In any industry, prospective employers want to know what you can bring to a workplace. They want to understand who you are and how you can personally impact a role. By building your brand, you can show them who you are and what you stand for.
A good personal brand conveys your skills, personality and values- all wrapped up neatly in one aesthetically pleasing package, either preferably online. It’s what makes you stand out in a pile of resumes or the job interview of your dreams
Need to boost your personal brand? Take a look at these tips to get started.
Identify your strengths
What do you do best? Do you have a witty sense of humour, or a selfless passion for altruism? To represent yourself accurately and attract others, you need to decide what it is you want your brand to highlight.
Define your audience and appeal
Why are you cultivating your brand? If you want members of an industry to take notice, you must decide how to appeal emotionally. Figure out what ways you are relatable and what makes you different. Once you’ve decided upon your target audience, constructing your social media pages and CV will be much easier.
Find the right platforms
Social media sites provide obvious foundations for a personal brand to be established and perfected. Deciding which one suits best is a necessary task. LinkedIn is the most obvious choice for corporate careers, whilst Instagram and Twitter are great tools for accelerating careers in other industries. Facebook groups are a handy way of linking up with people too, for example ‘UK coders’ and ‘Irish journalism and media jobs’ are popular ones for making connections and staying informed.
Craft your message
Identify your values and decide how best to express them. These can be prioritised in all of the content you create in future. Whoever follows you will presumably support or share an interest with this personal ethos. Express your message through your profile picture, domain name and bio too.
Be yourself
Hone your uniqueness. Express yourself rather than putting forward another persona. People can tell when someone is being disingenuous. When it comes to getting employed, individuality is hugely important.
Join groups
Groups and societies are great content for your CV, and are also a way to meet like minded people. Socialising with others in your field of work will lead to several opportunities that you would not have come across otherwise.
Collaborate
Find brands similar to yours and connect with them. Discuss topics of interest and share their content, this will boost your engagements and encourage others to take interest in yours. You don’t even need to know the people in real life before reaching out online!
Exposure
Attaining widespread exposure is the ultimate end goal of any brand. Don’t forget that networking is a great way to gather interest from people you admire. Online endorsement from ‘influencers’ with large followings could be exactly the exposure that your personal brand needs. Employers will acknowledge your adequacy in self assertion and appreciate how seriously you’re taking your career.