What is challenging, though, is that those mental “boxes” can be very rigid and when it comes to rigid lines for people classification, there is inevitably some pushback. There may even be some near-rebellion from those who are pushed into having to conform.
This is exactly the case when we talk about freelancers.
Firstly, to go back to that preliminary answer I gave, what are you trying to say with your appearance? And when you consider that, think about every single item of clothing or apparel that you could wear. If you care about how you look at your interview, you are saying you have made the effort to show you really want the job. Think about the man in the perfect black suit, white shirt, sober dark tie, black shoes and then he’s wearing a pink Hello Kitty watch. No issue. That’s your choice but know that you will be judged for it.
A bio is likely an abbreviation of stemming from the word biography or biographical summary, or something like that. That ‘laziness’ thing is creeping in again so that the word gets shortened to just ‘bio’.
In Asia, however, it is fairly common to attach your photograph to a resume so if everyone is doing it, then maybe there is no harm in you doing the same thing. That conclusion is fair, given that nowadays it is quite easy to find photos of almost anybody on the internet anyway, especially if they are quite active on social media.
However, asking whether to learn coding is very similar to asking whether you should learn to cook. The answer to that is also an undeniable yes, but the real issue is ‘to what level of expertise?’ And this is where learning to become a hotel executive chef is a completely different proposition to just being able to cook well for your family at home every day.
People’s perception of us is the result of information given to them. That information can be transmitted through a number of different means but basically, it can be information about us from other people, or from other sources, or it can be information about us from us ourselves. Because we cannot control what other people do or say, we need to work extra hard to make sure that we do and say does not give people an impression about us that later, we will regret.
The problem is obviously, the content of the resumes.
But what could be the problem? Isn’t name, address and work experience the same whatever the resume format?
Name and address definitely is the same regardless of format, but the one thing that the vast majority of job applicants get wrong is to recount their work experience as things that they did and not as a presentation of what they actually achieved.
The vast majority of people today have some sort of presence in social media with an account on Facebook being the most common one. If you have been active on the net, if you have had some professional seniority, you will have an electronic trail and your potential employer will, at a minimum, Google you to see what they can find on the net.
Recently, there have been a lot of expressions you may have heard mentioned. There is “lifelong learning”, there is “skilling” but then, there is also “reskilling” and “upskilling”. They are related concepts but each one is different, and assuming they are the same thing could really affect your employment prospects.
