Steven Tyler is sick of getting ‘tagged.’
In March, the Aerosmith frontman helped urge the Hawaii state Senate to ban unwanted photos/videos of people (ahem, celebrities) in private moments.
Yeah, like Steven Tyler is the only one who deals with random photos popping up without permission.
Check out your Facebook pictures. I bet a majority of them came from other people who ‘tagged’ you. Each year, our photo galleries grow and grow, and then we hear all this noise about how Facebook pics could ruin our chances at landing a job.
Hold on. What if it was the other way around?
What if being ‘tagged’ in photos could actually help you get a job and even enhance your overall profile?
Steven Tyler, exit stage left. You don’t want to hear what I am about to say.
Somewhere deep inside your 1,500 Facebook photos are 20 good ones. I mean, really good ones. The kind that make you look like the most photogenic, well-rounded person in America. If employers (or prospective clients) decide to click through your photos, odds are they’ll never see the best stuff. You have 1,500 pictures. How could they?
So, do the work for them.
Create an album that showcases who you are. Maybe call it ‘Me in a Nutshell.’ If you want, make that album public and the rest private. It can include:
- Pictures with friends
- Pictures with family
- You showcasing a hobby (like running a race)
- If you recently graduated, a photo from the ceremony (i.e. robe, mortarboard, yada yada)
- If you just got married, a photo or two from the wedding
- If you went on a vacation, a few highlights from the trip
- And, of course, if you own a pet, an obligatory picture of the animal
Be sure to add captions to each photo so that a perfect stranger (i.e. HR manager) will know what’s going on. Always give extra detail and leave nothing to chance.
You could also add a link to the album on your resume. If done tastefully, the photos can only help, not hurt, your portfolio.
With a hand-selected album, the employer thinks:
- You know the value of presentation
- You helped a busy person understand your life and interests in a timely way
- You allowed a boss to get to know you before an in-person interview
The more photos at our disposal, the better our album will look.
Sorry, Steven Tyler. That means we need more ‘tagging’ in our lives, not less.
Facebook photos can be your friend, and they can be your enemy. A pic of you upside-down doing a keg-stand? Dumb.
A ‘best of’ assortment that, in two minutes, gives an employer a perfect snapshot of who you are?
It could be the reason you land the job.
What do you think? Good idea or something you’d never dare to do for a job application?
How do you handle all your Facebook pics, in general?
Share below!