Tony Robbins, Gary Vaynerchuk(Vee), Grant Cardone, and Joe Rogan all have one thing in common – they built a personal brand. In turn, it helped build their business and gave them success in their respective industries.
While you’re probably familiar with the traditional meaning of the word ‘brand’, a ‘personal brand’ is something relatively new, only recently gaining popularity in mainstream business/media. This in many ways, can be attributed to the big name celebrities mentioned above.
Your personal brand is who you are, how you promote yourself, what you stand for, and your differentiation. Personal branding, unlike traditional marketing, is all about authenticity.
And recruitment is still all about building trust with your customers. A personal brand is one way for recruiters to build that trust, connect with their audience authentically, and maintain relationships.
There are thousands of recruiters in Australia, so what makes you stand out from all of them?
Here are Four Benefits to Building a Personal Brand for Recruiters:
- You can build trust. Without a personal brand, your digital footprint, online reviews, and word of mouth are all that prospective candidates have to go by. These candidates are wary of recruiter sales pitches. They want to feel like their needs are being looked after and that you have their best interest in mind.
A personal brand is never about selling, and all about showing who you are, and why you do what you do. If you can do this authentically, you can connect with like-minded people and allow them to understand your motivations. In turn, gaining their trust and potentially, gaining their business.
- You’ll bring more viewers to your website. Building your personal brand typically requires you to be actively networking and building an online presence. When you do this – your viewership online will rise and your organic traffic will improve.
- You will improve your network. With unemployment low, candidates aren’t (typically) actively searching for their next opportunity. The road to your recruitment success, may be partially dependent on your ability to build a strong personal brand and establish an expansive network. Being visible, relevant, known and connected can make all the difference. Through building your network and maintaining those relationships, you will keep passive candidates within your existing candidate pool – ready and waiting for their next opportunity.
- You’ll establish yourself as a thought leader. Having a recognisable personal brand gives you a certain amount of credibility in your industry. And when you are seen as a thought leader, others will trust your judgement and gravitate towards you.
Six Steps For Building a Personal Brand as a Recruiter
- Be Value Orientated. What would make someone listen to another person’s podcast, watch their videos or read what they write? The answer is value. And what is valuable can mean something different to every person. To some, humour is valuable, to others information or education. You need to know your audience. Discover what is valuable to them and go above and beyond to deliver it.
- Be active on forums. There are countless online forums and social media pages (particularly LinkedIn) dedicated to job searching, resume enhancement and the overall interview experience. Actively involve yourself in these online communities.Create conversations and respond to questions posted with informative and relevant answers. This will not only establish yourself as a thought-leader in the industry, but also, bring referral traffic back to your website/social page.
- Create content – What are the most common questions you’re asked as a recruiter? Answer them, online and publicly. If your customers are asking these questions, you can bet they’re searching for them online. And thanks to search engine algorithms, by answering these questions you will bring those customers straight back to you.
- Show yourself. Answering frequently asked questions is great, but it isn’t where personal branding ends. Show who you are. This can include everything from what your morning routine is to what you enjoy reading for personal development. Think of personal branding as a reality tv show where you’re the star and the plot is authenticity.Consider what your audience would find valuable and post it, write it, or speak it. Doing this will establish an authentic and trustworthy image for your audience.
- Get social – We’ve already discussed engaging in forums/social pages. But, there are other benefits to social media. Namely, the ability to boost your content. Social media allows your content to be seen by more people, and more relevant people. This can also be further amplified through paid targeted advertisements on the platforms.
- Ask for testimonials/reviews. According to Search Engine Land, a huge 88% of consumers trust product reviews as much as advice from friends and family. With that said, you can’t be the only person talking about your value. Have other people do it too. Ask your professional network to give you a testimonial or a review on your chosen medium(s).
Personal branding isn’t just reserved for travel bloggers and Instagram influencers. It also doesn’t have to be extravagantly done with high-quality video content and endless selfies taken. Your personal brand is just that, personal to you – whatever your comfortable with and however you can show who you are – do it. You’ll attract like-minded people, build on your professional network and gain organic traffic/referrals.
In summary, here are 6 tips for recruiters to build their Personal Brand:
1) Be Value Orientated
2) Be Active On Forums
3) Create Content
4) Show Yourself
5) Get Social
6) Ask For Testimonials/Reviews
RECOMMENDED READING If you enjoyed reading this blog post, why not read more about Personal Branding for Recrutiers: - 5 Hacks To Boost Your Personal Brand As A Recrutier - Why Building Trust Is Important For Recruiters - Expanding Your Active And Passive Digital Footprint - How Recruiters Can Improve Their Online Brand Presence
