I am interviewing people to hire a Sr. UX Designer. Guess what is the first thing I do whenever I receive a resume? If you guessed “Look at the resume” you would be wrong.
The first thing I do is search for the person’s name in Google. Unless you live in a cave, you have a presence on the web. Facebook, LinkedIn, personal website, portfolio, twitter, etc etc; All of these sites have information about you. The real question is: How do you look when I Google you?
Does it show a few comments here and there but otherwise nothing? Does it show an out of date LinkedIn Profile? I made sure when you Google Glen Lipka that you get a wealth of information about me and User Experience. It’s amazing to me how many people ignore this part of their personal presentation. If you spend time on your resume, you really should spend equal or more time on LinkedIn. Are you actively keeping it up to date? Do you have good recommendations written about you? Does your Facebook or MySpace page have inappropriate content?
What if you have a personal website? They are virtually free these days. Does it look presentable? I am constantly shocked by how awful some people’s personal websites look. Usually they say, “oh, I haven’t updated that in a long time.” My answer is simple, Take it down! Why have something embarrassing up on the web that you created when you are looking for a design job?
As Robert Burns said: O would some Power the gift to give us; To see ourselves as others see us!
Google is that power. Go Google yourself.
Whatya think?