Articles - Recruiting and Candidate Dev

Executive recruiters, search consultants, headhunters and hiring managers all share one thing in common – they all use search engines to screen potential executive job candidates or to find new executive talent.  

A key component to a successful internet strategy for executive job seekers is to ensure you rise to the top of search engine results.

There are many proactive techniques you must employ in order to achieve a professionally self-managed online presence, and put yourself in front of key decision makers. The following steps are a guide to helping you rise to the top in search engine land.

1. Take control of profiles created by online information aggregators

There are many websites out there that trawl the internet, gathering, storing and then presenting information about as many people as possible. No doubt you will have a profile somewhere on www.zoominfo.com, www.spokeo.com, www.jigsaw.com, etc.  All of these websites allow you to take control of your ‘contact card’ and choose what is displayed. Delete any errors and create a profile that is accurate and compliments your executive career.

2. Gage your career strength and uncover your online foot print. 

My Career Web http://mycareerweb.com is a new “free” personal brand monitoring tool that allows you to assess how strong is your presence on the web by analyzing your Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter network and Google footprint.  The operative word is “insight.”  And at this site you can get plenty of it.

3. To re-iterate, social networking is for senior executives

Using social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Plaxo or Xing is a key component to establishing your personal brand online. Each or these websites are highly ranked by search engines, so a profile created here will rise higher in search results than profiles created by the information gathers highlighted above. It is also a great way to compete with others of the same name.   Take time to develop your online profiles; you cannot simply replicate your resume. You must concisely portray your key professional and personal accomplishments with an executive summary that immediately draws interest from industry leaders, hiring managers and executive recruiters.

4. There is more to Google

Google has a profiles option which is integrated with the rest of Google’s expansive list of programs such as Gmail or Google Reader (a must have RSS reader). Having a Google profile will help you get another link found by search engines, and beat that rival executive with the same name.  Visit www.google.com/profiles to create an online profile much like Linkedin or Facebook – because of the high visibility in Google’s own search engine, I would suggest keeping personal info out and making it a professional extension of your personal brand.

5. Tweet

Using Twitter you can follow target companies, executive search firms, individual executive recruiters and rise to the top of search engines just by having a profile. More than 300,000 users are joining twitter every day.

6. Create a portfolio of presentations on www.slideshare.com

Slideshare is an online service used to host presentations online, and share with internet users worldwide. Slideshare is a great way to establish yourself as an industry leader by sharing presentations demonstrating your knowledge and helping readers to learn from your experience.  Create a personal branding presentation similar to a C.V. or resume. Include links to company websites and other content that is relevant to your personal brand. Outline your professional history, include photos and videos to tell your story, and start with a clear executive summary. Lastly, publish it on your LinkedIn profile by visiting the LinkedIn home screen, scroll to the end of the right column and choose slideshare presentation from the ‘add application’ button.

7. Demonstrate thought leadership through blogging

Following the goal of establishing yourself as a thought leader and creating branded content to be found by search engines, blogging is the key to any sustained online presence. Each post you write can be published to your Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin etc. and will be further fuel for search engines. The key is to find a subject or identify a passion about which you will be able to publish content regularly – ideally your industry or function.

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Biography

Gerard “ Gerry” F. Corbett, APR, Fellow PRSA is Founder and CEO of Redphlag LLC, a strategic  public relations, marketing and management consulting firm, a position to which he was named in January 2008.  He also has a coaching practice and blogs and tweets as the PR Job Coach.  Gerry has served four decades in senior marketing and communications roles at Global Fortune 100 firms including Hitachi, Loral, Asarco, Gould and International Harvester and earlier in his career in aerospace engineering and information technology with Silicon Valley firms and NASA.   He also is an account director with the Taproot Foundation and a member of the board of directors of Kids’ Turn, a San Francisco Non-Profit organization.

A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Gerry has a Bachelors of Arts degree in public relations from San Jose State University, San Jose, California, and an Associates of Arts with a major in electronics engineering from the Community College of Philadelphia.

Gerry is 2011 Chair-elect and member of the executive committee and board of directors of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA.)  He also is Accredited in Public Relations by PRSA and a member of PRSA’s College of Fellows.  He is a senior member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; a member of the board and past president of the International Advertising Association/West; a member of the National Investor Relations Institute, Arthur Page Society, National Association of Science Writers, San Francisco PR Roundtable, International Coaching Federation, Social Media Club and New York PR Society.

For further information, please go to http://www.redphlag.com and http://www.prjobcoach.com.

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