Can personal image make a difference to recruitment success?
The place of personal image in the recruitment process
Personal image in recruitment is most often studied at the initial stage of the recruitment process, when a candidate’s CV is available but the call for a job interview has not yet taken place. It is the details of the personal image that determine the invitation itself, which is the very first step in a successful recruitment process. If this barrier cannot be crossed, then the personal image needs to be taken seriously
The correlation between personal image and recruitment success
Image can make the difference between success and failure in recruitment. If it is clearly negative, the candidate may not be invited to interviews. Of course, a good image is not a guarantee of recruitment success, but it is a consideration in every position. The more senior the position, the more critical recruiters are of personal image. Personal image needs to be taken care of on a daily basis, but it is impossible to change it in a few days. This is why recruiters suggest that you should at least assess your personal image before you start looking for a job and take into account how much influence it may have and, at the same time, what questions recruiters may have about your personal image.
How personal image is examined by recruitment professionals
Recruiters never immediately call a suitable candidate’s CV for a job interview. They first review all public information relating to the candidate. Search by name for articles, social media accounts, search results by email address and phone number. All this information must be consistent with the requirements of the position, which are related to the candidate’s reputation. The information found can be varied, but often the candidate is found to be a director of one or more companies. This information, although not critical, must be well verified, as it may create a conflict of interest in the new role.
The phone number is also used to find advertisements placed by the candidate. If there are only a few, it’s not a big deal, but if there are a lot of adverts, then it also becomes unclear whether the candidate may have extraneous activities. Of course, a lot of information can be found on social accounts, where you can find out a lot about the candidate’s hobbies and written language skills. In more senior positions, there are often articles with the candidate’s speeches. There are enough sources of information to give recruiters an initial impression of a candidate without any special investigation.
How to take care of your personal image to help you get a better job
First of all, you need to monitor the publicly available information about yourself on the internet for all possible keywords. If you see any inaccurate, outdated or irrelevant information anywhere, you need to change or remove it. If the information is almost non-existent, there is nothing to be happy about either, as candidates who are not currently available on the internet also raise doubts. If a high-ranking production and sales manager has never spoken to the press on any issue, has not attended conferences, has no professional networking profile, etc., then anyone who has similar information about him or herself has an advantage. The amount of information must therefore be sufficient to create a good impression. If the candidate, after analysing his/her personal image, finds that this is the most revealing information about him/her, then it is necessary to continue along the same path.
