How to manage the "personal brand" of your organisation

15 August 2012 -

“Personal

Establishing a personal brand for your firm is as important for recruitment as it is for marketing, writes Adi Gaskell

Personal branding as a concept is one I’m sure you’re all familiar with now. Whilst the concept has been around for over 70 years, it has really taken off in the age of the web, with people such as Dan Schwabel emerging as leaders in the personal branding world.

The idea, in the online sense at least, is a simple one. Whether you’re looking for a new job, trying to seal that deal or land a new contract, you want people to have a good impression of you when they put your name into Google.

And so we’re now encouraged to write blogs, optimise our LinkedIn profiles and do various other things to ensure that those first few results in Google show us off in the best light possible.

What about organisations though? Of course companies have been branding themselves for an awfully long time, but most of that branding work has revolved around the simple aim of either getting more customers or getting existing ones spending more money.

Something that has flown under the radar however is how branding can be used to attract the best employees. After all, we live in an age where most companies now trumpet the importance of their employees to their success. We live in an age where HCL suggest employees are more important than customers.

Maybe it’s always been the case that companies have wanted to attract the best employees, but now we live in an age where employees are investigating you just as much as you’re investigating them.

We live in an age where a potential recruit can visit sites such as Glassdoor and find out exactly what it’s like to work for your organisation by reading what current or past employees have said about you.

We live in an age where a potential recruit can search for your LinkedIn company profile (you do have one right?) and talk directly to employees and potential team mates before they even arrive at the interview.

This new world was typified by an experience of a friend recently. They’d got quite far into the interview process with an organisation and had been pretty excited at the prospect of working for the firm. They’d watched the employee videos on their website and read the testimonials on the companies careers page and were thrilled at the possibility of working for a company with such seemingly great values.

They then however paid a visit to Glassdoor to see whether past and present employees agreed with the “official” view of the company. It really couldn’t have been more different. The reviews were scathing, and the company received a one-star rating, with the vast majority of reviewers not recommending the company as an employer they would wish upon a friend.

Whereas previously potential recruits would have been none the wiser about the inner workings of your organisation, that shroud no longer exists, so just as individuals need to ensure that their personal brand paints them in the best light.

Whereas if you said something often enough in the past it would have been taken as read, in our social world the truth will eventually come out. If you really are intent on attracting (and keeping) the best people, then it’s imperative that you walk the walk as well as talking the talk. Your social brand depends on it.

Adi Gaskell is a social media expert - Establishing a personal brand for your firm is as important for recruitment as it is for marketing, writes Adi Gaskell.  Personal branding as a concept is one I’m sure you’re all familiar with now. Whilst the concept has been around for over 70 years, it has really taken off in the age of the web, with people such as Dan Schwabel emerging as leaders in the personal branding world. The idea, in the online sense at least, is a simple one. Whether you’re looking for a new job, trying to seal that deal or land a new contract, you want people to have a good impression of you when they put your name into Google.

And so we’re now encouraged to write blogs, optimise our LinkedIn profiles and do various other things to ensure that those first few results in Google show us off in the best light possible. What about organisations though? Of course companies have been branding themselves for an awfully long time, but most of that branding work has revolved around the simple aim of either getting more customers or getting existing ones spending more money. Something that has flown under the radar however is how branding can be used to attract the best employees. After all, we live in an age where most companies now trumpet the importance of their employees to their success. We live in an age where HCL suggest employees are more important than customers. 

Maybe it’s always been the case that companies have wanted to attract the best employees, but now we live in an age where employees are investigating you just as much as you’re investigating them. We live in an age where a potential recruit can visit sites such as Glassdoor and find out exactly what it’s like to work for your organisation by reading what current or past employees have said about you. We live in an age where a potential recruit can search for your LinkedIn company profile (you do have one right?) and talk directly to employees and potential team mates before they even arrive at the interview. 

This new world was typified by an experience of a friend recently. They’d got quite far into the interview process with an organisation and had been pretty excited at the prospect of working for the firm. They’d watched the employee videos on their website and read the testimonials on the companies careers page and were thrilled at the possibility of working for a company with such seemingly great values. They then however paid a visit to Glassdoor to see whether past and present employees agreed with the “official” view of the company. It really couldn’t have been more different. The reviews were scathing, and the company received a one-star rating, with the vast majority of reviewers not recommending the company as an employer they would wish upon a friend. Whereas previously potential recruits would have been none the wiser about the inner workings of your organisation, that shroud no longer exists, so just as individuals need to ensure that their personal brand paints them in the best light. Whereas if you said something often enough in the past it would have been taken as read, in our social world the truth will eventually come out. If you really are intent on attracting (and keeping) the best people, then it’s imperative that you walk the walk as well as talking the talk. Your social brand depends on it.

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