Recruiters and hiring managers want to know about you before they offer an interview invitation. And in today’s technological age, they can find out about you easy enough…just go online and “google” you. They look at your social networks to get a picture of who you are. Too many executives believe they don’t need an online presence since the experience on their resume speaks for itself. However, sometimes not having an online presence at all is perceived as being just as bad as having a negative presence. At the very least, it’s important to work with a LinkedIn profile service to develop a profile you can point to online for recruiters. Here’s what you need to know about social recruiting today.
What is Social Proof?
A recruiter will still want you to have a stellar resume, but you have to back it up with social proof. Employers want to be able to validate who you say you are from your resume and learn more about your life in general. They will look at your LinkedIn profile, Twitter, Facebook, and any other profiles you have to gather this information. They aren’t necessarily stalking you, but rather, they just want to be sure you are who you say you are before they make an investment in hiring you.
How Social Networking Can Help and Hurt Your Brand
Before you even begin an executive job search, start with cleaning up your online presence. Do a Google search of your name and see what results show up. A good LinkedIn profile service can help you incorporate the right keywords into your profile to give it a better chance of showing up higher in the results. If all the right things show up with a Google search, then you will likely enhance your c-level personal branding significantly. On the other hand, you can hurt it just as quickly if you have some things about yourself you don’t want others to know on your profiles.
Be Consistent Across All Platforms
When it comes to c-level personal branding, recruiters and hiring managers look for consistency across all platforms. A professional LinkedIn profile writer can help you develop your profile based on your resume, and it’s up to you to make sure your other social networks are consistent as well. Nothing will hurt your chances of landing a job more than when a recruiter can’t get a feel of who you are by looking at your resume and online presence.
You can have an extensive amount of experience with unique skills and seem like a perfect fit for a job, but employers will still be hesitant to hire you if you don’t have a solid online presence. In this day and age, leaders have to be visible to the public. Having social proof that you are who you say you are is one thing, and seeing how you would be viewed in the eyes of potential customers is another.
