In today's job market, you need to do everything in your powers to get ahead of the competition. This includes personal branding and marketing yourself online to increase your offline exposure and credentials to recruiters. Added benefits of personal branding are the new connections and community you are building and taking part in, as well as the long term affects of having great content on the web.

Utilizing a blog, keeping a portfolio or even having an interactive online resume are great ways to showcase your skill sets and abilities, but if all you are relying on is text, then you are missing out on a very important persuasive power; playing on a human's natural senses.

The senses I am referring to here are sight and sound. On the web it is extremely easy to implement these into your websites, resumes and online marketing arsenal.

Video

Web video is not a fad and not just silly cat videos you receive in a mass forwarded email. In fact, the search bar on YouTube.com is used more that Yahoo.com's main search bar. Producing web videos has never been easier and more beneficial if done correctly. Cameras can be found for around $100 and most digital cameras offer a video recording feature that will more than suffice for web video.

Video Tip* The quality of the production is not as important as the quality of the content. If you are a sales rep, go out and film a sales presentation. If you are an electrician, shoot a quick video on how to put some structure together and make it light up. The goal is to showcase your skills and abilities that you can perform at a given job.

Audio

The web is full of audio, just for kicks there are over 200 million bands on Myspace - that's a lot of music. Just like video however, audio is more than garage bands and hip-hop. Creating Podcasts or audio interviews are a great way to show off personality, authority and speaking skills. A great way to record a phone conversation is by using FreeConferenceCall.com. This can be used to interview a successful person in your industry, to record a mock phone interview or show off your selling skills.

Photos

Pictures make works come to life. Have you presented in front of a room of peers and took pictures of the stage, the room set-up, the catering? Use these images to show off your work much like a web designer shows off the websites that they have built. If you are working on home projects, construction, real estate - whatever - snap some shots and host them online at Flickr.com or Photobucket.com. Be sure to add descriptive titles, descriptions and tags so that people can find your pictures.

Overall Strategy

Using all these online mediums can seem overwhelming at first. Set a goal to get your resume completed first and them look for things that you can highlight in your resume by adding links and media to make it stand out from the crowd.

One other key is to NOT overuse media in your resume, cover letter or interview. Recruiters like a little flash but they still work off the old resume principles, and if they print your resume, they cannot print a video or link.
Ok, Orlando, I want to see your media. Shoot us a comment and let us know your media strategy in the promotion of yourself online. We will feature these in an upcoming post to get you even more exposure (hint* - Orlando area employers read this site all the time!).

Happy hunting and have a great weekend Orlando!

-Greg Rollett