How to Become a Recruitment Influencer in Your Niche

To survive in today’s busy market, you need a strong personal brand to stand out. Recruiters everywhere are competing for the same candidates, so what are you doing to ensure they come to you?

Studies have shown that candidates are ten times more likely to follow and interact with you online rather than the company you work for – which means you’re much better at pulling in candidates on social media than your employer, congrats!

So, how do you create a personal brand that’ll turn you into a recruitment influencer and make candidates want to come to you?

Know your story

Every successful brand has a good story, and you’re no different!

If you’re unsure what your story is, just ask yourself:

“Why do I recruit in my niche?”

“What services do I offer that my competitors don’t?”

“what makes me stand out from the 1,000s of other recruiters out there?”

And there’s your story!

The answers to these questions define your place in the market and should influence everything you do from your recruitment pitch, to how you present yourself online.

If you're needing more direction with this part, read this blog.

Stand out from the crowd

There are millions of recruiter social media profiles online, so if you want to stand out as a recruiter worth knowing (RWK) you need to stand out. Here are some quick ways you can change up your LinkedIn profile so people notice (and remember!) you:

• Make your profile name stand out by including emojis or changing the font to something different, like this…

To do this, you just need to use a Unicode text styler and simply copy/paste it into your profile section.

• Make your LinkedIn pic stand out: Try putting a coloured border around your profile picture like our Chief Fish Wendy. You can do this really easily using one of these free design tools.
• Treat your profile as an advert: Using your LinkedIn profile just to say where you’ve been working the last few years isn’t going to make you memorable to anyone. Instead, use your profile as a platform to show off all the interesting things you’ve been working on, like our Senior Growth Specialist Joanne has done (and if you don’t have anything to show, do something about it!).
• Personalise your URL: When you create a LinkedIn profile, you’ll be given an euto-generated URL (e.g. linkedin.com/in/2749247). You can edit your URL to match your name so it looks more professional by selecting ‘Edit public profile & URL’ in the top right-hand side of your profile the page.

Extra tip: If you’re using several different platforms to recruit, use the same profile picture across the board for consistency. That way, people will start to recognise you instantly no matter which platform you’re on.

Create buzz

To become an influencer in your niche, you need to create buzz around your name, your online profiles and make people want to interact with you.

To do this, you need to start talking! Here’s how to go about it…

Interacting with other people’s content is just as important as creating your own content because that’s how you get noticed by people outside of your existing network.

Look for content that’s trending in your industry (here’s how to do this) and start engaging people and leaving your ‘two cents’ so you get noticed by anyone who’s interacting with this post.  

Just make sure you’ve actually read or watched whatever it is you’re commenting on and have genuinely formed some thoughts/opinions before you interact.

Being an influencer is very much about being valuable and impactful, not just speaking for the sake of being heard. There’s nothing more embarrassing than being caught out for posting something totally irrelevant just to get your word in there - this will only damage your reputation, not build it!

And avoid posting controversial comments just to get attention. It might initially get a reaction but in the long run you’ll just get a reputation for being an online troll

2. Create content that others want to interact with

Creating your own posts is obviously the most effective ways to build your personal brand on social.

A great trick to get more responses on your LinkedIn post is to ask your network a question at the start of your post, as people feel compelled to answer your question (or leave their ‘two cents’!) in the comments.

When people comment on your post, always reply to their message and tag them in it so your post will be shared on their connections’ newsfeeds – expanding the reach of your post even further.

Posting video is another great way to get your network engaged with your personal brand, but don’t just do video for video’s sake. There’s a lot of competition even in the LinkedIn video world – use these LinkedIn video dos and don’ts to make sure you hit the spot.

Don’t worry if your first couple flop. It’s all about trial and error and what works today might not work tomorrow – which is why you need to keep learning from your results and adjust your strategy according to what’s working and what’s not.

Keep evolving your strategy

To be a recruitment influencer, you need to have your finger on the pulse and be relevant to your market, and staying relevant is the hardest part!

Take time out of your day every day to practice self-development to ensure you’re growing with your industry and learning something new every day.

Marketing your personal brand is key to standing out in 2020 and 'social selling' is what gets you in front of the right candidates and clients. The eBook below will tell you everything you need to know to get started!