Did you know that your social media profiles are now being checked by HR professionals? This was one of the revelations that surfaced at the panel that took place during the recently held Philippine Property and Investment Exhibition moderated by The Filipino Times General Manager Vince Ang about “Personal Branding” that hosted Tricia Jimenea, Engagement Director at Katch International.
“Your personal brand is basically your promotion of yourself – it’s your self-packaging. Your representation of yourself in front of your stakeholders,” shares Jimenea.
Jimenea defines stakeholders as individuals that you connect with on your social media platform who may directly or indirectly be affected by what you say or do on social. “It can be your family, your friends, your colleagues; it can even be potential employers,” adds Jimenea.
She then added that her company is among those that now keep track and check for potential candidates through social media platforms: “So see, even if you’re a private person – like for instance in my company, when we search for potential candidates for certain positions, it’s not enough that we look at your LinkedIn. We go to your Facebook page, Instagram, we look at what you say and do.”
Fabricated newsfeeds
However, Jimenea was also quick to note that employers these days are also perceptive and definitely knows how to read between the lines for people that they do check. “You shouldn’t obviously be promoting something that you’re not. Social media is a platform to inform other people a lot more about who you are, what you do, what you enjoy doing. It shouldn’t be fabricated to begin with,” said Jimenea.
So with these in mind, netizens should both carefully consider what they’re posting all while keeping things real so as to avoid a fabricated, curated image of their lifestyle. “So in order to establish your personal brand you need to understand also who you want to be, do you want to be seen as a good mother or father, as a reliable friend, as a professional? All of these contribute to your personal brand,” advises Jimenea.
The power of foresight
Jimenea’s advice? She popped a question for netizens to constantly think of: “Is this something that is in line with who I am and not just who I am today but who I want to be in the future?”
With adequate foresight, Jimenea hopes to enlighten netizens that the posts that they do today will not only reflect their state today, it will also either hinder or push them forward in the years ahead. “So you have to consider ‘is this who I want to project to everyone, not just to the people around me today but is this something that when I go back to, I’ll happily share to other people as well?’
She advises netizens to engage their social media stakeholders with posts that mirror their daily lives, while keeping in mind the effects each post will have not just on themselves but to their sphere of influence as well from the moment they post it and the years beyond.
