11 Qualities Your Personal Brand Should Convey to Employers - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

11 Qualities Your Personal Brand Should Convey to Employers - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career How important is the  personal  brand  of  your  key hires? What do you look out for (bad or good)? The following answers are provided by members of  Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched  StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses. 1. Authenticity I am transparent with people from day one and what we do matters to our clients.  I cant afford to work with people who are contrived, pretentious or interested in company politics. In an entrepreneurial environment, you have to lay it all on the line. If  your  team doesnt always tell you the truth,  your  business wont last. Scott Petinga,  The Scott Petinga Group 2. Adaptability and Enthusiasm When hiring people, I always recognize those who have diverse and interesting resumes/past experience.  Young companies that are still in the process of growing need employees who are quick to adapt to new situations and enthusiastic about change. Simon Casuto,  eLearning Mind 3. The Real Deal A strong  personal  brand  in a potential hire is a sign of someone who not only claims to be an expert at their craft, but practices what they preach. It often provides more insights into the working habits of a key hire, and shows that they are likely the type of person who will add value beyond the job description. This qualification is especially important at a growing company. Brian Honigman,  Marketing Consultant 4. Consistency Between  Personal  and Company  Brand A great startup is born out of a great team, and you need to see that the way  your  team represents themselves publicly is consistent with your  company culture and  brand. With that in mind, not everyone in  your  company needs to have a  personal  brand  if their role is more internal. They just need to fit in with the team. Basha Rubin,  Priori Legal 5. Respected Members of the Tech/Startup Community Its important  that hires are respected members of the tech/startup community. Olo looks for engineers who are strong contributors to open source platforms like GitHub and non-engineers who have built a complimentary network. We go far beyond LinkedIn to do extensive reference checks that utilize our own deep network. That helps us to get it right with new hires more often than not. Noah Glass,  Olo 6. It Depends on the Position If the hire is public-facing meaning theyre dealing with clients, customers, partners or key suppliers, the  personal  brand  of a key hire is much more important than if theyre, say, a developer. In this case, the most important things are their communication, skill set, experience and ability to collaborate. Though obviously if you do something obscene or stupid, it always matters. Travis Steffen,  MentorMojo 7. Value Alignment iReputation and alignment on values matters a great deal. Specifically, we look for candidates with three key  qualities: solid skills and knowledge, an ability to manage themselves and prioritize their work, and passion. If they’re not excited about our business, they won’t be a good fit. David Ehrenberg,  Early Growth Financial Services 8. Well-Crafted Social Profiles Anyone looking to work with  your  company in a significant way will be all over the social profiles of  your  senior execs. Its essential that they understand the nuances of how to position themselves in the correct way, and arent making mistakes that mark them out as newbies. Joshua March,  Conversocial 9. A Solid  Personal  Brand Digital presence is  your  calling card and resume all wrapped into one.  Your  personal  brand  extends well beyond professionalism. Whats onyour  social media accounts? All of these create an impression on employees and potential customers. We do an audit of all potential candidates online presence to better understand who they are and what they bring to the table (the good and bad). Chris Cancialosi,  GothamCulture 10. Tech Savviness We found that the best business development and sales candidates are are also excellent at marketing themselves and have solid  personal brands. Its a major plus if a potential business hire has their own  personal  website because it shows that they are tech savvy. For engineering candidates, we look at the quality of their Github repositories and StackOverflow profiles. Nanxi Liu,  Enplug 11. Awards or Other Accolades Typically awards or accolades  show that their peers think they are good at their job. Instead of guessing what somebody is capable of, let their accomplishments speak for themselves. Its like buying a 5-star product on Amazon you kind of know what youre getting in advance based on others reviews. Andy Karuza,  Brandbuddee Featured Photo