I’ve heard a phrase that’s become popular amongst people who haven’t been in a job search (but have been tied to internet or social marketing).
The argument is that hiring managers, recruiters and decision-makers can go to Google very easily and search for titles or people and start to get a list of potential candidates.
They say that if you aren’t on Google (in other words, if you don’t have a web presence), you don’t exist.
Isn’t it easier to bypass traditional ways to find a candidate (monster, which costs money for an employer, or networking, which takes time, or using recruiters, which is expensive), and alluring to just go to the Internet (or, big series of tubes)?
As I’ve watched this over the last few years I have kind of agreed (and have agreed early on), but I’m less convinced of it now than before.
I do think it’s important for professionals to have a web presence they control (whether that is with a blog, a LinkedIn Profile, etc.), but I don’t think it’s so critical that you have to have it or “you don’t exist.”
If you network, pick up the phone, communicate with people one-on-one, you still exist. Just because many people are looking for talent online doesn’t mean that only people who are online will be found or hired.
You can have a strong personal brand and not be online, right?
I know you can – I’ve seen it. Participate in local events where your peers, colleagues and network contacts are – you’ll get well-known.
And at the end of the day, you’ll still probably hear the question: do you have a resume?
