Why Having An Online Brand Matters

If you’re looking to build a career in a specific field you need to use all of your resources to let hiring managers and recruiters know about all of your professional talents and why you’re the right man or woman for X job in Y field. Since recruiters keep using social media to check for a positive online presence among candidates, and will continue to, building your online brand matters now more than ever for anyone trying to establish themselves as a professional.

First Impressions Begin Online

In an article titled “Take Charge of Your Personal Online Brand” by social media and personal branding journalist, Patricia Kitchen, the author points out that nowadays, recruiters can look at all kinds of information about you on your online profiles, which essentially, “give potential employers, clients and business partners an impression of who you are professionally.” Because of this, monitoring what you publish on the web is now essential for every job seeker. An employer’s first impression of a job candidate no longer starts at the interview, but by what they find about you on the web.

Google Yourself

According to an article published in the Brand Yourself Blog, “Google Yourself: Why You Need To See What Others See About You Online,” over 30% of employers have rejected a potential employee for hire based on what they’ve seen about that candidate on the internet. Googling yourself will allow you to see the things you’ve posted and the things others posted about you. Monitor your social media accounts and cleanse them from any negative images or descriptions about yourself. You won’t be considered a professional if there are several pictures of you doing keg stands or showing off all of the beads you earned during spring break.

Be Consistent

If you want employers to believe in what you’re about, you have to be consistent across all online platforms. Job search expert, Amanda Augustine, writes in her article Overhaul Your Online Brand, “however you choose to represent your name, make it consistent across every professional online profile and resume.” She goes on to say that if you have a common name, try adding a middle initial to separate yourself from others. If you have personal social profiles change the security settings so that only you and your non-professional friends can see what you do in your own time. Creating professional social sites or profiles such as a blog or a Twitter account could also help in creating your brand as a professional. Our increasing technologies have made it easier for us to market ourselves to employers, but they’ve also made it challenging for us to distinguish ourselves from many other job seekers out there, and making sure you have a positive online brand is definitely a step in the right direction. Source: Careerealism