In a Tough Economy, Branding Matters

Career Development, Acp

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Today I am talking about career development and social media at a breakfast with the members of the Association of Career Professionals (ACP) in Philadelphia. The premise is fairly simple:

• A blog and online portfolio are powerful branding and conversation tools for a professional
• Companies can find choice candidates more easily through social media
• Recruiters are already using social media and networks like LinkedIn, Twitter and blogs to find candidates

So the question is: what does it mean for a professional seeking career opportunities to have a blog and an online portfolio? How can companies recruit candidates in a more meaningful way? How do smart recruiters use LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media to find top talent?

Social media is perfect for career development as it allows professionals to show what they know and think, interact with peers and build connections, learn from others, find mentors, and build a personal brand - to be known. Recruitment can be an outcome of this involvement. Recruiters and to a lesser degree companies are starting to use social media to spot candidates. 

But it's not an overnight thing, it's a slow process. And it can be messy, if one is not careful or does not have a personal brand strategy and goals. In addition to choosing a memorable URL, crafting a good about page and displaying contact information, consider having an RSS feed, a LinkedIn profile, a search button (I recommend Lijit) and a Creative Commons license. Other do's of social media to keep in mind when online are:

• participate
• share
• listen actively
• create content
• give value
• appreciate
• build community

I'm sure you can add to this list - in fact, the ACP members would probably be grateful if you did as this post is part of the leave-behind package.

Some don'ts are:

• broadcast
• target
• get lazy and copy
• be negative
• be disrespectful

The key attribute of social media to remember is that it is human and you get out of it what you put in - like everything else in life. Charles Leadbeater (author of "We-Think" -- watch his TEDtalk) said (hat tip to Bruno Giussani):

The traditional media landscape is like a beach with boulders, the BBC boulder, the News Corp boulder; some sometimes join to create even biggest boulders. Now the beach is a rising tide of pebbles, and many people are coming and dropping their pebble on the beach: basically we are all in the pebble business now. The models of the future are about how we link these pebbles together to create added value, to create something that it's more than a loose assembly. Can we match a growing capacity to participate, to contribute, with our ability to collaborate, to build, to make more complex and durable products?

That is also valid for our careers. In the course of a career, we now hold many different positions and play diverse roles. How do we connect the dots for our current and future employers? Our customers and partners are immersed in the same kind of reality. That is how we consume business and how we should do business. As professionals, we are also products and services.

The best candidates are not usually in an active search - they are what recruiters call passively-active. If networking is important face to face, online it is an even greater proposition - with more potential that is not tied to a geographic region or a specific discipline. It is more pull than push.

Branding in a tough economy matters - maybe because we are in the "touch economy" now. We need to see, experience, interact with, and feel before we buy. One of the most important aspects of differentiation and success is developing a voice with that online presence.

What can you add to this? What are some of the roadblocks and difficulties you have encountered? What are some of the joys of social media for your professional development and career?

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Related posts:

Personal Brand Equity for Rent
Business Uses for LinkedIn
Jason Alba on the Future of Work
Jobs Have Evolved, Shouldn't Job Search?
How to Write a Business Recommendation

Comments

[Derrick Kwa]

One thing I would say, at least for myself, is not to worry too much about the number of people reading your blog and all. It's very easy to get trapped in the stats of how many subscribers you have and page views you have - I've done it as well.

But personally, I would say it's more important to focus on who is reading. Don't worry if it's only a few - build relationships with them.

Oh, and the biggest thing about social media (or life in general, actually), in my opinion, is to be real. It's easy to try and hide behind the keyboard, in a sense. But it's not sustainable, and in the end it's not worth it. Don't try and be someone else. Don't try and hide your mistakes or pretend that you're perfect. Just be who you are, anything else will ultimately fail.

I know it's cliche and it's been said a lot, but just thought I'd say it (again), just because I think it's really that important.

[Simon K]

Great post and presentation. For me, the most important thing is to keep the faith and to keep giving. Even with no tangible or obvious returns, the underlying message and perception of utility will percolate through

[Tara Anderson]

You continue to inspire Valeria.

This post is a great primer for those just starting out and a wonderful reminder to those of us currently in the trenches. When I started as an evangelist, I didn't know what that meant exactly and was forced to create a job description for myself. Far and away the most difficult part of my job has been creating metrics to prove the success of what I've been doing. It's been hard to come up with numbers that accurately measure the relationships I've built.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and for your recommendation of Lijit. With evangelists like you, how can I not love my job?

[Daniel J. Pritchett]

Thanks for the great post! I can always use some reminders to keep me focused on helping the community through my social media participation. Some days it's too easy to focus on my own blog rather than the people I'm trying to connect with.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Derrick - well said. I am also glad you spotted this as I know you have and are using social media to develop a career. Today I mentioned the virtual internship a group of you had with Seth Godin.

@Simon - a point well taken. There a positive attitude that pays off and comes through when one is engaged.

@Tara - we are working on ROI for businesses with the Blog Council. But you are correct in that it is a challenge to measure relationships - they can be invaluable at the appropriate time and not show potential at other times. I've really liked using Lijit and the reports I get back so it's easy to recommend it.

@Daniel - good hearing from you! We're all guilty of being gluttons for staying busy and seldom taking the time to reassess and look at the big picture. Glad you enjoyed the post.

[simon Li]

What an excellent post! That was precisely my thinking when I first started my blog. Switching careers is certainly not easy to do for me, and this hopefully makes it easier for a potential employer to gauge my writing skills as well as interests. In addition, I started my blog as a method to learn about various subjects. How does one learn about a topic one does not know about? I think by explaining the concept using one's own method.

[Susan/Unique Business Opportunity]

I am new to the social media thing so I appreciate all the help I can find. Thank you for the information. My biggest roadblock is that I have so much to learn.

[Ari Herzog]

This is great information, Valeria. Focusing on one aspect, you state that broadcasting is a no-no in the social media landscape, as a company should share and engage. So, from a Twitter perspective, how do you react to the use of Twitterfeed? Personally, I have no problem with tweeters who use RSS as long as it's not 100% of the time. Thoughts?

Unrelated to the topic on hand but to your blog, how do you add "related posts" at the bottom of each post? Is that hand-coded, or are you using a Zemanta-like internal engine? Or is that a Typepad distinction?

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Simon - you demonstrate your willingness to learn with your blogging style. As customers we can gage a company's culture through its social media involvement as well. We ran out of time so we did not get too much into it, but that is also a consideration.

@Susan - I am still convinced this was a not so transparent way to get a back link. Your non-answer to my welcome email speaks volumes. In that case, you'd be missing the point entirely.

@Ari - I think of broadcasting as an overall attitude and not just part of your presence. Like you, I have no problem with sharing and learning about links, posts and resources, as long as that is not the main attitude and focus for being there. I think people can tell the difference. The related posts is a purely manual editorial addition to the service I provide my readers. I'm blessed with good memory about my archives and often I write about a topic months before it becomes sexy to do so ;-)