Advice from Recruiters who are Nailing their Personal Brand

By Maria Onzain

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Every recruiter knows why candidates need to build a strong personal brand and the importance for businesses to communicate the company's culture effectively. However, not all recruiters look after their own personal image and take the time to create a reputation of excellence. But why should they?

Firstly, recruiters should invest time in building a positive personal brand because it will make their jobs more pleasant. One of the main challenges that recruiters are facing is the high cost per hire, and they sometimes fail to justify the time spent on administrative aspects. Here is where paying attention to build a strong personal brand can play an important role, making the recruitment process much more effective.

Secondly, developing a personal image in the digital age is not optional. As explained in Open College's complete guide to personal branding, "the question is no longer if you have a personal brand, but whether you choose to guide and cultivate the brand yourself or to let it be defined on your behalf." Recruiters need to take control of what they share on social media and do it all with a clear purpose. Building a strong personal brand will take time and experience but in the long term, it will be worthwhile.

To dig deeper into the benefits that building a powerful personal image can have for HR professionals, we have asked recruiters to share their advice with us.

Taking a value-first approach

Hishem Azzouz, a Sales Consultant at Hoxo Media and creator of The Recruitment Rollercoaster Podcast, believes in the potential of building a strong personal brand. He began to sculpt his brand online less than two years ago, and he has already seen some excellent results.

As he explains, "candidates and clients, whom I hadn't spoken to before, are approaching me at networking events just because they have seen my content!" In Hishem's opinion, "some recruiters are in the business to make money, which is fair enough", but, if "you're passionate about delivering a high level of service and you genuinely care about candidates and clients you help, building a personal brand is only going to share more good." Hishem also highlights the importance to be true to yourself. "Building a personal brand around something you are not, is not sustainable," he assures.

Whether you use your own blog, LinkedIn articles or Twitter to build your personal brand, he believes there is a one-size-fits-all rule for all of them, and it is to give value first. As he assures, "you have to give value first to the people you want to speak to, this is the trick! It will pay off in the long term." He parallels recruitment and building a personal brand as both being "a long game."

Fresh and engaging content

Antonio Giugno, CEO of Recruitd, the first careers social network, trusts that "you are your brand". And he continues to explain, "your personal brand is a reflection of you. It says who you are without you having to." He recommends knowing your audience well so that you always share relevant content because "there's no use having a steady stream of content if it isn't relevant to your brand."

He, therefore, created his YouTube channel, The Antonio Talks Talk Show, where he is "always putting out a stream of fresh content" and constantly engaging with his audience. In Antonio's opinion, by building his personal brand, he is benefiting not just himself, but also other people who are consuming his content. "Having a personal brand provides me with a great platform to showcase my own work in a way that benefits others and it presents me with new opportunities that I may not have been able to come across otherwise."

Antonio encourages all recruiters to start building their personal brand online, creating content that "has the power to impact and influence people". He recommends learning "about the different social media platforms and how to get the most out of the content you share on each of them".

Overall, both recruiters agree that a personal brand needs to be honest and authentic to help you connect with your potential clients. Knowing your audience and yourself is the first step to create and share relevant content that adds value.

It is also essential to measure how the different types of content are doing, to have a better understanding of what kind of content is working best. This approach will be crucial, so you can focus on the content that better engages with your audience on each social media platform or channel you use.

All social media 'personalities' had their beginnings. They started by defining their values and aligning them with their personal image. To become influential in their fields, they have all worked hard and consistently to reap the rewards.

Learn more about Social Hire

The team at Social Hire never just do social media marketing.

Our team are a company that helps our customers further their social media presence by providing digital marketing on a monthly basis.

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