Alan Sutherland

IT jobs insight: Modern CIOs NEED to work on their personal branding

For Chief Information Officers (CIO), operating in an increasingly online world, the need to develop strong personal branding is becoming paramount, especially to succeed in securing the top IT jobs. Having reputable personal branding, as an industry recognised CIO, will provide many strategic advantages for IT companies. Such as increased exposure, stronger client relationships, and retention of team members, as a result of having a trustworthy reputation. There is also a growing normality for employers and IT recruitment agencies to use social media when screening candidates during the hiring process - to measure their eligibility for the top IT jobs. Three top reasons to have effective personal branding: 1. People need to know you, in order to trust you. Decision makers within will use information that they can, or cannot, find about an individual online, to decide on whether to interview an individual. What’s more, a CIO should develop their own identity to make themselves trustworthy and credible to their companies’ existing and potential clients, it can directly make your company and its products / solutions appear more attractive. 2. If you don’t stand out online, your competition will. IT jobs will become even more competitive in the future than they already are now. Establishing a powerful online presence, in an already crowded space, will make you more visible and memorable to IT recruiters and potential employers. 3. Being more visible online will open more doors for opportunities. Strong personal branding will help build relationships for you, expose you to a larger audience and create a stronger network. An effective CIO and leader will have a relatable reputation that enables their followers to connect with them, an ever-growing network, and will become a beacon for specialist technical thought-leadership. Three top tips to improve your personal branding and secure the best IT jobs: 1. Figure out your values, beliefs, and goals. Identifying what drives you is crucial in helping you to create authentic personal branding that demonstrates your existing skills and strengths to IT recruitment agencies. They can then best match you to the employers that share a similar vision. 2. Understand your audience. Once you know your values and goals, it will become easier for you to recognise who you want to stand out to and why. Identifying organisations that have similar traits and motivations to you, will allow you to build a greater rapport with them and develop a stronger reputation in the industry. 3. Align your values to your organisation’s goals. When you recognise how your values match with your company’s vision, it creates the opportunity for you to stand out when applying for competitive IT jobs. You can use what you’re passionate about, in line with the company’s core values, to drive both the organisation’s progression and your personal growth. A successful CIO can align their vision with the company’s goal, to devise the best IT strategy to achieve it. As one of the top IT recruitment agencies globally, our recruitment consultants are specialists in matching amazing IT jobs with industry experts. Check out our website to find your next IT role and expand your own network by joining our fantastic tech community on our LinkedIn page today.

Alan Sutherland

Practice Director - USA

Oscar Insights & Media