How to use your personal brand to get a job
Getting a job offer doesn’t always depend on your skills and experience. It may come as a surprise to learn that more and more companies are taking into consideration a candidate’s personal brand – that is, their core characteristics, how they present themselves and what drives them. Our recommended personal branding tips will help you create the image you want and make it part of your job search strategy.
What is a “personal brand”?
The most successful companies in the world have unique and instantly recognizable brands that speak volumes about the company and what it stands for.
Personal branding may be a relatively new concept in the workforce, but it works in a similar way. It’s not about selling a physical product or using a visual brand, but your brand defines who you are, your values and strengths, and what you bring to the workplace. More importantly, your branding helps you stand out from the crowd.
Know yourself
One of the main benefits of creating a personal brand is the ability to stand out from the crowd. This is a plus everywhere, but it’s especially important if you’re looking for a new job. This is the draw that will make your resume stand out from the crowd and help you make a lasting impression during interviews.
To use branding as effectively as possible, you need to understand what it really means. Your personal branding starts with your skills, experience, and where you’ve worked before. However, it doesn’t stop there. Branding also includes your career aspirations, how you present yourself, how you interact with others, and the involvement of your community. The trick is to integrate these qualities into your resume and bring them to life as part of your job search.
Know who you want to be
The centerpiece of your personal brand is the image you want to market for yourself. Do you want to be known as a hard worker? Available? reliable? Resourceful? Costume? The clearer you are about who you want to be and what you want to focus on in your image, the stronger your personal brand will be.
Understand how others perceive you
We often have a certain view of ourselves. The problem is that it doesn’t always match what others see. Personal branding combines art and science to accurately combine the two concepts.
A useful starting point for building your brand is understanding how people currently perceive you. Ask friends, family and colleagues what they think sets you apart. Knowing how others see you makes it easier to tune and improve your performance so that the outside view more closely matches yours.
Plan ahead
Remember that building and strengthening your personal brand is part of the ongoing process of achieving your career goals. For example, if you want to be a CFO, it pays to have a reputation as a leader, innovator, and someone who naturally sees the big picture.
So when you’re looking for your next job, you can add that personal branding to your cover letter, resume, and when answering interview questions. You will finish the CFO material before you even apply for C-suite jobs.
Bring your brand to life
Once you’ve defined your personal branding, it’s time to incorporate it into your daily activities. Practice presenting yourself the way you want to be seen. This means bringing your brand to life.
Something as simple as your work clothes and the way you behave at social functions in the office can have a huge impact on the image you project. Be honest with yourself. Your personal brand is only sustainable if it reflects who you really are.
The most important thing is to keep your brand in mind when maintaining your online presence. Your Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn posts can have a strong influence on how others perceive you, so think carefully about what you write.
We all have the ability to create a personal brand. Make yourself unique and stay true to it to strengthen your brand throughout your career. This is a great way to let the hiring manager know what you stand for and can give you a valuable head start for your next job.
