Building a Personal Brand

Yes, it’s not just you — finding a job today is so much harder than it was in the past.

Due to the rise of educational attainment and industry evolution, you can’t be a regular job seeker anymore. It’s so much easier to get drowned out by hundreds of other job applications if you don’t stand out. This is where building a personal brand comes in.

To stand out, you must go beyond traditional qualifications and develop unique combinations of skills, experiences, and personal branding. There are various ways to do this: leveraging social media, creating a personal website, and so much more. But it can get complicated, so this article will provide a detailed explanation branding yourself in a way that interests employers.

It’s never too late to build a brand and create your unique professional identity and value. Stand out in a crowded job market and create meaningful connections by reading below.

The importance of personal branding

The fast-paced economy and the ever-increasing number of fresh graduates make finding a job difficult. Companies are looking for skills that can keep up with the times, and if you don’t upskill, you could find yourself at risk of being eroded by time and not noticed by employers.

Developing a personal brand elevates your chances of getting a job offer. Here are more specific reasons for how personal branding will help you.

Standing out in a competitive job market

Imagine this: you’re hungry, and you go to the nearest supermarket to buy some instant noodles.

How will you choose in front of a thousand brands with similar ingredients, prices, and aesthetics? Of course, you will pick the most attractive-looking instant noodles, whether it’s because of the color, design, or uniqueness of the flavor.

That’s how personal branding works; your brand helps you “be picked” by employers who align and resonate with what you are presenting. Everyone can acquire skills as long as they are willing to learn, but what makes one employee different from the other if not for their branding?

By telling your own story and showcasing your skills using personal branding, you can be a stand-out individual on top of a pile of job applications.

Enhancing future career prospects

Professional life doesn’t stop when you are hired.

There are various possibilities for your career advancement, whether that opportunity exists inside or outside the company you work for. Besides attracting job offers, personal branding can broaden your networking connections and achieve recognition in your field.

By making you look more credible, a strong personal brand makes you seem more reliable than everyone else. With convincing credibility and a persona that makes a lasting impression on anyone who knows you, this will bring opportunities on its own. If you’re an employer, of course, you’d prefer someone with a solid reputation.

Helping you get to know yourself better

Personal branding is an exercise in self-discovery. It offers significant internal benefits alongside external ones.

As you craft your personal brand, you must reflect deeply on your values, strengths, passions, and goals. This introspection leads to greater self-awareness. You have a clearer understanding of what truly matters to you.

By articulating your unique qualities and experiences, you gain insight into your authentic self, guiding personal growth and career decisions. This process of self-discovery can be empowering, boost confidence, and provide a sense of purpose beyond professional advancement.

Steps to build your personal brand

Personal branding can not be created without actionable, scientifically based insights. These insights act as a solid foundation for developing effective strategies and yield measurable results. Here’s how to build a personal brand:

Creating an online presence

The first step is to carve your own space on the internet. Using social media for personal branding is good for this. Everyone uses social media, including your next employer or your future boss.

Aside from a professional social media account, having your own website makes you seem much more professional than someone who doesn’t. A polished website lends credibility to your name, and since reputation is everything in the online world, having a brand element that you directly control is a powerful advantage.

To make your online presence noticeable, follow these steps.

Start a social media account. There are countless choices for social media, starting with LinkedIn. LinkedIn is like Facebook for professionals: create posts, engage with other experts, create content, and find a job. With all its features, you can use LinkedIn to build your personal branding.
Start a personal website. Besides LinkedIn, you can also use a personal brand blog. Social media functions similarly to personal branding, such as showing your portfolio and providing information about yourself. The difference is that you can get more creative with it. This is especially helpful if you are in the creative industry.
Post daily. Don’t leave your account and website empty. Add some content. This way, your followers can interact with your account and website, increasing your visibility and reaching more people. More on this later.
Boost your account and websites. Boost your website traffic by promoting it on your social media, too. Attach a link to your website whenever you post or comment on something. Write a post, then lead the audience to read the full article on your website. Always interact with your audience.

