Polishing your Professional Image

It’s a new year and a time when many of us take stock of our professional lives – home, career, finances and health.

If you’re considering taking the next step in your career whether by making a move to another company or looking for a promotion with your existing employer, it can’t hurt to freshen up your online presence and resume.

Let’s face it, like or not, the first place a potential hiring manager looks to “check you out”, is LinkedIn and you want to make sure your profile will pass muster.

Is your profile complete and does it look professional? Have you listed all of your certifications and accomplishments? Does your photo reflect the “professional you” or did you go the “selfie” route? You don’t have to pay for a professional photographer – just put on your best suit, pamper yourself with a little extra grooming time and have a friend take a nice head and shoulders shot.

We may not all be model material but we can all look professional!

Next is your resume. Whether you’re looking for a new role or not, it’s not a bad idea to update your resume every year – highlighting the previous year’s accomplishments. This is also a good morale booster – be proud of what you’ve achieved! You may also want to winnow your resume down a bit – you really don’t need a lengthy paragraph for previous roles that have no bearing on your current role and goals. And edit, edit and edit again. This is absolutely essential. You cannot rely on spell check as grammatical errors may slip through – you have to read your resume through, read it again and then have someone else read it through for you! Hiring managers can (and have) taken poor grammar as an indication of lack of attention to detail, or worse, poor communication skills.

You may decide to stay in your current role a while longer but you’ll be ready if the right opportunity – or your favourite recruiter – comes knocking!

And if you DO feel ready to take the next step in your career, why don’t you browse the available jobs here on Rostie.com? You may just find exactly what you’re looking for.

by: Pamela Inglis
Manager Recruiting/Senior Consultant
pinglis@rostie.com
416-777-0780