Micro-resume: selling yourself in 140 characters

[shootingstar]

--in 1 tweet.

I hope this dumb fad just dies out. I don't know how in the heck to squeeze in an accurate representation of self in 1 tweet. (Was this 140 characters?) I could have done it age 23, when so green and innocent.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/...rticle2035581/

[bmccasland]

Might work for a chimney sweep, but what would one tweet for a job as an accountant, project manager, engineer, where there's more to the job than a license and years of experience in that particular field?

But then what do I know, I've never tweeted anything, nor to a subscribe to any tweets. The tweets I like all come with feathers.

[ultraviolet]

As someone who gets almost all of my work through social networking of one kind or another, I don't necessarily think this is a "dumb fad." In my field, if you aren't participating in the community and putting your thoughts and ideas out into the world for others to see, comment on, and even argue with, you will quite simply be overlooked for the truly interesting work.

That said, other than posting if/when I have windows of time available for new projects, I've never tried to craft a "micro-resume." So for fun, I just wrote one. This is a modification of what is posted as the bio/user info on the Twitter account I use for professional purposes. (Which is not the same as the accounts I use for personal tweets or for totally anonymous whiny/angsty tweets.)

Here it is, in 125 characters:
Information Architect. Relentless Researcher. User Experience Nerd. Marketing Cynic. Making experiences suck less since 1998.

Edited to add: The point of this kind of thing wouldn't be as the primary communication method of your professional history and qualifications. It's to get the attention of a recruiter, hiring manager, or decision maker. It's just another communication channel, and for some fields, participating isn't optional if you want to keep working.

[shootingstar]

I liked everything except

Making experiences suck less since 1998.

. I know I should use this language just so Generation X-Y is supposed to view me more hip or current. But it's just not my style. I guess I might use my cycling habit/ lifestyle schtick, right? I'm quite certain already that is why some folks perceive me as "younger".

But would "suck" make me a more effective, communicative manager with the other generations?

Maybe it's easy to lob a $1 million budget proposal to senior managers up through the chain.

There's long-term currency and value how one presents oneself to the world. And some people never forget. Never.

[jessmarimba]

Eh. I don't really see the point of Twitter. And it's certainly not relevant at all to my field.

And as whatever generation I'm supposed to be, a manager using "suck" doesn't make them hip or cool, just less adult.

[lph]

I liked everything except . I know I should use this language just so Generation X-Y is supposed to view me more hip or current. But it's just not my style.

I think the point is to sell who you are, not imitate a style you're not. I thought it was funny, and to the point. But I speak like that, so it appeals to me.

I can't see myself applying for a job with a tweet any day yet. But I enjoy writing challenges, and if I wanted a job that required an attentiongetter like that I'd have fun with it. Reminds me of the thread we had here with six-word novels.

[ultraviolet]

You shouldn't use any language that doesn't represent who you are. I'm not sure why anyone thinks they need to dress themselves up to appeal to a group of people they wouldn't want to work with anyway.

In my circles, I'm known for my frank talk and cynical attitudes. It's almost a brand. I took a part of my personality that I actually have no ability to suppress, and put it to work for me. If a company is doing something that their customer base would describe as "sucky," I tell them that. I don't coat it over with more polite language, because that doesn't drive home the point that they need to get in order to make the sometimes painful decision to change. If the words need to be more colorful than that, I also have no problem with going there.

That style doesn't work for everyone, and here's the important bit: I'm perfectly fine with that! I only want to work with the kinds of companies that want to work with me. I have plenty of work, so I don't need to go after projects that are a better fit for other people.

[shootingstar]

You shouldn't use any language that doesn't represent who you are. I'm not sure why anyone thinks they need to dress themselves up to appeal to a group of people they wouldn't want to work with anyway.

In my circles, I'm known for my frank talk and cynical attitudes. It's almost a brand. I took a part of my personality that I actually have no ability to suppress, and put it to work for me. If a company is doing something that their customer base would describe as "sucky," I tell them that. I don't coat it over with more polite language, because that doesn't drive home the point that they need to get in order to make the sometimes painful decision to change. If the words need to be more colorful than that, I also have no problem with going there.

That style doesn't work for everyone, and here's the important bit: I'm perfectly fine with that! I only want to work with the kinds of companies that want to work with me. I have plenty of work, so I don't need to go after projects that are a better fit for other people.

Great..more power to you.

Let us know if the language/ brand /attitude wears well when you're 50+, 60+, 70+ yrs. old. You're right: One is retired by then.
I have yet to hear a flower power generation folk (I guess that's boomer or nearly boomer. I dunno.) still use "groovy" regularily/often or even at all.

[Pax]

Great..more power to you.

Let us know if the language/ brand /attitude wears well when you're 50+, 60+, 70+ yrs. old. You're right: One is retired by then.
I have yet to hear a flower power generation folk (I guess that's boomer or nearly boomer. I dunno.) still use "groovy" regularily/often or even at all.

