Personal Branding: A Valuable HR Asset When You Master Its Codes

Will a travel agent with a massive LinkedIn following be easier to recruit? Does a collaborator who regularly shares their expertise represent an asset… or a risk for their employer?

As social networks play an increasingly important role in professional journeys, personal branding becomes a new HR topic.

For Valérie Dufour, HR consultant and head of the Employment and Job Ads department at TourMaG.com, personal branding has profoundly transformed recruitment practices in tourism.

“Previously, we limited ourselves to the résumé and cover letter. Today, we also look at a candidate’s online presence: their LinkedIn profile, sometimes Instagram or TikTok for certain creative or client-facing roles.”, she explains.

This digital presence provides a complementary light on a candidate’s professional stance, their ability to communicate, their expertise, or their network in the sector.

“It’s become a supplemental information source, almost a living résumé.”

She cites in particular the recent case of a travel advisor who attached a link to her Instagram account, where she has been sharing her own travels in Latin America for two years and practical tips for her community.

“That immediately gave me a very precise idea of her on-the-ground expertise, her ability to communicate with clients, and her genuine passion for the destination. Information that a traditional CV would never have provided me.”, she recalls.

On the corporate side, employees’ personal branding is also becoming a recruiting magnet.

Julien Beaufreton, chief financial officer and HR director at Asia, and also president of the Permanent Joint Committee for Negotiation and Interpretation (CPPNI) of tourism for Enterprises of the Travel Industry, sees it as a genuine lever for employer branding.

“The primary benefit is visibility. Social networks allow the company to be known in ways that go beyond a simple job offer.”, explains the executive, who regularly shares insights on LinkedIn.

But the challenge goes far beyond communication.

“By telling the life of the company, we give candidates an insight into its culture and values. They can already picture themselves there before the interview. Social networks thus become a true recruitment accelerator,” analyzes the HR chief.

This trend is confirmed by Stanislas Lucien, associate director of Travel Insight and founder of Hautevoix, an agency dedicated to personal branding.

“Recruitment becomes easier. Even before an interview, a candidate checks the profile of their future leader. A well-thought-out, coherent presence attracts profiles who might never have applied otherwise,” he observes.

According to him, digital reputation now directly influences a company’s attractiveness: opportunities increasingly flow to those who have built professional visibility.

Personal branding is also a boon for professionals themselves.

“A future employer immediately has access to part of your personality: your values, your view of the job, the topics you like to share,” says Myriam Tord, deputy head of Versailles Voyages and cofounder of the Helpdesk for Tourism Pros. They already discover a facet of you before meeting you.”

And that’s not all. “An employee who communicates about their job will naturally keep talking about their new employer and highlight their activity. For me, that’s beneficial for everyone,” she adds.

Her own career illustrates this dynamic. Thanks to LinkedIn, she regularly receives inquiries for agency manager roles or branch-opening projects.



“It’s reassuring to know that, if I ever want to change companies, I could quickly receive proposals matching my profile.”, she confides.

Her visibility has also allowed her to develop other activities, notably her collaboration with DGT Formations, born from a LinkedIn encounter, as well as invitations to roundtables.

If presence on social networks is not yet a mandatory recruitment criterion, it becomes a genuine advantage for some profiles.

“It’s not an eliminatory criterion, but it’s a real plus, especially for roles in direct contact with customers, guides, community managers, marketing managers, or establishment directors.” observes Valérie Dufour.

A coherent professional presence notably demonstrates the candidate’s ability to master digital codes and showcase their expertise.

“In a sector where image matters a lot, this can make the difference,” she adds.

For certain recruitments, social networks even help refine the assessment of the profile.

“For a role as a wedding travel advisor, I’ll check whether the candidate has an activity on Pinterest or Instagram around that theme. This helps verify whether they already possess an aesthetic sensibility and an understanding of the expectations of this client base, even before meeting them.”, she explains.

In the coming years, personal branding could become a genuine HR criterion. “I think it will become a criterion comparable to soft skills today.”, says Valérie Dufour.

Companies could develop more employee advocacy programs, offer internal training, and bring employer branding and personal brands even closer together.

In a market where skills are increasingly in demand, personal branding is thus no longer merely a communication tool.

For both employers and candidates, it becomes a driver of recruitment, attractiveness, and loyalty.

Provided it remains authentic, coherent… and never forget that behind every LinkedIn profile, a portion of the company’s image is being built.

The response from Christophe Ramognino, partner at ERGON AVOCATS, specialist in labor law:



Social media posts: an element of private life?

A first distinction must be made:

– If the post appears on a social network accessible to everyone (LinkedIn), or if the account on which the post appears is public (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok…), then the post generally does not fall within private life. An employer who becomes aware of statements by employees that clearly exceed their freedom of expression—very excessive, demeaning, insulting, etc.—could then initiate disciplinary proceedings against the authors that could lead to dismissal.

– If the disputed post is made on a private and restricted account, it then falls under the employee’s private life. The employer, even if aware, cannot in principle use it to support a disciplinary procedure against the employee.

Private life: an absolute shield?

The right to privacy is not absolute. While a private-life fact cannot, in principle, justify a disciplinary sanction, it is different when the fact constitutes a breach of an obligation arising from the employment contract.

For example, a textiles company could sanction an employee who posted, on their private and restricted Facebook account, a new clothing collection after discovering that the employee had colleagues from a competitor in their friends list. The employee had indeed breached their confidentiality obligation.

The confidentiality obligation is not present in all employment contracts. An employee could also be sanctioned in this scenario for a breach of loyalty, inherent to any employment contract. This was the case for a staff member who had made demeaning remarks about a superior to tarnish the leadership and create tension between management and other employees.

An employer could also proceed with a non-disciplinary dismissal for objective disruption to the operation of the company when something drawn from an employee’s private life affects the company’s proper functioning, such as triggering mobilization of other employees against them or causing clients to no longer want to do business with the company.

In any event, whether these statements or posts are protected by privacy rights or not, they can still be protected by freedom of expression.

Freedom of expression: an absolute right?

The employee enjoys freedom of expression within and outside the company, which can only be restricted by the nature of the task to be performed and in a manner proportional to the objective pursued. This freedom must be balanced with the employer’s right to protect its interests. A judge reviewing a dismissal based on freedom of expression must verify that the sanction imposed was necessary, appropriate, and proportionate to its objective: to protect its interests. Otherwise, it will be annulled.

Abuse of freedom of expression: how to characterize it?

To assess abuse, judges examine four main elements:

The statements themselves, the context in which they were made, their scope and impact within the company, and the harm they caused to the employer. Once the analysis is complete, the judge must check that the sanction imposed by the employer was necessary and proportionate. Not easy …

How to protect yourself while gaining visibility on social networks?

First, and unless you want to gain visibility on social networks, you should not let just anyone access your posts. However, even in a private group, screenshots can circulate.

So, talking about your company and your work is possible as long as you do not publish confidential information and you do so without denigrating, insulting, or defaming your company or your colleagues.