HOW TO BUILD YOUR PERSONAL BRAND ONLINE

Your brand is what sets you apart from other professionals. It should reflect your values, skills and experience across a number of mediums. Your CV, personal appearance and personal network are all part of your brand, but your presence and actions on social media are how most recruiters and employers will come to know you.

Does your social network reflect your professional skills?

It’s vital to ensure your social networks reflect the best of both your personal and professional brands. To that end, we’ve compiled this guide to using social media (LinkedIn in particular) to help improve your standing in the job market.

Important considerations

• Any social media profiles you have should be considered a part of your personal or professional brand.
• Be aware that potential employers are likely to look at these to get a reflection of you.
• Always be careful about what you post or share, and make sure you’re always presenting your best side.
• Your professional brand is how employers and peers see you, and is no longer solely about your CV.

Your LinkedIn profile

Just having a LinkedIn profile isn’t enough, you need to be engaged with your sector or industry area. Luckily, LinkedIn makes it very easy to connect with other professionals and find industry-related groups and content. Here are a few ways to make yourself more visible to potential employers and to find out more about the latest developments in your area.

1. Post ideas

LinkedIn provides the opportunity to showcase your skills and interests. Make sure you post and share articles that are of interest to you and relevant to your industry.

2. Make connections

One of the most important aspects of LinkedIn is the ability to connect with people. Be careful of overextending however as the quality of your connections on LinkedIn is more important than the quantity, so only link with people you feel are relevant to you.

Note: connecting to the Hays LinkedIn page is a great place to start!

3. Get involved with Groups

Groups provide the opportunity for you to learn more about your industry by asking questions and networking with others. Most are tailored to interests and industries, so search for the ones most relevant to your industry and location.

4. Follow companies

LinkedIn is built to help people find jobs. By finding the organisation and looking for people working for the company with a similar job title to yours, you can review their profile along with their key responsibilities. This gives you an idea of what you should be aspiring to, should you wish to work for this company in the future.

5. Skills and endorsements

List your skills and let other professionals you network with endorse them. This gives each of your skills a rating based on feedback from other users, it’s a great way to demonstrate to potential employers not only your library of skills, but the benefits they have added to the organisations you've worked for.

LinkedIn is invaluable to any job seeker, but it’s not the only thing you can use to enhance your brand. To see what else you can do, as well as how best to use your social media accounts, download our guide above.