by Joe Wallace

Have you noticed a social media-driven trend in writing resumes and “about me” blurbs lately? Brevity has always been the soul of wit, but thanks to social media your resume and About Me blurbs need to get even wittier.

Cutting out the flab from a resume is nothing new. Strunk & White have been shouting the “Omit needless words” gospel from the rooftops for generations. But in an age where attention spans are so short that anything longer than 140 characters seems positively Joycean, short bursts of credibility are more important than being fun to read.

If you can’t tell what a person’s About Me is all about at a glance, the feature might be missing the mark. On my Twitter page, for example, I cut out all the fun stuff about being a snarky columnist and music photographer. Yes, I am those things. But I get right to the point now, saying basically, “Joe Wallace for hire. I write finance, medical, SEO and other high-value topics. I excel at quick turnaround projects with insane deadlines.”

And that’s pretty much it. I was sad to see the snarky fun go out of my About Me, but the value of being instantly attractive to a potential client shouldn’t be underestimated.