People who take an active interest in steering their careers are well aware of the power of their personal brand. Personal branding, for the uninitiated, is the practice of marketing yourself and your career as if it were a brand. It involves maximizing your unique skills and experiences in order to differentiate yourself from others. Think of it as your professional reputation.
Some shy away from branding themselves because it feels like bragging or it’s too time consuming. While we would all like to think that our work speaks for itself, many times without our own PR it doesn’t. Take a moment to review and polish your personal brand or create a new one! Follow these tips to put forward the best version of you.
Monitor Your Online Presence
When’s the last time you googled yourself? It might strike you as a silly exercise, but a simple Google search is often the first impression you make upon potential employers or recruiters. Is there an embarrassing blog from your past that still shows up? If so, delete it, along with anything else in your control that reflects poorly on you. Next, go through your social media accounts and get rid of any content that contains unprofessional behavior, drug use, or views that some might find offensive. An effective way to control your image online is to create your own website. Building a site to showcase examples of your work and testimonials from those you’ve worked with isn’t difficult. And by using your name for the URL, your website will be among the top results when someone goes to google you.
Speak At Events And Conferences
Public speaking might not be your strong suit—it might even terrorize you—but talking in small or large forums can pay great dividends. The reason is people tend to judge public speakers as being knowledgeable and having expertise. Speaking at an event or conference will boost your personal brand, in addition to reflecting well on your company. It’s also a great way to network and garner new personal connections, which keeps you in the loop on developments at other companies and within your industry.
Get Involved
In addition to public speaking, there are many other opportunities that can increase your credibility. LinkedIn is a great place to join groups relevant to your industry and lend your voice to ongoing discussions. It’s also a good way to get colleagues to vouch for your accomplishments and skills via the site’s recommendation feature. Another way you can build your personal brand is by approaching industry news sources to write an article or become an expert commentator on matters in your field. For those who have reached an advanced level in their careers, serving on a company board is a viable option.
Refresh Your Resume or C.V.
When’s the last time you made a focused effort to refresh your resume or C.V.? If you aren’t getting hits when applying for positions or returned phone calls from recruiters, perhaps it’s time to have your resume written by a professional so that it markets you —and your brand—the way you want to be seen. You are the expert in your field, and the Resume Writer is an expert at communicating that in a way that matters most to employers.
Be Consistent
Consistency is the key to building a strong personal brand. Just as it is with branding a product, your message needs to be the same everywhere it appears. Don’t be one person at work and represent yourself entirely different on social media. Creating a branding tagline is a good way to stay focused on the personal qualities you want to convey. This is simply a one to two line declaration that expresses who you are and what your career stands for.
A job opening is a competition between qualified candidates. By putting forth a compelling personal brand that incorporates your talents, values, and passions, you’ll come out on top. Set yourself up for success in your job search by using IMPACT Payments Recruiting to find opportunities that align with your career goals. From career advancement to increased compensation, IMPACT can help you achieve your employment objectives by matching you with opportunities from our global network of clients. Start your job search today with IMPACT!
