Crafting the Perfect Digital Hiring Identity

Crafting the Perfect Digital Hiring Identity by Thomas Dove & Robb Green

Talent is becoming your best consumer. Just like you would revamp a shop window to attract more customers, perfecting your Digital Hiring Identity is key to attracting top-quality talent.

Why?

Because your leadership team is the product. The job hunt has become a consumer-based decision, so you’ll need to adapt and develop your methods effectively. This includes adding in some new strategies that might not have an obvious impact on your standard hiring metrics.

I’ve written this article to give you a crash course on the best Digital Hiring Identity practices. We’ll cover the following:

·???????What is a Digital Hiring Identity?

·???????Why Do You Need a Digital Hiring Identity?

·???????How Do You Create the Perfect Digital Hiring Identity?

What is a Digital Hiring Identity?

A Digital Hiring Identity is the ‘online shop window’ that all interested candidates will see when they check out your business. It includes your website, social media pages, and the profiles of your leadership team.

Your online identity covers a variety of digital touchpoints for potential candidates, and each one will either persuade or dissuade them from wanting to become your next employee.

An effective identity will highlight your and your company’s values, show them what type of leader you are, and what exciting things are happening in the business. These elements will appeal to the top tier of talent currently on the market.

Why Do You Need a Digital Hiring Identity?

A range of global effects are changing the dynamic between employers and employees, chief among them is the Talent Crunch. Essentially, this means candidates are gaining more power in the hiring process.

In the past, companies would have their pick of applicants — this is no longer the case. Now, to attract the best candidates available, you have to convince them why they should work for you.

So, where does a digital hiring identity come in?

Leaders Not Jobs

One significant development is that people are now picking leaders instead of jobs.

So while your company brand may be perfectly targeted, you must ensure your leader’s personal brands match the company’s values. From an employee’s point of view, a bad leader can quickly make their dream job a miserable one, so digital identities need to be refined.

If prospective employees look up your team, they should see a wealth of detail that confirms they would be both happy and valued at your company. For example, this could involve publishing an article about the benefits of encouraging employee development.

Personal Beats Corporate

Personal content has ten times the reach of business content, so if you’re only focused on pushing updates through your company page, you’re missing a massive chunk of your audience.

People buy people. You could have the exact same message come from a personal brand and a corporate one, and you’ll get two wildly different results. Stop putting yourself at a disadvantage, and make the most of the tools at your disposal.

Of course, personal branding needs to be properly developed to attract and grow an online audience.

Candidates Search Leaders

Your leaders are a huge digital touchpoint. Did you know that our executive search team have found that candidates are looking up hiring managers and potential leaders while still on the call?

With that kind of immediate attention, your leadership team should have fully developed and updated profiles if they want to keep securing the best talent. For instance, you wouldn’t expect an outdated shop to outperform a user-friendly and inviting one if they were selling the same product. Why should your leaders’ profiles be any different?

The Solution

Crafting and perfecting your digital hiring identity is an excellent way to do this. It makes your leaders more personable and builds a sense of trust. That way, a rapport has already been developed when a candidate starts the hiring process.

Building a strong connection with a candidate can massively improve their candidate experience — a key decision-maker when having to choose between multiple job offers.

How Do You Create the Perfect Digital Hiring Identity?

Now that you know what a digital hiring identity is and why you need one, it’s time to build yours. We’ve broken down each point you need to focus on below.

We’ll focus on LinkedIn profiles, because these are one of the first places that candidates will look when reviewing your company.

We often hear that Hiring Managers and Business Leaders aren’t updating their profiles because they aren’t looking for a job. This is completely the wrong attitude to take, because it leaves your profile stale and out of date.

When potential candidates search for your profile, they come across the outdated account and are instantly demotivated from the job role.

On the other hand, an active and well-curated profile can excite potential candidates, and spur them through the hiring process.

Profile Picture

The point of a profile picture is to help someone identify you. With this in mind, consider if your profile picture is fit for purpose or not. Many aren’t. It’s all too common to find a picture that is outdated, too far away, or otherwise unrecognisable.

For example, imagine trying to find the person above from this profile picture. It may seem fun and representative of your lifestyle, but it’s terrible as a profile picture.

Compare it to this one by our CCO and LinkedIn Changemaker, Andrew MacAskill.

To make sure your profile picture is suitable, make sure you check off the following points:

·???????A recent picture

·???????How you typically look

·???????Head and shoulder shot

While your picture doesn’t have to look exactly like the one in the example above, it highlights the standard you should aim for.

The reason I’ve said a “recent picture” is because it’s all too common to find that the picture someone uses no longer looks anything like them. In fact, in worst-case (but real) scenarios, these pictures have been 10-15 years out of date.

This makes it virtually impossible to identify the person you’ve built a connection with in any real-life setting.

Banner Image

On most profiles, the banner image is just dead space. Not having one, or using an image that doesn’t contribute anything is wasted potential.

Your banner photo should exemplify you and your field. For example, graphic designers may prefer a more artistic banner image, whereas pharmaceutical leaders may choose a more professional one. It’s all about playing to your audience.

About Box

Your about section is your chance to talk directly to your candidates. You can tell them who you are, your priorities, and your passions.

For instance, Andrew’s About box starts with a short intro line and then explains who he is.

By leading with “Father”, Andrew highlights that he is family-focused. This instantly makes him more approachable to family-orientated candidates. It tells them that he’s more likely to be sympathetic to any issues that arise (such as a child being unwell).

In contrast, if “Father” was put last, candidates may assume that family isn’t a priority and any emergencies are likely to be met with resistance.

How you write your about section is vital, as it directly impacts the talent you attract. Think about the talent you want to attract, what they care about, and then write your about section accordingly.??

Experience Section

Your experience section is the perfect place to give profile viewers insights into your company. While your previous roles don’t have to be too detailed, your current position should mention what’s happening right now in the job.

There are four points you should keep in mind when filling in the experience section of your profile:

·???????The Scope

·???????The Scale

·???????The Vision

·???????The Mission

This can give applicants a much better understanding of the job role, as well as what progression may look like for them.

Recommendations

When you buy something online, you check the reviews, right? As a Hiring Leader, you are essentially the ‘product’ being reviewed. Potential candidates will check your recommendations when choosing their new job, because this provides the best insight into who you are.

This is the section most people will struggle with, but it will also provide the best returns. Heat maps show that once someone has looked at your profile for longer than one minute, they’ll spend the most time looking at your recommendations.

Of course, this is impossible if you don’t have any. So go get yourself some social proof, and ask for recommendations. ?