Firing Up Your Employability: Building Your Personal Brand

Whether you are a student seeking graduate employment or a full-time worker aspiring to push yourself up the career ladder, developing an attractive personal brand is key to 'getting ahead.' During this time of economic uncertainty, it's never been more important.

What is a personal brand?

A common misconception is that a personal brand concerns how one presents themselves. Like an exterior that one might deploy in certain scenarios to appear favorable. However, that's not quite the case. A personal brand is more than just an image. It's the intersection of how one presents themselves and how they are perceived by their audience.

A personal brand is nothing less than a marketing tool. And you and your skillset are the products to be marketed. Market well and doors will open very quickly.

5 key ingredients for a successful personal brand

So what are the secrets to exceptional personal branding? Incorporate these 5 key ingredients into your brand marketing and you could fire up your employability in no time.

Authenticity

It's tempting to change yourself to 'fit' the criteria an employer might be looking for. But no job advert expects prospective candidates to tick every single box. And it's okay if you don't.

Being authentic means quite simply, embracing your real and honest self.

• Avoid hyperbolic language across job applications and don't replace words that are part of your vocabulary with more sophisticated synonyms to appear 'intelligent.'
• Be honest about your strengths without exaggerating what you can do - you'll eventually get caught out otherwise. Also, acknowledge areas for improvement. This demonstrates to your employer that you (1) are self-aware and (2) can self-evaluate.

Content Creation

Content creation is more than just blog-writing, videoing or design sharing. It's about how you 'create noise' around what have you to offer. Your contribution needs to be relevant, insightful and offer something of value to your peers in the industry.

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel; you just need to share your unique perspective on why the wheel is important.

The aim of any content is to be disruptive. How can you attract people to your content, convince them to engage with it and then take action? One way is by capitalizing on your uniqueness. We all have individual experiences, backgrounds, and insights to offer that nobody else can provide. Mold your content to highlight the originality you can offer.

Networking

It's great to have content to share. But without an audience of useful contacts, you won't be able to 'create noise.' That's why networking, and importantly, doing it right, is so essential.

Whilst 85% of jobs are filled through networking, one-in-four people do not network at all. Often people claim they don't know how to network. If that's you, here are some top tips:

• Be selective. You don't have the time or need to speak to everyone. Select only contacts relevant to your career aspirations and aim for quality connections over numerical following. This isn't Instagram.
• Digitally follow-up contacts you meet at events or conferences. Do this via email or LinkedIn, reintroducing yourself and reiterating how you both can work together.
• Maintain warmth with each contact you meet. If you are unsuccessful in an application, send a follow-up email to express gratitude and always ask for feedback.

Storytelling

Presenting yourself as a flawless candidate doesn't mean you will be perceived as one. And just like that, you're lack of relatability will cause your brand to collapse.

That's where storytelling comes in. In personal branding, storytelling is the means through which you can comment on the barriers you've broken through to be where you are, from a position of positive self-reflection. It's good to recognize moments of failure too. This shows that you're resilient and can learn from past errors.

Everyone loves storytelling for two reasons.

1. It makes you personable - brands with personality are the one's people warm to.
2. By sharing your struggles, you can support and become a figure of influence and inspiration for others on a similar journey.

Storytelling makes us human. And despite what you might think, never conceal your story when in a professional scenario. It only makes you appear unrelatable.

Consistency

With 70% of employers using social media to screen candidates before their interviews, your offline and digital personas must be consistent. That means that the way you would present yourself to an employer at an interview, must match your online presence.

Time after time employers meet great candidates. But, if those candidates have undesirable digital footprints, their brands fall apart.

Consistency also translates to how you create content. Sharing quality content frequently is a great way to build your brand. By doing so, your writing voice, online image and passion for the industry will quickly become recognizable. And that's how a good brand is built.

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And that's it. A quick summary of 5 key ingredients that you should be aware of when building your own brand. Now, it's time to put this into action.