August 22, 2007

Riding the Digital Fast Lane

In 1993, Marc Andreessen and NCSA and the University of Illinois developed a graphical user interface to the world wide web and called it Mosaic. The digital fast lane was then officially opened to early adopters with this first graphical browser. Fortunately for you and me, today it’s easy to ride the digital fast lane, without being a techie.

If you already have an online profile at Ziggs, congratulations! You are officially on the digital fast lane. You have successfully merged onto the high speed lane of Internet life. Maintaining your Ziggs Profile - refreshing it when needed, typically once a month – helps ensure that your online image drives well and always looks great on the digital highway.

But what about your friends and family. Are they on the digital highway with you? Have you brought them online to join you? Having an online professional profile listed at Ziggs is quite frankly the easiest and safest way to participate in the online world in the good company of millions of other professionals. Once in Ziggs, your people can create their own profile, then you can all create groups, discuss topics, even send polls online – the digital fast lane, all within the privacy of your own online world at Ziggs.

See you in the fast lane.

August 08, 2007

A Tale of Two Profiles


“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”
The opening line from Charles Dickens’ historical novel A Tale of Two Cities, written in 1859. For those who missed this in 8th grade English, it’s a story of two cities, London and Paris, and two characters. Charles Darnay is the high-standing, romantic French society man, who is respectable but not interesting. Sydney Carton is the English barrister who is charismatic and magnetic but seedy and secretly exciting. It would be interesting to ask Dickens for his reaction to today’s world where millions of people have created their own online “characters” or profiles to portray themselves as either respectable and honest or to present a more alluring living-in-the-fast-lane life of hipness and hotness.

Just as Elvis and the Rolling Stones were considered provocative and erotic in their day, so today’s adults sometimes see the explicit online imagery and communications expressed in some social networks as out of bounds for them and their own children. It will be fascinating to watch how the new generation growing up in social networking websites matures into professionals with careers and to mark how their online personas or profiles morph with them from social to professional. Which type of profile have you created?

From Profiles to Avatars

Beyond an online profile, virtual worlds, such as Second Life, give you the ability to create an avatar, a virtual online representation of yourself. Depending on your goal, your virtual self can be similar to you or complete fantasy. For example, one of the most famous avatars in Second Life is the one created by Ian Hughes, virtual world pioneer and evangelist. Known inside as epredator, it’s befitting that his avatar is fantastic (and looks nothing like him).
According to Irving Wladawsky-Berger, even IBM now has policy guidelines on creating an avatar: "Virtual worlds give you the ability to create the way in which you want to represent your digital persona visually. This can be anything from a reasonable likeness of the actual person to a fictional creature... In general, your digital persona’s appearance is up to you. When you are using your avatar or persona in association with IBM, however, your judgment in these matters should be shaped by the same general guidelines that apply to IBMers in physical environments – i.e., that your appearance be appropriate to the context of your activities. You need to be especially sensitive to the appropriateness of your avatar or persona’s appearance when you are meeting with IBM clients or conducting IBM business."
So, how many identities can one person have? Actual, virtual, physical, student, work, home? The list could go on. How about having just one?

Now Back to the Physical World

For the majority of us living in the physical and professional world, here are some tips on portraying your best professional self online while also projecting interest and depth - in other words, be the best of both Darnay and Carton:

For the career-minded, it’s a must-do today to post a profile in two professional networking websites. The first, of course, is Ziggs. For those unfamiliar with Ziggs, this website offers you the most comprehensive profile template for daily use in your current profession as well as for visibility to recruiters for both passive and active job searches. In addition to Ziggs Bio-Builder which helps you easily write up your own bio, your Ziggs Profile gives you several ways to build honest interest into your professional points. For example, b
y answering a few of the interview questions offered in your Ziggs Profile, you can present a more well-rounded view of yourself that gives a newcomer a better chance to bond with you. Here's a great example of a very professional yet expressive online profile at Ziggs: Meet V. Cheryl Womack.

Ziggs also offers daily utility by giving you the ability to import the people important to you into Ziggs from most popular email systems. Then easily create and use groups, discussions and polls to better stay in touch with your colleagues, your clubs, your charities, as well as family and friends.

In addition to Ziggs, LinkedIn is the other important professional networking website that lets you create an online profile. It’s a good tool for the job seeker needing to network outside the immediate circle of contacts.
And for the edgy at heart, MySpace and Facebook will continue to be home to the online profiles of date seekers, band promoters, music followers and collegiates.

August 02, 2007

How to Get a Better Job While on Vacation


Just the simple act of creating an online profile at Ziggs immediately puts you in front of thousands of recruiters, including Fortune 500 blue-chips like Microsoft, Sony and Pfizer, who come to Ziggs daily looking for new candidates for great jobs...new candidates such as yourself. So even when you're off on your summer vacation, your professional profile at Ziggs remains on the job in the eyes of recruiters.

CNN's Money Magazine recommends Ziggs for this purpose:
"If you recoil from networking events, never get around to putting out feelers and have no clue how to 'work a room,' congratulations! You're the ideal candidate for a terrific new job."
"More than a fifth of the Fortune 500, including blue-chip names like Pfizer, Sony and Microsoft, use these outfits [i.e. Ziggs] as part of their recruiting process."
"The bottom line: Even if you're not looking for a new job, you want potential employers to see you in the most flattering light. Fortunately, it's easy to take control of your [online] profiles."
If you don't have a free professional profile at Ziggs, create one today. If you already have one, be sure it is complete and compelling. Maximize your profile by answering the Interview questions offered in the Interview section of your Ziggs Profile. Your answers to these questions give you the opportunity to share more of the real you in a positive light with your audience, far more than a resume could ever provide