Everyone has their favorite classic brands: Coca-Cola, Chevrolet, McDonald's, etc. Now is the time to establish your own personal brand for your job hunt.
What Is Personal Branding Anyway?
Branding yourself for your job is about presenting your best self to be able to be seen and noticed by potential employers. Your core values are the heart and soul of your brand and your identity. Job seekers have the best chance to land their ideal position if they spend time enhancing their personal brand.
Personal branding is a relatively new concept in job search derived from a big trend of online social networking. Much attention has been paid to developing strong personal brands that convey a targeted, positive, brief, and effective message.
Presenting and Sharing Your Social Media World with Employers
As a job candidate, you should promote yourself by utilizing social network channels to catch recruiters' notice. Some of the channels to use are Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
- Make sure your LinkedIn is current and reflects your best self. Join relevant groups. Work to increase your connections.
- Check out your Facebook settings. Make sure your personal world is set to the "private" setting.
- Comment on Twitter but make sure you do not sound like someone who nose-dived into a deep and dark rabbit hole.
- Establish your own website when you have content to share. But, avoid sounding or looking rabid.
Ensure Your Job Application Materials Sparkle
- Brush up your resume and have someone review it for you.
- Craft cover letters that are customized for each particular job opening.
Networking
- Grow your network
- Attend and participate in virtual and in-person events.
- Reach out to current and former colleagues.
Brand experts advise job seekers to think of themselves as a "brand" in the same way that organizations do. Brands carry a distinctive message about one's values, competencies, and a call to action. Personal branding is a way to stand out. Having a strong online brand and social networking presence is a way of differentiating oneself.
Do not just tell people what you do, tell them what you have accomplished in the past and what you hope to achieve in the future. The key to building your personal brand involves sharing your story in a consistent and relatable way. Make yourself memorable. Be the star you were always meant to be!
Margaret “Mag” Gottlieb is the Career Director at the Graduate School of Political Management at the George Washington University. Connect with Mag on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-gottlieb-1457753/ or contact via email: mag@gwu.edu
