Do We Really Need Personal Pages?

I'm not talking about Facebook or other forms of social media, I am referring to the people that think designing a web page or home page to find a job using services like about.me and flavors.me. Enough is Enough! Employers are not looking for flashy pizzazz, they are looking for someone that can do the job. Technology is integrating itself into our lives more and more everyday but the workforce and hiring managers, they still use a calculator and pick up the phone. It's not that using a personal homepage isn't trendy but will it really target the people you want?

The economy isn't in the greatest place and unemployment is still struggling mainly because the law of supply and demand is in effect. There are a great supply of employees and a limited demand from employers. The competition is great and I can see why these personal homepages have an immediate appeal but once again employers want to know "can you do the job?". Resumes get a quick glance, most positions are gained through networking, and these are the people that are finding jobs, not the ones using a personal homepage as a desperate plea "look at me". There, I said it this trend is overkill and appears desperate. Here is a perfect example of how we ruin our uniqueness and personality, pick up the phone, shake somebody's hand, I'm telling you the people that do the hiring are not as trendy and technology savvy to get into your flashy homepage. These homepages are almost like a full sleeve of tattoos, not going to work in the professional environment. Five, ten years from now when a new generation of hiring manager that grew up in this technology era are in charge homepages may have more clout. But until they get there, keep your audience in mind.

When your personal homepage can show work ethic and provide a value to employers it may have a greater foundation but for now leave your personal stuff, socializing flashy marketing to yourself.

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Comment by Blair Hite on April 28, 2011 at 1:43pm: I think this is an interesting topic Jason. I don't necessarily think everyone uses these services as a means of flashy marketing for themselves. Online presence has become a vital part of of the job search, and I'd be surprised if hiring managers aren't savvy enough to type a candidates name into a Google search.

Services such as About.me allow you to present your entire online presence in one place. For me, its a matter of organization. I'm not desperately screaming look at me, I'm simply saying, let me save you the time of digging around the internet. Here is my Linkedin, blog, and twitter account, if your interested have a look at what makes me unique.

I think it's mostly a matter of how you use the tool. Your online presence should always be professional and well kept, and can absolutely showcase your work ethic, and value you provide to a company. If you intend to leverage it, these tools allow you to do so in a clean and presentable way. When used correctly, they can be a powerful tool in the job hunt.

About.me - Blair At Volt

Comment by Jason Monastra on April 28, 2011 at 1:57pm: Blair,

I appreciate the response and I do agree that personal homepages add flare if they are used for the right type of marketing. I don't think many job positions require this type of marketing, now this would exclude areas of public relations, social media, blogging, advertising because these fields maintain the up and coming trends. Think about it, many organizations still run on the "old school" methodologies and expect that employees follow those rules. I believe a personal page is very creative and worth the efforts if homepages are used efficiently, I just don't think the corporate world (for many professions, not all) is the place to do it.

Quick point to your Google searches, many companies have security features that block that content from every reaching the desk of the person that needs to see it...the hiring manager. Thanks again for offering some great points!

Comment by Todd Lempicke on April 28, 2011 at 2:10pm: Very interesting - I noticed you have a page or two Jason. Are you desperate? :)
http://www.jasonmonastra.com/about-jasonmonastra/

http://www.recruitingblogs.com/profile/JasonMonastra

Seriously, career counselors rightfully encourage people to gain control of their digital brand and to use it to their advantage and there is nothing wrong with that. Lots of surveys and studies on the topic contradict what you suggest and it's a bit hypocritical to suggest that this is overkill when you have one yourself.

Comment by Jason Monastra on April 28, 2011 at 2:55pm: Todd - I think you miss the point. More importantly your comparison is like that of apples to oranges. I write a personal blog to share personal info, make personal and general comments. So having a blog has nothing to do with being desperate or even searching for a job. Your link to my recruitingblogs profile page is required, just as it is in LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. So I really do not understand what you are attempting to say.

The idea of the services we are discussing is personal pages for the searching of jobs, of yes I think is overkill. Branding and job searching are far different, they cross paths, but are far from being the same thing. The idea that is promoted by some of these services is that it is necessary for people to have these personal pages so they can get a new position. It is not a factor that matters. Career counselors speak to taking control of your online brand which I understand, however doing so does not necessarily include the development of a page that ties everything about you into a webpage about yourself.

I assure you, these tools will be forgotten soon. The resume itself is becoming itself a failing tool. Look at most jobs, how are they filled - networking. Who knows who? If people spent half the time developing rapport through in person networking that they do trying to develop their online brand - they would have jobs twice as fast. The idea that these tools bring companies to your doorstep is a far cry from the truth. They do little if nothing to assist you in your search.

I hear so much about unemployment and why this person or this person cannot get a job. It is because they have very few TRUE relationships, ones with people that are in person and real. They have these large networks online which do not offer the same in depth value a smaller in person network does. Online tools should be used to facilitate in person meetings, not as the driver.

Sorry for getting off on a side track, but we need to get back to being people and not simply online profiles.