Let’s say you have a killer resume. You even hired an amazing professional resume writing service to help you refine it and boy, is it impressive.
You changed your hotchick_6969@aol.com email to something a bit more professional.
You picked out a snazzy new stylish business suit for the interview.
Congratulations, you’re ready!
But, the phone isn’t ringing and you don’t have any emails requesting your presence for an interview. You even check your spam box, just in case.
Don’t lose faith! Even if you’ve got your ducks in a row and put in applications for the perfect job, or ten perfect jobs, there is always more busy work to do to enhance your personal brand. Your online presence is like bonus points. Although not required for most jobs, your online presence can give you the upper hand and take you up a notch on the short list.
“94% of recruiters use, or plan to use social media for recruiting.” A steadily increasing number for 6 years now. Source: Jobvite
Let’s say you get shortlisted through the computer tracking software and the hiring manager is going through his list of 25 candidates and trying to narrow it down to interview 10. This is the moment where the details matter.
Besides going through the resumes over and over again, the hiring manager can also Google search you. Depending on what type of job you are applying for this is where your social media profiles make a big difference.
See Yourself From a Hiring Manager’s Perspective.
Have you Googled yourself lately, from a browser that you aren’t logged into? What you find is what a potential hiring manager might find. And based on the statistic above, most hiring managers will Google you.
Is your personal brand presence too aggressive with crazy wild party pics or political Facebook posts?
Or does your personal brand lack energy and attention to detail with a generic LinkedIn profile photo and 3 connections?
Neither scenario will convince anyone to hire you.
What your potential future employer should see is:
- Professional LinkedIn profile with details about projects and endorsements from co-workers. Check out these LinkedIn etiquette tips.
- Facebook page set with appropriate privacy settings
- Twitter feed full of interesting articles in your industry
These personal branding pieces show your personality, drive, organization skills and provide the hiring manager to assess your potential company fit. By turning your social media feeds into bonus features to your resume, you are offering up subtle extra credit points for your potential future employer to get to know and ultimately hire you.
“Employers who used social media to hire found a 49% improvement in candidate quality over candidates sourced only through traditional recruiting channels.
Source: Jobvite
