Micro-resume: selling yourself in 140 characters

[shootingstar]

In the old days (here Trek shakes her cane "you kids get off my lawn! I'm trying to figure out how to fax my resume") one never mentioned "hobbies". Now since sadly I'm more active than coworkers half my age yeah, sure; I bike, hike, do martial arts.

Posting to Twitter seems another digital hurdle to prove I'm "with it". Ooops, old jargon makes me seem "old". Gotta watch the buzz words too.

Instead of resorting to s*ck, Trek, I have mentioned my hobbies (art, cycling, etc.) in my resume and I included some of my blogs so employers know that I can actually create stuff with social media and it is another skill set (with all that writing, marketing stuff).

yea, some employers did read my blog stuff. It becomes social lubricant in job interviews. That's why I choose not write too jargony /inflammatory blog articles ...because employer can trace me.

Did it make a difference for why I was chosen (after 18 months of unemployment)? I know the sort of skill sets the dept. wanted, but also the "fit" was probably helpful. Several other staff in the same dept., are physically active too. So skills, experience and workplace "fit" is important. So the hobby stuff sometimes is part of that "fit" to gauge the real personality of the person beyond the facade of the interview personnae that the person presents during the job interview.

The director for the division, under the umbrella of the bigger business unit where I am, is a mountain biker.

Believe me in your 40's and up, to be physically active, IS important than the s*ck /hip language.