By using platforms like LinkedIn and websites, you showcase your personal branding by demonstrating your personality and achievements. People will get to know you through these, which will benefit you in various ways, whether by creating a connection with others or making you a “name” in the industry.

Engaging in industry activities

Your process of building personal branding does not stop at creating social media accounts and websites. Try to participate in industry-related activities. With this, you make yourself visible and build credibility. Here are various activities that you can join to enhance your personal branding:

Public speaking
Attending conferences
Joining professional associations

Once you attend these public events, here are a few do’s to boost your personal branding.

Be prepared. Search about the event you will attend. Find out the guests’ background and conduct an in-depth study of the event topic.
Engage with speakers and attendees. Introduce yourself and initiate a conversation. Find common interests between you and the person you are talking to. This makes the connection feel more meaningful.
Be active participants. A one-on-one interaction with someone is not enough. When it is time for the Q&A session, actively participate by asking intriguing questions of the highly qualified panelists.
Share insights. Describe how the events go and what you learn from them. Share it through posts, articles, or any other kind of content.

When there are do’s, the don’ts also exist. Avoid attending an event that is not related to your expertise. And most importantly, don’t meet people solely for networking purposes without following up on the interaction after the event, as it makes the connection less meaningful.

Continuous learning and skill development

The world revolves quite quickly, so don’t stay in the same spot. Develop your skills further so that you stay relevant in your industry. Staying up to date with current trends is not only to upskill your expertise but also to show that you are willing to learn. Here are some ways to upgrade yourself:

Join online courses or boot camps to learn new knowledge.
Join professional communities to share insights and discussion.
Subscribe to newsletters for the latest updates in the field.

Networking and relationship-building

Building and maintaining professional relationships can enhance your career prospects.

Say you’re a programmer — someone who typically works in isolation or who has every incentive to work remotely. But you want to get out of your shell and expand your professional connections.

One of the best things you can do is attend a coding event and introduce yourself briefly to one of the participants. After chatting for a while, maybe you both decide to exchange contacts.

By attending the event, you show the world that you care about current events in your industry. That communicates a lot about your personality and even credentials. And who knows, building strong connections like that might give you access to a wider community that can bolster your network further.

The people in these conferences, and hopefully the people in your network, will view you as “the person who likes upskilling and connecting.” That becomes your brand, and people who align with that will want to get in touch with you.

Building strong professional relationships takes time and effort, but making genuine connections and providing value develops a robust network that can support your career.

Creating valuable content

Have you ever heard of soft marketing?

Soft marketing is a form of sales where, instead of selling products directly to consumers, the brand capitalizes on its reputation and uses consumers’ emotions to make them feel connected to the brand.

How is this related to you, you ask yourself. You’re just trying to build a personal brand.

Your efforts will be ineffective if you only discuss your skills and achievements. Create valuable content, such as blog posts, articles, and videos, that tells the audience your contribution to society and your own story while reflecting your expertise and interests.

This will give you a unique personality in the eyes of your audience, your fellow peers, and the HR of your next company.

In conclusion

Today’s job market is more competitive than ever, and it’s easy to get drowned out. Instead of becoming one of the faceless names in a company’s growing “rejected” pile, stand out from them by letting the world know of your skills, achievements, passions, principles, and thoughts.

Build a brand that people resonate with, and you won’t ever be nameless. It might be difficult, but this article has shown you how.

Now, it’s time to take action. Don’t wait — begin shaping your professional story now and watch as your career prospects expand.

If you want to see more resources on career progression, check out the Affluence Science Labs. The lab uses the research of the Institute for Life Management Science to produce courses, certifications, podcasts, videos, and other tools. Visit the Affluence Science Labs today.

Photo by partystock on Freepik

Building a Personal Brand to Enhance Your Career Prospects