Building and improving your personal brand

The concept of personal branding is rarely associated with landing and keeping the job of your dreams. After all, what does a marketing term have to do with career progression? The answer might surprise you.

Personal branding is actually a process: one of discovering and defining what you stand for as an individual. It can also be seen as a culmination of your experiences, knowledge, skills and values, and is thus an important element of both your personal and professional success. Creating a unique identity, or ‘brand,’ is what will set you apart from others and help attract the right job opportunities for you.

Here is how you can build and improve your personal brand to create a strong professional presence.

Define your personal value system

Being clear on what you stand for is the first step towards creating your unique brand. Your values are essentially the core principles and beliefs that guide your actions and behaviour. To help you define them, start by writing down some key concepts that resonate with you most in your interactions with others, such as dependability, authenticity, adaptability and open-mindedness. These will help shape your brand and greatly influence the image you project to the outside world.

Create your professional ‘mission statement’

Similar to your personal values, your mission statement is a brief description of your purpose, goals and aspirations. It is a significant component of your professional identity, setting out a clear path of where you intend to go and the actions you will take to get there.

Understand what you have to bring to the table

What is your greatest strength? This surprisingly is often rated as one of the toughest interview questions, but it is important that you have a clear understanding of your greatest assets without burying them for fear of coming across as arrogant. By knowing exactly where your strengths lie, you will be able to communicate them clearly and use them to your professional advantage.

‘Sell’ your brand the right way

Social media have been negatively associated with a decrease in our productivity, low self-esteem and a reduction in our ability to focus. But as with many things, there can be a right as well as a wrong way to use them, provided you are aware of what it is you want to achieve. Platforms such as LinkedIn, X and YouTube, or even a personal website can be leveraged to your advantage if you use them as an opportunity to showcase your work, strengths and talents.

Finally, be authentic

No matter what flavour of personal brand you are going for, it can only serve you if it reflects who you are at your core. Being true to yourself is the only way to build trust and credibility, connect with people from a genuine standpoint and ultimately attract the opportunities that will propel your career forward.

Improving your employability is a complex process that depends on a variety of factors. For more tips on how to achieve this, read our article here.

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