Hey Recruiter! Why You Need To Develop Your Personal Brand
Do you want to stand out from the crowd of recruiters in a competitive market? Do you want to attract top-level talent, including those elusive passive candidates who are quite happy in their current role?
If the answer is yes (and I’d be worried if it were no), you really need to be developing your personal brand.
A powerful personal brand is a thing that sets you apart, and never has it been more important to cultivate your brand than right now. In the current candidate’s job market, and with thousands of new recruiters joining the UK marketplace each year, you must stand out as a recruiter, or you will fail.
What is a personal brand?
A personal brand is much like a company one. Done well, it immediately conjures up an image of what a person excels in. Done badly, it does the very opposite- the very sight or mention of a person can conjure up a negative association.
James Caan is a very obvious example of someone with a positive personal brand- one of innovation, charisma, leadership, and self-made wealth. His powerful personal brand works in a complementary fashion with his company brands, and this is no accident at all. Caan works extremely hard at cultivating and building on his brand, through an intense strategy of social media, interviews, advice columns and books.
Why’s it so important for recruiters to have a strong personal brand?
1. A strong personal brand allows you to build up a thriving relationship between you and your candidates and clients.
2. Candidates will trust a recruiter that has an attractive personal brand, meaning that you have more power to influence them towards roles and companies. According to a Workit Daily survey, professsionals are 70% more likely to apply for a job if they know the recruiter!
3. A personal brand allows you to increase your reach. For example, a strong presence on social media gains followers, who might be passive candidates who only followed you because you post interesting articles in their industry, but are now seeing your job posts too.
4. It allows you to establish yourself as an expert in a particular field, and become known as one of the go-to recruiters.
What is your brand right now?
There’s good news and bad news.
We all already have a personal brand- it’s what people immediately think of when they see our name on an email or hear our name come up in conversation. It’s what you excel at and are known for – but this can also work in the other direction, as your defining characteristic, your ‘brand’, might be something negative!
For example, you might be a recruiter who is known for having a massive network in the oil and gas sector, you might be considered a brilliant pitcher, or you might be known as the company expert on recruitment trends.
Alternatively, you might be known as a recruiter whose talent pipeline is poor, or someone who struggles to meet billing targets.
Whatever your brand is, it needs attention in order to improve it (perhaps even revolutionise it) and gets it working for you in a way that returns results.
The 4-Step Approach to Building an Impressive Personal Recruiter Brand
Step 1: Figure out what your brand is now.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says that ‘Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.’ So what do you think that is? Ask around for honest feedback on what your colleagues think your defining strength is. Be brave: ask what your defining weakness is too.
Step 2: Consider what you want your brand to be.
You don’t have to continue with what your brand is right now. Figure out your niche. As a recruiter, you wear many hats, and you have to be competent at a wide range of skills- from pitching and candidate interviews, to talent planning, networking and studying up on your sector. We’re not suggesting for a second that you let any of those skills slide, but rather that you hone in and build your reputation in one specific talent that you have.
Note: Make sure it’s something that you enjoy. After all, there’s little point being known to be good at something that you can’t see being a long-term passion!
Step 3: Plan your offensive.
What skills will you need to build on to become known as the ‘go-to’ person in your sector? How will you cultivate your brand? Create a battle plan that has your large goal broken down into smaller mini-goals, with a clear schedule.
Step 4: Get known.
Launch a social media blitz. Blog. Comment on industry forums. Post interesting articles on facebook and twitter. Study up and arm yourself with fascinating, up-to-date information about your sector and wider recruitment trends. Attend conferences, or even better: speak at conferences. Network strategically, always being sure to reference your brand specialism to advertise your dominance in that. (for example, ‘I specialise in succession planning in X sector’). Make sure your LinkedIn profile is powerful, and that it makes your unique selling point abundantly clear.
As a recruiter, you are constantly meeting new people in your daily work, so you have an incredible, enviable opportunity to shape your brand every day, starting today.
Until next time,
Cheryl