Digital Portfolios--A Better Way to Communicate?

Earlier posts talked about the challenge of resumes in today's multimedia environment.  A digital portfolio with voice-over capability seems to be a more engaging alternative--possibly backed-up with more traditional documentation.

SlideShare.net houses a variety of Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, including a few digital resumes.  The digital portfolio combines graphics and words to communicate ideas in a more concentrated form.  When someone wants more details, they can follow-up using links contained in the digital portfolios.

Take a look at my digital portfolio for business and at my digital portfolio for education.  (The Safari web browser doesn't want to open Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) files in the browser.  The link works with both Internet Explorer and Firefox.)   To see the entire site, go to http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/.

The digital portfolios with voice-over are shared in Adobe Presenter and can be found on my website following this link.

Performance and Change Management Consulting for "Big 8-6-5-4" Firms

When I left the U.S. Army after a 10-year career, I was not aware of the "Big 8" Accounting and Consulting firms until I joined one as a Management Consultant in Los Angeles.  Coopers and Lybrand (now part of PriceWaterhouseCoopers) was one of the big firms and I was a management consultant in their Litigation Management practice.

I have been a professional performance and change management consultant for 40+ years.  I began learning how to do what I do so well as a volunteer instructor for the American Red Cross then built skills while on duty as an officer in the U.S. Army.  I continued this practice as a management consultant for my own and for other consulting firms until I went back to earn a doctorate degree to work with even more people and organizations.  After earning my doctorate, I worked again for a "Big 6" Consulting Firm--Andersen World Wide and Andersen Consulting (now Accenture).  Times had changed and I was able to utilize what I had learned in my doctorate degree while working with Andersen Consulting. 

I left Andersen Consulting in 1998 to join another consulting firm as a senior business consultant in change management.

Today there are only four or five major consulting firms like the ones I used to belong to.  Times are changing and one of the real challenges is that client needs are changing, too.

Large consulting firms have large staffs and command high fees.  Large corporations can afford those fees.  Small to mid-sized organizations cannot.  Who takes care of their needs?

There are a few consulting firms that target small to mid-sized businesses.  Beyond that there are lots of individual consultants offering a variety of services.  Unfortunately, the need for service greatly exceeds the availability of consultants.

One person can make a big difference by working at top-levels in a small organization.  That is a tremendous "value added benefit" to small to mid-sized companies seeking out the right consultants at the right time.

The Business of Getting Noticed by the Right People

In the 2009 economy in the USA, much time on the internet is invested in trying to get noticed by "the right people."  Who are the "right people?"  That depends on the goal.  If I want a job, I want to be noticed by people who are hiring.  If I am looking for contract work, I want to be noticed by the people who are looking for someone to fill the contract.  If I want to find consulting work, I want to be noticed by organizations who would like to use me as a consultant.  Sologig.com and Fulcrum Network both focus on identifying opportunities for contract or consulting work.

How do we go about getting noticed in this age of social networking?  We post resumes to job boards, fill-out profiles on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and other locations.  We create web sites, blogs, create podcasts, put out promotional pieces on YouTube--and hope for the best

Many people are in the business of helping people get noticed.  In fact, there are almost more people trying to help others improve their resumes than there are people hiring for jobs. 

We do need to get noticed by the right people--for the right reasons--and for the right "investment" of our time and energy.

Representing Yourself to Businesses--in the AGR Age (After the Great Recession)

AGR--After the great recession--Perhaps resumes no longer had the value they had in earlier times in representing ourselves to businesses.  (See my profiles on the Title link.)

Resumes today seem to be an awkward way to represent ourselves in and to businesses.  More and more people have the job of filtering resumes--unless the job can be turned-over to a computer.  One of the more creative ways to produce a resume or a profile is to have a multimedia Microsoft PowerPoint presentation.  The challenge becomes more difficult as we add education, wisdom, and experience to our careers. 

Who needs to see our background?  Potential clients or customers, potential employers, potential mentors, colleagues, coaches, business partners, . . . .  The list continues to grow.  Some of the people who may want to see it will have different expectations from others who need the same information.  How do we cover the bases in ways that are most effective?

For some, a functional resume may serve--Microsoft Word 2007 has a template for a functional resume.  Many job search services offer professional advice and, for a fee, rewrites of resumes.  These may not result in the kinds of resumes or background you want to share with clients or colleagues.

Social Networking sites like LinkedIn ask for a "profile" that includes former employers and educational institutions.

Some job boards available online and employer websites want information provided in a certain way they can use to filter and sort the data for multiple candidates for positions.  Few of these sites can deal effectively with a functional resume.

I'm working on my multimedia resume for clients, customers, colleagues, mentors, and anyone else to use.  I'll let you know when I have it available.