Getting Cupid to come calling …

If a prospective bride's profile on a matrimonial portal wished you “Happy Hunting!” would that signal a good sense of humour or would you think she's being flippant? If a groom declares he can be counted upon to share household chores, is a good cook, works for a top-notch company, makes a lot of money, and is tall, fair and debonair, would that immediately set the alarm bells ringing? How do people brand themselves on marriage and job sites in a way that it makes for great personal branding without underselling themselves or exaggerating?

“Matrimonial sites are possibly the worst cases of personal branding one witnesses,” says Harish Bijoor, CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc and brand strategy specialist. “Every prospective bride/groom advertises as if he or she is God's gift to mankind. A great way of doing this would be to state the facts in a witty manner that conveys a sense of humour. Even the biggest disadvantage can be showcased with a bit of a soft-pillow effect and humour.”

Says Murugavel Janakiraman, Founder-CEO, BharatMatrimony, “You have to put up a good profile to get a good response. Many people just give the basic details and mention their expectations but don't talk about the personality and basic value systems. Remember, marriage is a match of value systems too. One puts so much thought into drafting a resume for a job, but not marriage.”

Gaurav Rakshit, Business Head, Shaadi.com, offers several tips: The first important thing is a photograph. “It's completely unique to oneself” and you can use a “studio job” if necessary to put your best food forward. Next, name-brand institutions lend brand value. If you've studied in the IITs or IIMs or work in good companies or the civil services, put it out there – that's unique representation amidst not-so-distinguishing details such as caste and community. The way one describes themselves has a very large impact on how people see them and how they are remembered. And put in every last piece of information – date and time of birth, family details, hobbies …

Bijoor says: “The problem with our current matrimonial ads is the fact that everyone is concerned about making that first impact with brevity. This makes for the yen to showcase oneself erroneously. If volume of clicks and conversions is not the issue, one can show-case a persona briefly, but with candour and truth. This will elicit quality responses, responses that match, and not responses that mismatch. Sadly in matrimonial ads in India, everyone is tall, fair and handsome or beautiful. Everyone is like a model, which none of us is.”

Rakshit says Shaadi.com has found that profiles with a photo get seven times more response than those with none. The length of the ‘About Me' Section also has an effect.

When it comes to job profiles, it's helpful to remember recruiters are looking for a reason to reject you, not select you, says V. Suresh, Executive Vice-President and National Head (Sales), Naukri.com. The resume is the first thing that aids the elimination. “Never lie, don't exaggerate, and don't misrepresent facts – everyone does a reputation check,” he warns, adding that recruiters can see similar profiles together, compare and easily suss out the flaws and the gaps. Worse luck if your boss and you are going for the same interview!

“People are aware they shouldn't be dishonest but in their excitement they mayn't understand the world is small,” warns Suresh. Companies are collaborating to put together a blacklist, much like credit card companies' list of defaulters, so you may never be hired if you cheat. So if you don't have a specific skill, don't say anything; don't be ambiguous and if you have worked on a team, don't pass off team members' skills as your own, he advises.

With so much about a person out there on the World Wide Web for the whole wide world to see, what happens to privacy? According to Shaadi's Rakshit, given phenomena such as Facebook and Twitter, people are more willing to put themselves in the public domain now. Also, security has transformed over the last few years. “It's not very easy to carry off exaggeration for a long time,” he says, adding that often, it's people's images of themselves (in which, say, they could be a couple of inches taller than they actually are) that tend to reflect in the profile. “But as the marketplace has grown, there's someone for everybody. Five years ago, these portals didn't have the scale and size they do now – it's a challenge to put the right person in front of you,” he says.

“In a Facebook world, it's very important for people to project themselves right, be careful about whom to be associated with and not associated with. As per some science, you are only five networks beyond; Barak Obama can be in my fifth network. Be careful about how you behave online and in social media,” says Suresh.

Recruiters do keyword searches so make sure these words jump out when you upload your resume on a job portal, says Naukri's Suresh. What carry weightage are premium institutions one has studied and worked in, significant achievements and qualifications. Candidates with 5-6 years' experience must mention extracurricular activities. At the senior level, awards and rewards for previous achievements are important.

Suresh likens the person to a product. “Just like an FMCG product, the packaging, the colour, the visibility, the display - one has to think of themselves as a product,” he says. If one has recommendations, a LinkedIn profile, FB and Twitter profiles, blogs, put all that in, he recommends. Now job portals allow one to attach video and voice clips to their profile. If you are looking at moving to a new industry or function, say, from Sales to Marketing, there's little point talking about achievements in the former, he says. Tell them what you can achieve with the latter.

BharatMatrimony recently tied up with Linked In. People can now display their professional and matrimonial profiles on the marriage portal to “enhance credibility, increase the depth of professional information available about them and improve the response to their profiles from prospects”, says Janakiraman. This feature will help them find out how they are connected with prospects professionally, apart from enabling them to check up on or hear about prospects they are interested in.

Just be honest, that's good branding, says Janakiraman. To help candidates, portals offer tips on resume/profile writing and for those not comfortable with English, Indian language scripts come to their aid. There are value-added services whereby specialists help prospects put up an attractive and accurate profile. So let us know when those wedding bells ring and how you finally got out of Hari Sadu's clutches!

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