Why Personal Branding is Critical for a Recruiter, a.k.a. Recruitment Consultant

About 95% of recruitment agencies all over the world are only concerned with branding their company or firm instead of branding their recruiters. The main reason is that most of the recruiters will probably move to another firm when their time is up, and with this mindset, it is very unlikely that the company will bother to brand the recruiters themselves.

However, from the perspective of a GREAT recruiter, it is very important to let your clients and candidates know WHO you are, WHAT you are, and WHAT you are GOOD in doing; that is called “positioning.” You will position yourself in such a way that the clients and the candidates will NOT perceive you to be just another one of the same, old recruiters out there….

If you are perceived to be another one of those, you will be treated like one of those, and what will happen in the end is that most likely you will lose the job and move on to another industry.

My point is this – Do not be another SAME, OLD recruiter out there…BE DIFFERENT and be BOLD.

Hence, you need to stand out from the rest of them; you will need to really brand yourself. Even though your current company may not have the facilities to allow you to do so, there are so many platforms available on the Internet that allow you to start to make a name for yourself.

Here are some steps you can do to BRAND yourself.

1)      Create a blog under Wordpress and buy a domain under your own name, such as the one I have at www.dougleschan.com. Don’t worry about whether it is branded now, as that is not the key point; you will have to start now, not later—branding takes time.

2)      Choose an identity—that is to say, how you want people to perceive you, for example, as a specialised recruiter in the oil and gas industry, a recruiter in construction, or something else. You will need to focus on one area or job function so that you will be able to use the synergy effect in the long run to close more sales.

3)      Choose a tag-line for how people will refer to you,. The name “Recruiter in Construction” is not a great tag line, but twisting and turning the sentence may change it for the better, such as “Massive Construction Recruiter” or even “Oiled Recruiter.” You see, the point is that it should be something interesting and memorable, not just another SAME OLD tagline. Another example that you can refer to is my brand at The Recruitment Guru—it instantly gives people the idea that I am the guru in recruitment. Period. Simple and sweet. Nothing to brag about, and let’s move on to point 4.

4)      Get plenty of testimonials from your clients and candidates; use their pictures and contacts when possible. They will add a lot of weight.

5)      Put plenty of group photos in your blog. Your blog readers love to see YOU in person.  Any group photo will help to build trust and reliability. Trust equates to branding.

6)      Write articles and share information related to your industry, write about two to five times per week if possible. Anything less than once per week will mean that you will have plenty of “lost” visitors. When you write information and articles related to your industry, you will indirectly show and tell people that you are the authority in that particular field.

7)      Create visitors, of course, with a great blog and fantastic articles. You will need to get visitors, get into email marketing, and create accounts in your social media such as Google +, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and any other platform you think you prefer. Add as many real friends as possible and push them to your website. Very soon, you will have thousands and thousands of visitors visiting your website EVERYDAY, just like what I have done with my blog. With thousands of visitors visiting you EVERYDAY, do you think you will have plenty of business and sales? You BET!