With the increase of mobile recruiting and similar strategies, how can you control what employers find? One of the best things you can do is develop a positive online brand that defines what you’re about and emphasizes your strengths.
What is Personal Branding?
First things first, it’s important to understand exactly what this is. Experts define personal branding as a term that “describes the process by which individuals and entrepreneurs differentiate themselves and stand out from a crowd by identifying and articulating their unique value proposition, whether professional or personal, and then leveraging it across platforms with a consistent message and image to achieve a specific goal.”
In other words, you utilize different platforms to establish a unique identity that differentiates you from other individuals.
Controlling What Employers Find
There are several ways in which you can increase your level of control dramatically and improve your chances of being portrayed in a positive light. For starters, you can Google your name and see what comes up on the first few pages of results.
If there’s any ugly information that’s going to be detrimental to you landing a job, you should do everything possible to take it down. This infographic from Lifehacker will show you the basics on this process. But if there’s unflattering information that can’t be removed, then you’ll want to replace it with more positive information, which can be done in several ways.
Brand Building Techniques
Perhaps the best way to establish a personal brand is to create your own website with your name included in the URL. This can be done for free on sites like WordPress and Blogger or you can purchase your own domain. Setting up your own site is beneficial because you can showcase your qualifications and experience and give potential employers a feel for what your personality is like. You may even want to consider doing some blogging because it can help you appear more credible and authoritative in your industry.
It’s also advantageous to become active on a few social media sites, because your profile is likely to get ranked highly on Google and other search engines. This is also great because you can control the content that you post. LinkedIn is especially good and ideal for networking.
Developing an online brand has become somewhat of a necessity in the digital age. By taking measures to control what potential employers are finding out about you online and practicing effective brand building techniques, you can improve your public image, and it will hopefully lead to a rewarding career.
At Axiom Staffing Group, our goal is your success. We have recruiters ready to help you take the next step in your job search. Contact us today!
