Market Yourself! Building Your Personal Career Brand
JustinBradley
Elevate your career. Source exceptional talent. Award-winning Workforce Solutions Company -----------WBENC-certified.
In a world where technology shapes every aspect of our lives, presenting a strong and cohesive public image has become more important than ever. Your resume is just one piece of the puzzle in today's job market, where your professional engagement, volunteer work, and online presence play pivotal roles. To stand out to employers, it's essential to cultivate a personal brand that showcases your unique strengths and qualities. This process requires thoughtful planning and strategic execution to ensure your brand effectively represents who you are and what you offer. Here are six ways to build your personal brand:
Discover Your Strengths
Take time to reflect on who you are, identify your strengths, and determine what makes you unique. List the attributes that set you apart from your peers. What can you offer that others can’t? What is your niche or area of expertise? Employers increasingly seek specialists with a specific focus rather than generalists. Next, talk to those in your network to understand how others see you. This will provide valuable perspective and potentially highlight qualities you might have missed in your self-analysis. These steps are crucial for identifying your strengths and fine-tuning your career goals.
Create a Tagline
Take your best attributes and most marketable skills and create a one-sentence “trademark” or mission statement to use in your branding efforts. Are you a “GAAP expert currently pursuing a CPA license” or an “Excel guru”? Use this statement as a headline for your resume, LinkedIn profile, and other platforms. A keyword-rich statement will help you appear higher in search results and make your profile stand out to recruiters.
Get Involved
Volunteerism, community involvement, and entrepreneurial pursuits can be vital parts of your personal brand. Get involved in something that interests you. Giving back and pursuing your passions can provide new experiences and often broaden your contacts and professional image. Be sure to reference your activities on your resume and social media sites.
Build Your Social Profiles
Pay particular attention to the image you project on social media sites. Careers can now be built on social profiles, so ensure yours represents you professionally and highlights what makes you unique. Add your work history, accomplishments, and volunteer experience to your social media profiles, even those not specifically designed for professional networking. Update your profiles frequently to ensure they are current and interesting. Always be mindful of what you post, and as a general rule, don’t post anything you wouldn’t want an employer to read.
Many social networks now allow you to customize privacy settings for content you share, so take advantage of this if needed. Many employees have posted something forgetting that their posts are visible to coworkers and managers.
Stay Connected
Once you’ve built your social profiles, it’s critical to use them regularly. Having a dormant LinkedIn profile isn’t much more effective than not having one at all. Keep your position title and work experience up-to-date. Add new skills, awards, and certifications to your profile as you receive them.
More important than keeping your profile updated is remembering the whole point of social media and networking websites – to be social! Stay active in any professional or alumni groups you might have joined. Keep up with people in your network. Business is still built on relationships, so don’t let yours crumble. Keeping up can be as simple as congratulating a connection on a new position or work anniversary when a notification appears in your newsfeed. Try to reconnect with people in your network at least yearly. Be generous with your time – your brand will benefit.
Re-evaluate Regularly
Careers often resemble a winding road rather than a straight path to a single goal. Periodically analyze where you are, where you want to be, and adjust your brand accordingly. Keeping your brand updated can be as important as staying connected, especially as you seek new employment and promotional opportunities or pursue a career change.
By discovering your strengths, creating a clear tagline, getting involved in meaningful activities, and staying active in your network, you can cultivate a brand that highlights your unique qualities and attracts the right opportunities. Remember, your career path may evolve, and your brand should adapt along with it, ensuring you remain relevant and compelling in the ever-changing job market.
JustinBradley supports business professionals at every step of their careers. Connect with a recruiter today but submitting your resume here.
Recruiter - Contingent Workforce Solutions at JustinBradley
3 个月Great read!
Director, Executive Search at JustinBradley
3 个月Some great ideas!
Practice Lead, Executive Search at JustinBradley
3 个月Interesting read!