Personal Branding is a fancy, hip term for your reputation or what people say about you when you’re not in the room.
Personal Branding 101
It starts by knowing what you are good at. Then, once you know what you are good at, you publicize it. If you do any reading about job search, you see personal branding mentioned a lot today.
It isn’t just for the pros, or the pro wanna-be’s, or Gen-Y, it is for all of us.
Here are some questions to get you started developing and promoting your own personal brand.
- What do you really enjoy doing? What successes have you had?
- How do you communicate/demonstrate this?
- Who will your audience be, or who needs to know about your strengths?
Why Personal Branding Is Important
The main reason you need a personal brand is due to the fact that employers want to hire the safest candidate- someone they can trust to do the job well. That person is usually someone who comes referred.
Personal branding is also important due to “wonderful” information on the Internet.
Pros and Cons of Personal Branding
It is easier and cheaper than ever to get your name online. For free, you can have a blog, join Facebook, join LinkedIn, Twitter, participate in online communities or groups and comment on almost any news article out there.
How you present yourself on all those can also be the drawback if it isn’t carefully thought out. Think about it this way- if you were a product, how would you introduce yourself to the marketplace?
Employers are using the Internet and all these “tools” to source employees or check “character”. That is precisely why using the Internet to promote your personal brand can be a good thing. It gives you credibility as being the professional you say you are.
Getting back to basics, how you verbally communicate your brand/strengths is still the most critical skill of all. It isn’t enough to know you are qualified for a new job, you have to prove it. Make sure that the right people inside your organization (and outside) know what you have done and know what you are capable of. You, and only you can make this happen. Find things that truly interest you and use those to develop an awareness of your talents.
By no means am I an expert at this. We’re all just trying to figure it out. The first step is trying.
More Personal Branding Help
For more help read these:
Define Your Personal Brand With These 3 Questions
5 Steps to Building Your Personal Brand
I’ve even created a class about personal branding on Skillshare. You can find it here Personal Branding & First Impressions: Writing Your Bio for Social Media
Hannah Morgan speaks and writes about job search and career strategies. She founded CareerSherpa.net to educate professionals on how to maneuver through today’s job search process. Hannah was nominated as a LinkedIn Top Voice in Job Search and Careers and is a regular contributor to US News & World Report. She has been quoted by media outlets, including Forbes, USA Today, Money Magazine, Huffington Post, as well as many other publications. She is also author of The Infographic Resume and co-author of Social Networking for Business Success.
