make your more marketable to
clients that you want to serve. It gives them proof of what you’re capable of
doing. Makes sense? The best tip I heard at SQL Saturday this past weekend from
Steve Jones was every 3 months set a reminder in your calendar to update your
resume. If in a 3 month time period you have nothing to add to your resume ask
yourself, “Why haven’t you done anything for your career in 3 months?” (Steve
Jones).
Remember You’re The Boss: Manage Your Brand!
Mechelle A. Roberthon
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