The ‘digital footprint’ is a fast-growing recruitment catchphrase. Information is at our fingertips and recruiters are now the next generation of Sherlocks: give me a name and in a blink, I’ll have everything from your place of birth to your latest selfie right on file. But what about our own e-profiles as recruiters?

Digitally aware candidates in a competitive market no longer take roles at face value: it’s all about the holistic view. Put a job description up and your pay-per-click will hit the roof as the Google searches fly. But what will our candidates find? We invest thousands on a digital presence to attract customers, but systematically neglect brand management for recruiting purposes.

Actually, that’s not strictly true. At the top end, brand management to aid candidate attraction is common practice. From Aldi to Sky or our own NHS: if they’re looking for entry-level talent, you’ll find their name sneaking on to the Best Companies to Work For list or on stands at every freshers’ fair. But the rest of us are falling behind.

I may not have the budget to throw at every employer’s event or award nomination going, but I will testify that recruitment branding is an ongoing process. I’m less interested in a bogstandard webpage that simply churns out “company values”. You and every other name in the market. A faceless entity that believes in “investing in people” does little to whet the appetite of these modern-day detectives.

When we strategically and continuously use the tools available, even the smallest tadpole in the pool can compete with the big fish. Candidates don’t necessarily love the biggest brands; but they do need an identity. There’s a reason the Harlem Shake craze saw a surprising return: when you build a personable digital footprint, you relate to your audience on a different level. Social media interactions, online reviews, uploading pictures from your latest staff ‘do’: the more you post, the greater the trail.

When you have an employer profile that is unique and real, the rewards speak for themselves. Candidate-focused brand management promotes reactive recruitment to both attract and retain top-level talent. Perhaps one day we won’t even need to hire. We can simply snap our own professional selfie and sit back to wait for the right candidates to walk through the door.

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