It’s easy to spot self-absorbed brands on social media.  What do they look like?  It’s not what they look like; it has to do with how they communicate.

 

· Learn more about us at blah blah blah.

· Be sure to “Like” our Facebook page!

· Did you catch our latest post?

· Hope you enjoy our tweets and posts!

· Please RT!

· Don’t miss our latest blah blah blah.

In addition, they rarely follow-back their audience.  Which means it’s impossible to start a direct message conversation with them.

“We’re looking for a lighter version of you.”  In a business recruiting situation, they probably don’t mean that you’re overweight.  Odds are they’re telling you that they think you’re “overqualified.”  And overqualified is usually code speak for the following:

 

1. You are too old.

2. You are too expensive.

3. The hiring manager would be uncomfortable with your credentials.  Perhaps even intimidated.

4. They don’t have the forward thinking vision to consider expanding the position, or to anticipate their future talent needs.

Several years ago I heard a story about a shoe repair shop from one of their long-time customers.  It’s a small business tale about trust with a twist that might surprise you.  Like many businesses, this shoe repair shop was built on a self-service model.  That model was necessary because the sole proprietor did his cobbling at night; during the day he held down a full-time job as an employee of another company.  His customers left their shoes for repair in a converted newspaper vending machine located on his front porch.

Your company needs a marketing leader so your HR team is engaged to round up the best possible candidates.  This person will provide leadership for your entire marketing group, craft your strategic marketing plan, and report directly to your CEO as part of the executive management team.  Your notice in LinkedIn draws many qualified candidates; in fact, you suspect there are some who currently earn more than your budgeted reference range.  You can only hire one of them though and you have a small staff, so you tell yourself that you don’t have time for niceties.

At the beginning of the 2014 NFL season I posted a short article related toNFL teams Follow-to-Follower ratios on Twitter.  That score card showed that most NFL teams, like most major brands, don’t follow-back their fans or customers: 

As you can see on the 2014 score card, the average NFL team was following back just 0.46% of their fans.  That ratio now stands at 0.27% which means the odds of your favorite team following you back are actually decreasing.

The economy remains weak which means your organization has its pick of talent during the hiring process.  In fact, you are probably getting tens if not hundreds of qualified applications for each position you seek to fill.  Your quest to find the “purple squirrel” (Recruiter jargon for the “perfect job candidate”) has been easy.  Although you have discovered that there are often fifty shades of purple!  No problem though, eventually HR will send forty-nine of them your standard politely worded “we’ve carefully considered, and best of luck” letter (HR jargon for rejection letter).