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Hiring In the Digital World

The question I’m asking is, in a digital world.

• Are these people the right thing?
• Do they have their own blog, as a digital citizen?
• Have they got their own YouTube channel?
• Are they contributing to the industry that they’re playing?

I’m not just talking about posting on Facebook, or Twitter, or LinkedIn.

Are they thought leaders, what are they doing?

There’s a word you’re going to hear a lot more about, or a statement you’re going to hear a lot about is digital citizens.

Realistically, are they set for the digital world?

If you’re employing people in a digital marketing business, they’ve got to be fluent in speak web.

Web, they’ve got to have reach.

They’ve got to be in that digital environment.

It’s really more important than how good they are at administration, or sales, or marketing.

I highly encourage you to read the book, Inbound by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, the HubSpot Founders.

It talks a lot more about the dark play on that.

It’s really, really good.

So, look it in that way, I’m challenging you in your business.

If you’re mechanical, if you’re digital, or anywhere in between.

Are we getting the right people?

Just because they qualified in a role.

• Is there a culture fit?
• Is there a character fit?

Do they share the same values for you?

In today’s modern world, and again it doesn’t matter if you’re in mechanical work, in manual labour work, whether you fit in building brick walls, houses, or you in legal practise such as solicitors.

Digital Work

The element of having digital in your business, and I’m not just talking marketing here, I’m talking about how your employees conduct themselves on social media.

Give you a quick example, a couple of years ago I was involved with a networking group, who is in construction.

A lot of the construction lads connected with me on Facebook.

Just this weekend, I opened up a Facebook post by a roofing contractor.

Straight across the page, Sunday morning as well, swearing and effing and blinding.

He’s got his badge, company name and I’ll spare him of the blushes there.

I just look at that and I think that in this digital world, he’s the boss of his own business he can do whatever he wants.

He might think he is clever across his construction buddies, and things like that, but when you are effing and blinding, on your Facebook page.

Here’s a quick play, I don’t know if you’re going to watch this, you know who you are, but I’ve got a 350,000 pounds conversion build on my bands and into new offices for Mike Midgley Executive.

I’m looking for a building contractor, and there’s no way I’m going to contact you if that’s how you conduct yourself online.

Whilst you might not have got that job anyway, the ultimate view is he’s definitely not getting the job because of the way he’s conducted himself.

So don’t just think that these digital citizens and digital people are for digital marketing and digital companies.

It’s for every business.

The way you conduct yourself, the way your employees conduct themselves, and they’re being associated with the company, it’s pretty important that you get that right.

So what I’d like you to do as a business owner today, I’d like you to look at, call it spying, call it what you want.

First and foremost, I’d like you to check your own profile.

Is it commensurate to how you want to be seen in your business?

Even in your personal profile.

Because people will check it.

Not just check your business space or page, they’ll check what you’re doing on a personal online.

Secondly, your key people.

Maybe middle management or other executives, have a look at their pages.

Maybe just see if there’s anything that’s distasteful, or anything like that on there, that you might just want to ask them to think about before they put on.

If not, then you’ve got a decision to make about how that affects, or if it does, or if you believe it affects your business.

But in the case of this particular building contractor, people who on a Sunday morning start effing and blinding on over their Facebook page.

When they’ve actually got the company header in the Facebook page, they’ll certainly not get my business.

I’m just wondering, I’d love to know if you want to post some comments, if you agree or disagree with me that’s absolutely fine.

But I would really like you to post some comments below, and let me know if you saw a company, with distasteful comments or stuff on there, whether you’d deal with them.

If you would and it wouldn’t bother you, great. I’d love to debate with you about that.

If it would, I’d like to know why you wouldn’t do it, and how much business you’ve not spent with companies because of that.