October is officially hiring season and whether you are in your final year of university anxious about what the future holds or looking to leave corporate for a creative job; a personal brand is essential to standing out as a job candidate. It can be tedious having to customise your CV and cover letter for every interview and then having to make more than 2000 connections on LinkedIn.
First, what is personal branding?
Personal branding is the strategic process of defining, expressing, and promoting your unique professional image, value, and expertise, distinguishing yourself through experiences, credentials, skills, and personality. A more digestible and concise definition would be: Expressing the best version of yourself. However, there is so much about you that is already unique, amazing and valuable so the next step is finding out how to enhance those qualities to empower yourself professionally. We researched and compiled personal branding into five relatively easy steps to follow to build your personal brand.
Self-identification, self-introspection, self-assessment
What skills do you possess? Are you multilingual or do you have a 50-day streak on Duolingo? Write down all the things you believe you are good at no matter how trivial – every interest and hobby you have can be connected to an employable skill. If you are constantly on social media, then you have a good eye for trends, consumer behaviour and you are in tune with what people feel about certain events, products and even brands. These are valuable skills in Marketing and Advertising but maybe you are not entirely sure about how you would fit into that industry. Therefore, you must have an idea of what career path you are most interested in and where you feel you will personally thrive. Developing a robust personal brand is essential for navigating today's dynamic workforce, extending beyond degree selection to inform every professional decision and opportunity but everyone is constantly changing and that is perfectly okay. It will always be okay to start anew and discover your potential in any areas you desire.
You can conduct self-assessments using website such as Free Personality Test | 16Personalities to determine your personality type, which describes your preferred ways of perceiving, processing, and interacting with the world. Personality types, such as INTP (Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Perceiving), reveal strengths and tendencies - for INTPs, this means thriving in analytical environments, excelling in problem-solving, valuing independence, and exploring abstract ideas. Popular assessments include Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Big Five Personality Traits, and Enneagram Personality System, offering valuable insights into your personality and professional inclinations. Understanding your personality type can help you identify suitable careers, like research, science, philosophy, or consulting, and develop a personal brand resonating with like-minded individuals. Now, find your target audience.
Find, define and understand your target audience
The industry you want to enter determines how you position yourself, communicate your qualifications, expertise, and accomplishments. To effectively transition into your desired field, showcase relevant information aligning with its characteristics and appealing to target companies. For example, banking and financial services professionals should highlight expertise in analytics, economic forecasting, financial modelling, and accounting. Conducting an environmental analysis using frameworks like PESTLE (Political, Environmental, Social, Technological, Legal, Ecological) and SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) deepens your understanding of your ideal employer or sector. See the PESTLE Analysis on the Food Industry for an explanation of examining factors like challenges, skill shortages, economic influences, regulations, and emerging technologies. This informed approach helps you out as a knowledgeable professional.
Storytelling, portfolio building, and content creation
Don't panic - content creation doesn't necessarily mean you have to do TikTok dances or story times on YouTube (unless that's your thing). Sharing relevant images, information, videos, infographics, or other visuals are a part of content, and all these elements have always been a part of social media before the term 'content' was popularised and streamlined. LinkedIn provides a professional platform for job seekers to build their personal brand without intertwining their social lives, allowing them to showcase career achievements, skills, and expertise to potential employers. By utilising LinkedIn, you can establish credibility, expand your professional network, and increase visibility to recruiters and industry leaders.
A lost art is the personal blogs that people used to own in the early 2000s that featured everything and anything from blogging about the industry they are in to talking about the latest fashion trends from unique perspectives; a portfolio or website achieves the same but less personal. Portfolios like CVs have to be tailored to your ideal company and sector, but they are the best tools to express yourself creatively. Using more affordable platforms like Canva and Wix, job seekers can create portfolios that detail their experiences, qualifications, and what work they could implement. Others often create spec ads or social media content ideas for brands in effort to showcase their abilities. A spec ad, or speculative advertisement, is a hypothetical ad created by a job seeker to demonstrate their creative vision and skills, often for well-known brands, showcasing how they would approach a real-world marketing challenge. This allows potential employers to assess their thinking, creativity, and problem-solving abilities.
For visual artists, platforms like Behance offer a unique opportunity to showcase their creative work, connect with other artists, and attract potential clients. Behance allows artists to create a curated portfolio, share their design process, and receive feedback from the community. By utilising Behance, visual artists can demonstrate their expertise, highlight successful projects, and increase their online visibility to potential employers and collaborators.
Rapport, building connections and networking
Daunting for introverts, I know, but it has to be done. Opening up to different people, especially those in positions of authority can be intimidating but selling your brand also takes place in interviews. A more manageable way to approach networking is thinking of industry professionals like your favourite mutuals; you approach them with respect, learn more about them but do not encroach on their space too much. Confidence and awareness are key in this approach. You have to be sure of who and what you are presenting and to whom and under what circumstances. Attending webinars, summits, and approaching business or industry leaders to collaborate on projects can lead to connections where there is an opportunity for working relationships to develop.
To break the ice, explore online platforms offering webinars and networking opportunities, such as those hosted by Kurapa Moyo (which you can find under Events right here on our website). These virtual spaces allow you to connect with like-minded professionals, ask questions, and build relationships in a more comfortable environment.
Consistency, updating and upskilling
Be patient with yourself, building a personal brand is more about the journey than the destination. Once again, you are constantly learning and changing and so are your knowledge and interests. You have to maintain your portfolio and website and add the relevant skills and experiences as you gain them. Stay adaptable in a shifting industry by consistently updating and expanding your skills. There is a joy in learning and improving so keep an eye out for free online courses and even those learnerships offered by your employer to have that competitive edge.
In Summary...
Building a strong personal brand is crucial for standing out in today's dynamic workforce, involving a strategic process of self-discovery, targeted communication, and consistent presentation. This can be achieved through five key steps: self-identification, understanding your target audience, storytelling and portfolio building, networking, and consistent updating and upskilling. By following these steps and leveraging tools like LinkedIn, online courses, and networking events, you can establish a compelling personal brand, increase your professional visibility, and unlock new career opportunities
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