A-Head Hunter

A few days ago, I had coffee with a headhunter.  Not because I am being headhunted--there aren't many headhunters recruiting people who do the assortment of things that I do (though there have been many times over the past year when I've really wished there were!).
 
This particular headhunter happens to be a friend, so it was mostly just a friends reconnecting coffee, but people often do what they do for a reason, so, not surprisingly, my friend the headhunter had some good ideas about my ongoing search to define (redefine?) myself and my work.
 
First, she took the kibosh off of putting your college graduation year on your resume. As she put it, isn't an employer going to know, either from your resume or from meeting you that you're not 22?
 
Next, she cut to the chase, and made me do so too. Apparently no one really cares about the 10 jobs you had before your most recent one.  Go figure.  Then feel free to take a lot of things off--the white space will feel good!
 
And, probably most important, she reminded me that social media is only really effective if you make it that way.  It's not enough to write a blog and post it to sites. That, and anything else worthwhile, needs shouting from the rooftops, with things like messages to LinkedIn connections, active seeking of followers, and links on Twitter.
 
And so, this week, a friendly coffee turned out to include some very good actionable advice, which I have already begun to take.  There may not be many headhunters for what I do, but that doesn't mean I can't or won't be found.  It just mean I need to do more of the hunting--and the gathering--on my own.