How To Pimp Your Personal Brand - And Why It’s Crucial To You Getting A Job

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You’ve probably heard it before, but your personal brand is key to your success when looking for a new job. As experts in careers here at CareerFoundry we are always advising career changers on the importance of pimping their personal brands in order to boost their chances of landing their dream job. You are your brand - so everything that you say and do in a public forum counts towards the impression you are giving potential recruiters who can and will Google your name.

Rather than trying to hide your social profiles away from professional connections, you can instead utilize them to get your name out there as an expert in your field and get yourself known as a sought-after candidate. In this post I will be outlining the value of the different social networks, what each one is specifically good for in terms of job hunting and self-promotion and how pimping your personal brand you will be the key to increasing your chances of getting that job.


The importance of LinkedIn
It’s easy to underestimate the importance of LinkedIn, it certainly doesn’t have the ‘cool’ factor of other social networks, but in terms of your career LinkedIn is gold. With over 225 million professionals on there LinkedIn is the taiwan phone number resource world’s largest professional network - getting your CV on there means you are mixing with the best in your industry, and contactable. It is one of the first things to pop up when prospective employers Google you before that crucial first interview - LinkedIn usually comes up as the first or second search result (and with 94% of users clicking on the first page of results and only 6% on the second page, having your name in such a prominent position makes you much easier to be found).

Use it, abuse it. Make the most of it. Fill it in with as many details as you can, if they don’t do it without prompting, ask former employers or clients (who you still have a good relationship with) to leave testimonials or comments about how great you are to work with. Use it to outline the sort of position you are looking for and link to all relevant work.

The most important thing about LinkedIn is that you can choose specifically how you portray yourself. You control the information that future clients or employers see - you can make that information - essentially YOU - sound as great as you know you are. No limitations. No wordcounts. No uncomfortable references. Just the best of what you can do. So when that employer searches for you they’ve got a big slice of who you are and what you do all in one place. Make your profile personable, friendly but above all professional - LinkedIn is not the place to post your holiday snaps however unbelievable that sunset was.