Comments on: personal branding in a 2.0 recession

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:48:54 +0000

I agree wholeheartedly with Tricia. As a graduating MBA in 09, I am looking for a job and want to brand myself to the best of my abilities.

Quantity is NOT better than quality. Sure, a lack in quantity could hurt, but a candidate with 500+ LinkedIn contacts would make me wonder “Do all of these people REALLY know this person?” or “If I messaged a connection to this person, what is the probability that they would be able to tell me something useful that will lead me to a successful hire?” I think you’ve got it wrong. Facebook is the place where you can friend to your heart’s content. More professionally focused websites should be kept for those purposes only – being able to connect to people you actually know and could accurately portray who you are to a potential employer.

By: Brandi

Brandi — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:23:09 +0000

What this discussion illuminates is the difference between the way the Baby Boomer Generation works and how Generation Y works now. As we all know, Baby Boomers are set to retire in large numbers in the next 10 years. The next wave of hires will come from the Gen Y talent pool–the social media gurus. If they use social media to find jobs and make connections, shouldn’t businesses take that as a sign that *they* need to be using social media, too? If “relevancy” is what you’re going for, then that’s a big, glaring sign that blinks the word “relevancy here.”

Accepting the personal brand as a legitimate component in a worker’s profile and welcoming these hiring trends for the next generation is crucial — especially in times like these.

Brandi Blades
Brill Street + Company
http:www//brillstreet.com

By: Johanne

Johanne — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 09:46:05 +0000

Nice points you mentioned – especially about networking in person compared to networking online.

By: Tricia Folliero

Tricia Folliero — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:44:13 +0000

Quantity is just as important as quality? The assumption that if a candidate has many connections on Linkedin he would make a better candidate doesn’t take the following into account: (1) Does he spend his whole day on Linkedin, Facebook and other sites wasting time & getting no where? (2) Is he just popular but not necessarily intelligent or qualified? (3) Does the amount of contacts this person knows have anything to do with his job? Meaning, only if you are seeking a salesperson with a “large book of business” would this be a factor.

And Direct Connections instead of job postings? Not in education, healthcare or many other industries, as well as that method of recruiting would not work for many experienced high-quality candidates (possibly older) who don’t heavily involve themselves in social networking. That does not mean they are not able to excel at their job, it is just a different mindset.

Although personal brands are important, reputation & solid work experience should come before online fluff. Also, posting jobs on niche industry association sites allows you to get the passive job seeker which is usually the better candidate that would have never searched on a social networking site.

http://www.smmadagency.com

By: Wendy Terwelp

Wendy Terwelp — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:30:02 +0000

GREAT post. Dead on with the networking tips; 61 to 85 percent of people land jobs through networking (depending on the survey). And face-to-face is critical. If you’re relocating – voice-to-voice works. Make it personal. Create a quality connection (not quantity). GIVE. Even if you are unemployed you can still give. Give a connection, resource, helpful tip…
- Wendy Terwelp, networking coach
- http://www.knocks.com

By: Ted

Ted — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:25:43 +0000

“Reality trumps virtual reality” – never has this been more true. I also thought about your 5 versus 500+ linkedin example. I think you are right, but at some point, people have to think that too many connections is weird. Great article, thanks Dan.