How e-hireable are you?

Studies show that 79% of global employers are using social media as part of their recruitment strategy (IAEWS), and that more than 80% of jobs are found through networking. In another recent survey conducted amongst over 260 employers, 68% of hiring managers consider utilising social and professional networks as the most essential upcoming recruiting trend, while the majority of companies still use job boards as their primary hiring source (LinkedIn).

The reality is that, with fewer jobs available and more competition for those jobs, you need to become more of an evangelist than an explorer when it comes to searching for jobs on the internet. If you are serious about finding a new job, you need to stand out from those less experienced online job hunters by making use of all the channels available to you on the internet. This means that that you need to focus on building a powerful online personal brand to ensure that you are proactive in attracting favourable job opportunities.

Your Personal Online Brand

Gillian Meier, CEO of Jobs.co.za

Here are some important considerations and suggestion for creating your personal online brand:

• Create a blog or personal website that centres around your expertise. To get recruiters interested in your brand, be sure to update your blog frequently. In doing so, you will impress recruiters with your knowledge of your subject matter or area of specialisation.
  
  
• Create and complete your profile on LinkedIn, together with recommendations (referrals) and useful discussions or answers that demonstrates your knowledge of a particular industry or topic. Then start building up your professional network by linking into related groups and connecting with like-minded industry professionals. The more people that you are connected with, the higher your chances of being noticed by hiring managers or recruiters.
  
  
• If you are using Facebook to promote your brand, be very cautious about the information that you publish and whom you be-friend. Many companies and recruiters use social networks to gauge the behaviour and habits of potential employees. Keep in mind however that Facebook is in fact a social networking environment and not a professional one (like LinkedIn), therefore some people might not want to be bothered on Facebook where they are socialising with friends and family.
  
  
• When making contact with a potential recruiter or employer via an online network, be sure to tailor your message to clearly state who you are and what your interest is in the company rather than simply stating that you want a job. At this stage you will have done your homework and should know whether the company is hiring for your expertise or not.
  
  
• Use search engines or social and professional networks to track down employees who currently work for the companies that you wish to work for and ask them to refer or introduce you to the hiring manager.
  
  
• Conduct a Twitter search for companies or recruiters that you want to communicate with. To do so you will need a complete profile on Twitter with a link to your personal blog or website to which you can redirect recruiters should they be interested in more information about you.
  
  
• Consider promoting your personal brand on Google using the Google AdWords advertising platform. You can create an advertisement targeting specific keywords that might be triggered by recruitment or hiring managers. Your personal ad will link through to your personal blog or website where interested companies can read more about you. You can also create a similar type of ad on Facebook and LinkedIn.
  
  
• Finally, don't forget to submit your CV to job boards such as Jobs.co.za to ensure that you can be found by those recruiters that are searching through the database for suitable hires. Remember that job boards - as with search engines - scan CV's to find suitable keywords matching the search request that the recruiter entered. Therefore, craft your CV in a way that incorporates strategic use of keywords that best describes your key skills and product or industry knowledge.

The most successful job seekers are those who are proactively searching the internet for opportunities - be it on search engines, company pages, social networks or job boards. Those individuals who are well networked and have a clean, professional personal brand will stand out and be hired first. Make sure that your personal brand attracts the right recruiters and that you are more e-hireable than your competing job seekers.