This college student shares the power of building a personal brand

Morgan Young was introduced to coding at age 10. From that day on, she knew she wanted to pursue a degree in computer science and engineering. That made declaring a major easy when Young applied to the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). What she planned to do with her degree was a different story.?

Becoming a software engineer was Young's initial goal. But after an internship at Disney the summer before her sophomore year, Young decided to pivot. She quickly realized that her passions were more aligned with a career in product management. The following summer, when Young returned to Disney for a second internship, she took on the role of an associate product manager.?

Young documented the highs and lows of her internship journey on LinkedIn , sharing raw, relatable content that was well-received. She might not have realized it at the time, but Young was laying the foundation for a personal brand.

Building her brand on LinkedIn helped Young both find and attract new opportunities, from creating content for The Wall Street Journal's Snapchat show to participating in Accenture's Innovation Challenge. Her content also caught the attention of her now mentors.

"I asked one of my mentors, 'Why did you all of a sudden want to become my mentor?' He said, 'I saw you putting yourself out there and sharing your journey on LinkedIn. It very much reminded me of myself. The willingness to put yourself out there is something that I really admire,'" Young recalls.?

These off-campus experiences have allowed Young to explore other interests on campus, such as starting the UNR Figure Skating Club. While it's common for college students to get involved in extracurricular clubs that are aligned with their career aspirations, Young says she doesn't have those opportunities at UNR.

"For campuses that are career oriented, a lot of their clubs and student activities integrate developing and advancing your career into the club life. That's not the case here," she says. "I made the conscious decision that I'm not going to take on more officer responsibilities than I have to because my number one goal is my career and my job search."

Young's thoughtfulness about how she spends her time has paid off. She says she has become "the go-to person on campus to speak at events and help people with their professional development."

I spoke to Young, who is currently a junior at UNR, to find out how she secured her first internship at Disney and what she has learned about building a brand. Below are excerpts from our conversation (some quotes were edited for length and clarity):

When you decided to start looking for internships, how did you find companies to target?

I was just mass applying to software engineering internships. As I did it more and more, I started learning, mass applying is good because it is a numbers game, but at the same time you still have to be tactical with mass applying. I would say 50% of the way through application season, I realized that what my resume said about me wasn't necessarily software engineer intern. It was more global or iOS engineer intern. I started applying to more of those jobs and lo and behold, I started getting more interviews.

What helped you stand out as an applicant, being that you were a freshman at the time of your first Disney internship?

I had done a lot of different types of projects, but I realized that what was the most impressive of my portfolio was my mobile apps. I did have a really big brag stat on my resume, which is that I shipped my very first app to the app store when I was 17-years-old. Because of the nature of that project, I got so many analytics on the performance of my app. When recruiters say they like metrics, they're not kidding. That was definitely something that set me apart. A general piece of advice is to find that one big brag stat that you have that 90% of the other applicants don't have.

How did your internship help you determine what you do and don't like?

I started as a software engineer intern and then the logistics didn't work out with the team, so they put me in something called IT service management. It required a lot of computer science and technology knowledge but incorporated more of my people and creative skills. After doing that for eight months, I was like, I want to be in product management because that seems like something I would be good at. Every single internship I've done with them has brought me closer and closer and closer to what I'm passionate about. My first season with them, which was summer of 2021, I was like, I don't want to be a software engineer. I want to work with people and be more creative. And then the second semester was, I enjoy challenging projects. The biggest change was this last year in 2022 because not only did I realize how much I love product management, but I also realized what kind of product manager I am. I love building zero to one products.

You documented your internship on LinkedIn, which kickstarted your journey as a content creator. Why do you think your content resonates?

I'm not an ex-recruiter. I'm not someone who spent 30 years in corporate America. I am not at that level yet. What I think is attractive about my content is the fact that all of my knowledge and advice is very current because I'm still going through all of it. I'm still experiencing all of the struggles that a student goes through because I'm still a student. I'm more relatable ... and I'm just genuinely sharing my journey. One of my strengths that's helped me build my personal brand is willing to be authentic even when it's not pretty. I have shared some struggles and really negative things. One of my most popular videos last year was me exposing myself for all of the rejections that I got freshman year. Showing that I may have had three offers and I landed my dream internship, but I also got rejected 147 times.?

What's your advice to other students on building a personal brand?

The earlier you start the better. I'm a personal finance geek. They say you should start investing for retirement when you're young because time is on your side. Well, it's the same with building your personal brand. You've got time to figure it out. You've got time to feel out what you want to do. As far as why you should start building your personal brand, it's important to document that. My friend Jess was actually saying the other day that she wants to start blogging, but she thinks that she needs to have a success story before she starts. I said, 'No, don't do that.' That was a mistake that I made. I didn't start creating content on LinkedIn until I had a big success story, which was being a Disney intern. I felt like I didn't have a story worth sharing that people would actually read. The reality is that when you're going through something, especially if you're struggling, you're never going to know the authenticity of your feelings as well as you do while you're experiencing them. Building your personal brand is the way to get yourself in demand. It makes a lot more opportunities come to you rather than you having to go after them.

??What's your advice on building a brand? Share in the comments below.

?? Always be a student

For more advice on building and maintaining a personal brand, check out this episode of Get Hired Live featuring fitness expert Deja Riley . You can watch the episode below, or by clicking here . Deja also joined my LinkedIn News colleague Andrew Seaman on his weekly podcast to talk more about this topic. You find the episode wherever you like to listen to podcasts, or by clicking here .

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?? In case you missed it

Morgan Young has learned to balance her on- and off-campus involvements with her studies by batching tasks and holding deep-focus working sessions. To see her time-management strategies in action, Young recently shared a day-in-the-life video on LinkedIn. Watch her video below, or by clicking here .