INSTITUTE OF
R EC R U I T M E N T
PROFESSIONALS
Advancing the recruitment profession
IRP Professional Guides | Your Profession
How can your social
profile impact your
personal brand?
Like it or not, working in
recruitment means that you
need to be mindful of your own
personal brand, particularly
when it comes to your social
footprint. Everything you do
online is captured, measured
and can be tracked. Your history
is there for everyone to see. But
this is a good thing! You can
show your candidates and clients
your personality, your experience
and your expertise, whilst letting
them buy in to your personal
‘brand’.
2.3bn
number of active social
media users in the world
source: http://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/
new-global-social-media-research/
IRP Professional Guides Set yourself a social
strategy
This Professional Guide has been developed to give you a few
pointers, things to think about, when it comes to managing
your own presence online and through social channels. Here
are five tips for making sure your social footprint is sound and
maximising your chance of winning more business
1. Search yourself - first and foremost, see what your clients
see about you. Start with a simple Google search. Don’t like
what you see? Then make changes. Change your opening
sentence on your LinkedIn profile, update your Twitter
description. Check your history. Everything you do online
is captured and kept. So make sure that you don’t have
anything that could damage your own brand. For example,
you can download your Facebook history and review and
audit any elements that might be seen as contentious from a
business perspective. Tell people about your IRP status – it’s
another way to demonstrate your professionalism by getting
customers to check your status on the Register of recruiters.
Or be proud about the fact you’re an IRP Award winner, or
you’ve been shortlisted for an award (you’ll have to enter
first though!).
2. Be where your customers are - Is there any point in
spending all of your time on Google+ if none of your
customers use it? Do all engineers use LinkedIn? Is Facebook
used by accountants? Know which channels your customers
are in, both regionally, and on a sector basis. YouTube has
the best reach amongst 18 to 49 year olds , so who are your
customers? Build yourself a ‘buyer persona’ of your typical
customer and use that to assess where you should be
socially.
3. Do a few things well, not many things averagely - There
are lots of social media channels - Facebook, Twitter, Flickr,
Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Periscope, Reddit, Snapchat–
that’s just a few. Sometimes, there simply isn’t enough time
T 020 7009 2155
E [email protected]
www.rec-irp.uk.com
INSTITUTE OF
R EC R U I T M E N T
PROFESSIONALS
Advancing the recruitment profession
IRP Professional Guides | Your Profession
3.4bn
active internet users
in the world
source: http://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/
“Smart phones and social
media expand our universe.
We can connect with others or
collect information easier and
faster than ever.”
Daniel Goleman, Author
Further resources
external/internal
yy The REC Good Recruitment
LinkedIn is the only
Campaign - https://www.rec.
major social media
uk.com/news-and-policy/policysite where there are
and-campaigns/the-goodmore users age 30-49
recruitment-campaign
than 18-29
yy Glass Door – where candidates
Source: http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/08/19/
rate their employer experience
the-demographics-of-social-media-users/
http://www.glassdoor.co.uk/
Reviews/index.htm
in the day to be everywhere at once. So work out what you
want to use each channel for and select a few that you can
manage effectively. There’s no point in using Twitter as a
broadcast channel to post your jobs. You need to engage
with people, comment on their stories, links and posts. That
will get you noticed. Set yourself an ‘outreach’ target so you
can spend a short period of time each day talking about
other people, not just telling people what you’re up to. It will
build your engagement levels and people will see you are
a human being. If you have to, don’t be afraid to cull a few
dormant profiles.
4. Be yourself - Everyone has a personal life outside of work
and by showing a little bit of your personality, you might
just show a prospective client or that red hot candidate that
you have some common interests. Be mindful, however,
that you don’t get too personal. A good test is ‘would I say
that to my mother/father/grandmother/grandfather’? If you
wouldn’t talk to them in that manner, why would you do so
to a complete stranger who could be viewing your profile for
the first time? As with everything, it’s a delicate balance to be
struck.
5. Think about the future - Technology is moving fast – facial
recognition software is something that is out there at the
moment and whilst it is not as widely used in social media
channels, it could be used in the future to tag you or pictures
you might have posted online. Remember, what is online can
stay online, so always be mindful of what you post.
Your social footprint can be a great way of enhancing
relationships. If you follow simple and professional rules, then it
can be a powerful candidate and client attraction tool.
yy Undercover
recruiter website –
Further
resources:
http://theundercoverrecruiter.
Promote
yourself - IRP Professional Guide
com/candidate-experience-
right/
Register of recruiters
yy Mystery Applicant – http://www.
Sourcing
talent using Twitter mysteryapplicant.com/tag/
IRP Professional
Guide
candidate-surveys/
IRP Professional Guides For more information visit www.rec-irp.uk.com
or contact the IRP team on 020 7009 2155.
T 020 7009 2155
E [email protected]
www.rec-irp.uk.com