What do employers REALLY think of you?
It’s impossible to get a handle on how we’re perceived by everyone we meet, but when it comes to your career, you need to steer that perception.
From our social personas, to how we talk to employers and demonstrate our skills, every interaction gives an indication to who we are. So the question is: are you happy with the person you’re portraying?
You see, when you apply for a job, most hiring managers are going to Google you (scary, right?) so its worth taking the time to manage what they can see.
Building your brand
You need to sell yourself to potential employers, and to do that, you need to make your brand (you) desirable as an employee. These are some of our recommendations:
1. Firstly, ask people that you trust (friends, colleagues) to explain how they see you – both personally and professionally; good and bad, but stress the need to be honest!
2. Once you’ve got your feedback, think about how you can change the bad and promote the good: for example, if a colleagues suggests that you can seem standoffish, you’ll need to work on the warmth of your conversation. If a friend congratulates you on your dependability, you’ve identified a solid strength you can reference during interviews.
3. Then turn your attention to your online persona. Googling yourself is a good place to start. If the image results are less than professional, you might want to consider removing the worst offenders. The same goes for Twitter and LinkedIn: be conscious of whether you’re expressing views that could paint you in a negative light.
4. Lastly, consider how you come across in CVs, covering letters, and during interviews: you need to show a genuine passion for a company and always conduct yourself professionally, but don’t be robotic: employers want to see personality.
It’s not an exhaustive list, but we hope it’ll get you off to a really good start. After all, you want employers to value you, right?