At CPI Twin Cities, we make sure our candidates are found!

Gone are the days when it was enough just to be good. Today’s job candidates need both ability and visibility. Savvy Recruiters, using online resources to prescreen candidates, can simply type the name of a pending candidate into the Google search engine to see what it reveals about them. Whether job candidates are applying for a corporate job, pitching work as a consultant or hoping to get a networking meeting with a potential colleague, they can count on being Googled!

Preparing job candidates for today’s employment search requires new techniques and coaching expertise beyond traditional outplacement tools. CPI Twin Cities’ Reach™ Certified career consultants coach candidates through the process of personal branding to ensure results by helping them:

• Clarify what they want in the next job
• Leverage social media to enhance and expand online reputation
• Create a personal brand statement to be used in all professional communications
• Establish thought leadership and subject matter expertise
• Build career brand tools and personal marketing materials
• Create and enhance online identities through LinkedIn, DoYouBuzz and other online tools
• Build a stellar network
• Jump-start networking efforts through access to the CPI career community – alumni networking events, searchable alumni database, and continuous access to resources and services beyond defined program and during on-boarding.

Establishing your brand
CPI Twin Cities career coaches work with candidates to determine and establish their personal brand – what sets them apart from others who may share similar experience and skills.  Too many job candidates sound alike, and it’s critical to find the differentiators.   A great tool is the 360°Reach – Personal Brand Assessment, the first and leading web-based personal brand assessment tool that helps to get the real story regarding how a person is perceived by others. This provides critical feedback that candidates need to expand career success, gain confidence, and thrive in today’s competitive environment.

If you don’t show up in Google, do you exist?
We coach our clients to create positive online visibility and brand presence using LinkedIn and DoYouBuzz, among other sites, to keep current with the newest online tools and strategies. When a recruiter Googles a candidate, that person pops up first if they own their Public Profile URL on LinkedIn.  It’s like having a personal SEO (search engine optimizer). We teach our candidates where to find keywords and where to place them on the online tools so they will come up higher in a search.

How do you control what is said about you and what shows up in Google?
Throughout our personal branding process, we coach our clients on creating online visibility to reflect their expertise. We research the right blogs to comment on, LinkedIn Groups to join, and which discussion questions to place and answer. Most importantly we coach our clients on creating a strategy for being found where they want to be found.

Do You Know Your Brand?
Take the personal branding quiz, by REACH Communications, and see how strong your brand is.  It will be an eye opener!

It’s a new employment world out there – a world of online branding, recruiting through web-based tools, and “getting found”.   Find a qualified partner to help you navigate the possibilities and put your best brand forward!

About the author:

Anne Pryor, Senior Career Consultant, is a connector with more than 20 years of experience in “facilitating meaningful connections.” She lives a portfolio career life as a senior career coach, online brand strategist and LinkedIn trainer. Anne helps clients to be found online for great job opportunities by teaching and consulting with clients one-on-one to help them accelerate success through their career transitions. Anne is one of CPI Twin Cities Reach™ Certified career consultants.