HR Pulse

Branding is so important for recruiters

These days, the success of your business endeavours depends on the image you project. For example, if you say that you're going to return someone's phone call – but you don't – you're actually telling them you're unreliable, which will lead them to think twice about getting into business with you. And if this person represents a company who's in dire need of 50 candidates - and wants you to recruit them - based on the brand image you projected he will most likely take his business elsewhere. How can you ensure that this doesn't happen to you? Kate Moodley, author of I Inc: Be the CEO of your Brand, shared a couple of paths you can follow.

Be 100% sure of what your brand represents

The fundamental starting block of building a successful brand, says Moodley, is to form a solid foundation. If you're a professional organisation, such as the Federation of African Professional Staffing Organisations (APSO), make sure that your members embody your corporate brand as these are the people who spread the word about the organisation. So if any one of the members doesn't observe "the highest principles of ethics, integrity, equity, professional conduct and fair practice" (taken from the APSO code of ethics) this individual will be damaging the organisation's brand.

What happens when your personal values don't align with corporate values?

Then, says Moodley, you need to find another job because one's personal brand needs to align very closely with the brand of the company you decide to work for. The old adage - "Leave your personal problems at home when you leave for the office" – is not achievable because, for example, your work ethic (which is part of your personal brand) will affect how you approach your job, which will affect the company's brand.

How do you build your personal brand?

Your personal brand needs to represent your unique selling point - i.e. what clients looking for candidates can get only from you as opposed to any other of countless recruitment agencies out there. Just remember that your personal brand must be about what makes you different - not anyone else. So don't worry: it isn't necessary to run out and train to be a concert pianist or pro golfer!

Moodley's 5 tips on how to build a personal brand

1. Be authentic

People see right through others who aren't authentic and avoid these people like the plague – rightly so. Put yourself in a client's shoes for a second. If an agency supplies you with a candidate who you said had a specific qualification – and whose praises you sung - but it turns out that they don't and this person actually can't do the job they are looking to fill, would the client use the recruitment agency again? No, would be the answer. So to avoid alienating potential clients, always be honest and upfront about your company and its practices.

2. Plan your personal brand well!

Your personal brand is a living brand. "It's not something that you think about today and forget about tomorrow. It's something you consistently work at with every single e-mail and sms, every phone call and every engagement with a client or candidate," stresses Moodley.

Big corporates employ brand managers who are entrusted with planning the company's brand strategy and ensuring that they live up to it. You need to be your own brand manager and keep track of your brand every single day to make sure you're living up to it.

3. Become comfortable with promoting yourself

There's a fine line between arrogance and confidence: you don't want to be arrogant and alienate potential clients and candidates but at the same time you don't want to be the "world's best-kept" secret, as Moodley puts it.

Get out there because if you're good at what you do, you need to portray yourself as someone who's got the skills and expertise a potential client can leverage off. So market yourself properly.

4. Guard your image with your life

Always strive to portray yourself in the best possible light because people are always assessing and analysing you. Say, for example, you don't reply to a candidate who was unsuccessful after a first-round job interview. In her next company, when they're asked to recommend a recruitment agency because the company's opening another division and needs 1 000 new staff members, your agency's name will be the last thing on her mind because of the bad impression you left on her by not getting back to them.

5. Be committed to excellence and leave a legacy you are proud of

It doesn't matter what you do, be passionate about it. When you are passionate about something it becomes much easier to build a brand.

Lia Marus is the editor of HR Pulse. She has a BA in French, Italian and Linguistics from UCT, an MA in translation from Wits and a Postgraduate Diploma in Management from the Wits Business School. She is currently studying towards her LLB through Unisa. Lia started her career off in corporate communications, where she worked as a sub-editor, researcher and marketing coordinator. She then heeded the call of the publishing world and went into the business-to-business publishing field. She worked as a sub-editor as well as a chief sub-editor. Before joining ITWeb, she managed an HR guidebook at a leading international publishing company.