Umm, I do. But then again it suits me... I've been told if I were any more laid back I'd be in a coma.

I also say "suck" in communications at work, mostly because I don't change my language to fit different occasions. My chances of success in corporate America are zero I'm guessing.

[Crankin]

I might say suck with a colleague, in private. Once I got to know my clients better, depending on who it was, maybe. Not in a team meeting, ever. Not when I was a teacher, either.
I had a few clients who swore incessantly this past year. It wore even me down. The f word becomes meaningless. This is coming from me, who used to be called Tilly toilet mouth. I cleaned up my act when my kids got old enough to understand and then relented a little when they became older.
Good thing that I am not in a field that requires social networking. I do use Facebook, but minimally, and thankfully, medical professionals have privacy rules to adhere to. I don't even like to send an email about a client to another therapist, but some people do. So, no need to share my thoughts with anyone.
I'm known as pretty frank, also, but I guess, in a slightly different way. I don't believe in sugar coating, but different rules for different professions, I suppose.
I could not describe myself in 140 characters, after 30 years of teaching, going back to school, and looking for a job now.

[Geonz]

Suck is such an interesting term... people of younger generations tend not to consider its derivation when using it, and the derivation isn't as to-be-gasped-at as it would for 50+ folks.

I talk to communicate, so I'm constantly modifying how I phrase things -- I don't use others' voices, but I do try to be mindful of my audience. It's not to suck up to 'em, so to speak -- but to communicate better.

My tweet to sell myself would be a link. Fewer than 140 characters; if you want to know me, you have to get past the surface. I'm afraid I *do* have trouble presenting an accurate first impression because I never quite know which facet of me is coming around on the guitar...

[Irulan]

Take twitter out of the discussion and think about how to sell yourself in one or two sentences. My professional organization has us do this all the time. It teaches you to represent yourself succinctly - especially if you have a non-mainstream niche or specialty. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this and it's certainly not dumb. It's a very good excercise even if you just talk to people about what you do.

[emily_in_nc]

Take twitter out of the discussion and think about how to sell yourself in one or two sentences. My professional organization has us do this all the time. It teaches you to represent yourself succinctly - especially if you have a non-mainstream niche or specialty. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this and it's certainly not dumb. It's a very good excercise even if you just talk to people about what you do.

Well said!

[Trek420]

How about this: My current job sucks, yet is so demanding, challenging, technical and exacting that it prepares me for anything you need me to do ... in Seattle

[ultraviolet]

As far as Twitter goes, I think it's important to keep in mind that it presents a very specific context. The chances that recruiters are going to ask an E.R. nurse to "sell" themselves in 140 characters for a job are pretty slim.

The jobs that are going to be promoted in that particular way are going to be for people who don't just play in that space, but who have spent a lot of time thinking about and experimenting with how it can be used for things beyond personal communication. The original article that was linked used social media and community manager roles as the examples. Of course those people should be able to craft something attention-catching in 140 characters or less, because that's going to be part of their responsibilities if they get the job! They would also need to not be the kind of people who would think it a "dumb" idea.

Great..more power to you.

Let us know if the language/ brand /attitude wears well when you're 50+, 60+, 70+ yrs. old. You're right: One is retired by then.
I have yet to hear a flower power generation folk (I guess that's boomer or nearly boomer. I dunno.) still use "groovy" regularily/often or even at all.

I'm not sure where you're getting the bit about retirement ages from, but I never said any such thing. Since I didn't say that, and you don't know anything about me or what I think about retirement, I'm left to assume that you are projecting your own ideas about how others perceive age onto me. Thanks, but the condescension is unnecessary and I don't need anyone else's baggage to carry.

I can point to people in my own profession in the 50+ age group that use similar language. There probably aren't many in the 60+ group, but that's mostly a function of the newness of my field. Actually, I'm at a professional conference right now where far more brazen language than the usage of the word "suck" has been used in various presentations and workshops...verbally and on screen, and by people older than myself. So, at least in my professional circles, language isn't a function of age. In fact, I would say that the younger people that I've worked with have been the ones who are most careful about their language. It's only after some amount of experience and success that most of my peers seem to feel able to speak freely...or that after some number of years of fighting the battles that we fight, and seeing the ridiculousness that we see, we get fed up enough with it that we no longer care to sugarcoat anything.

I can also think of more than one former co-worker and several management sorts who did use words like "groovy" and other language that would have been categorized as slang for their generation. I worked at an extremely conservative company for several years, and my boss there happened to have long hair, an earring, had a lot of "crunchy granola" tendencies and considered himself a bohemian...all of this while getting dressed in a suit and tie every day to come to the office. None of those things stood in the way of promotions or increased responsibilities within the organization, despite the fact that they were well outside the norm for the company. Maybe I've just worked for more open-minded companies than most. *shrug* Who knows?

What I do know is that we shouldn't create sweeping judgments just because something doesn't fit into our own particular experience of the world. The world is a more interesting place than that.