Everyone has a distinct personality, his or her own personal brand. According to Dan Schawbel, a personal branding is an act of accessing your special talents and showing them to the right audience through different mediums. Personal branding refers to those talents and traits that are uniquely yours. A personal brand is literally what makes you who you are, and what sets you apart from everyone else. Your personal brand is what other people talk about when they speak of you, and it is what determines how you stand in the marketplace. Brands are what make people notice you in the marketplace. Without a strong position, a strong personal brand, no one will notice you in the job market.
As you meet new people and interact with them, you leave your mark on them. You leave memorable experiences with them, and when you are consistent with delivering on yourself, on your brand, you stand a great opportunity to build a solid personal brand that is real, different and peculiar to you. Your personal brand is also your reputation: it goes before you, telling people that you are someone they can trust to deliver on goals and objectives.
Why Personal Branding Is Important For Job Seekers
Personal branding is important for you in your hunt for a job. To create a brand that is strong enough to appeal to employers, you need to think of yourself as a business, as a company. Promote yourself in that aspect, and that is what your potential employers will see and hire you. Having a strong personal brand is what makes the difference between you contacting potential employers and them contacting you.
Personal branding is important for you as a job seeker because it makes you stand out, on and off your resume. Job seeking doesn’t start and end with submitting resumes and uploading them on every website available: you also need to have a strong, professional online presence, with an optimized website or blog or social media account so that employers will come looking for you, and not you going out to look for them.
Personal branding is also important for job seekers because it makes you aware of what you’ve got: your skills, your talents, your passions, and what makes you different (and better) than other people. Being self-aware like this gives you a great advantage over other job seekers for the same position who are not aware of their personal brand. You stand a better chance in the market place amongst other job seekers because you know what you can do and you know where you fit in and where you don’t, making it easier for you to get recruited by potential employers.
Personal branding also enables you to connect with your interviewers on an intellectual and emotional level, which is very important when attending an interview. Preparing very well for an interview also involves personal branding: you have to research the company and the position you are interviewing for, you have to dress the part, be professional, use your personality the best way possible, and follow up immediately after the interview. Your interviewers not only have to see that you fit the part they are hiring for: they have to feel that you fit the part. Personal branding makes it possible for you to tailor yourself to fit the role of the position you are applying for in a company or an organization.
How To Showcase Your Personal Brand In An Interview
- Always research the company you have applied to before you go to the interview. Know who they are, what they do, their mission statement, and their vision. Prepare yourself for any and every question they may throw at you about the position you have applied for with them. Don’t forget to prepare your own set of questions to ask the interviewers, questions that will show them that you have done your homework.
- Don’t be afraid to ask them questions; this is actually expected. Interview them just as they have interviewed you. This shows that you are truly interested in their company, in what they do, and that you are really fascinated about the position.
- Come to the interview with your business card, resume references, cover letter, credentials or qualifications, and a portfolio of work if necessary. This is your personal branding toolkit. Make sure that there are links to your LinkedIn account or to your blog or website.
- First impression matters: sit up straight, make eye contact, smile, and have a firm handshake. Your body language should be positive and professional, as it shows that you are respectful and interested in the job.
- Don’t try to hide your personality in an interview: let it show. That is how you connect with your potential employer.
- Talk about your skills and talents, and how they make you different from other applicants. Let them know your field of expertise: make them see that you are a specialist, and not a general, jack-of-all-trades person. Showing that you are an expert in a certain field makes your chances of getting hired even better.
- Tell stories of personal experiences to illustrate what you can do, and to show your personal brand even more. Stories of problems that you solved, of arguments that you meditated, about successfully concluding some tough negotiations. Don’t do a recitation of what is on your resume, but tell stories that show who you are as a person.
- By the time the interview ends, your interviewers should be making a decision about hiring you. Make a good impression, and end the interview on a high friendly note.
- Follow up immediately after the interview with a thank you email, maintain connections on social media, and let the interviewers know how well the interview went for you.
What Does Personal Branding Mean To Potential Employers And Hiring Managers
Personal branding to employers and hiring managers means confidence, skill, and competence in an employee; a person who knows what they can do and what they have to give to make their company grow. They can sense your personal brand from the way you look, you talk, you interact, and they can see it in your resume and your online presence. Good personal branding makes an employer think that you are the right fit for their company. Unlike many years ago, companies nowadays do not want to hire an obedient Yes Man, the hiring manager is out to look for personality and passionate individuals who can add on diversification to their current team.
Moving forward…
The process of creating your personal brand takes a lot of time and thought, but in the end, it is all worth it, because it helps you to focus on who you are and what you have to offer. Building your personal makes a strong difference in where you stand in the job seeking world, and it can get you the best interviews and the best jobs, in the long run.