In recent years, the job market in certain industries has become highly competitive. With hundreds of qualified people applying for the same jobs, job hunters need a way to stand out from the crowd. The solution? Personal branding.
A brand is a unique and memorable identity that is often the reason someone chooses one product over another. However, branding isn't only for businesses selling products. If you're currently hunting for a job, you can use the same strategies big brands use to “sell” yourself to prospective employers.
This guide provides personal branding tips and actionable steps for creating a strong personal brand. Investing time into professional brand development may open the door to exciting new career opportunities.
What Is a Personal Brand?
When you think of Coca-Cola, you might taste the soda, see the red logo, hear their jingle, and remember good times. That is the power of branding. A traditional brand in the business world is the image the company cultivates for itself. It goes beyond logos, colors, and artwork to encompass the business's mission, values, and personality. Creating a brand establishes a distinct identity for the company, helping to set it apart from competitors.
Similarly, a personal brand helps individuals differentiate themselves from other candidates in the job market. However, it's less about creating a logo for yourself and more about deciding what you value and how you want others to see you. With a personal brand, you can shape people's view of you through strategic efforts and communication. They'll have an easier time understanding who you are, what you're passionate about, and how you create value in the workforce.
The Benefits of Personal Branding for Career Success
Personal branding is a powerful job search strategy that can increase your chance of landing a job offer. It is also a beneficial asset within the workplace that can result in new career opportunities and promotions. Additionally, a personal brand will help you:
- Understand yourself: By creating a personal brand, you'll uncover more about who you are and what's important to you. This knowledge will help you sell yourself better and determine a career path if you were unsure before.
- Increase search visibility: Optimizing your online profiles for search is part of creating a personal brand. Through optimization, your name may appear higher in search results for companies and recruiters looking for candidates.
- Showcase your passion: A personal brand requires energy and care to create. Employers who view your online profiles will see the hard work you've put in, showcasing your dedication and passion for what you do.
- Boost confidence: Creating a personal brand requires promoting your strengths and best attributes. Uncovering these positive qualities can remind you of your value, helping to increase your confidence and self-esteem.
- Become a thought leader: Most people start sharing more experiences and information across their online profiles as part of their personal brand strategy. Along the way, they develop an audience influenced and inspired by their ideas. Slowly, they become thought leaders in their industry who others respect and admire.
Key Characteristics of a Personal Brand
It may be tempting to overinflate your personal brand to make yourself look good, but powerful personal brands are honest and reliable. Yes, your brand should focus on your most valuable skills and strengths, but it should also portray who you really are, albeit with more clarity and intention.
While creating your brand, keep the following characteristics of successful personal brands in mind:
- Authenticity: Authentic personal branding truthfully represents one's personality, skills, and experience. A lack of sincerity can cause people to question your integrity and morals.
- Purpose: Personal brands are usually self-serving, but the best ones have a greater purpose. Whether yours is to help others, make a difference in your industry, or connect with peers, be generous and transparent about what drives you.
- Creativity: A fresh, creative brand is more memorable. Use unique, eye-catching visual elements to make your brand stand out and share personal insights and experiences with your network.
- Approachability: Positivity, passion, and warmth attract others. Your brand tone can also make others more comfortable with reaching out and engaging in conversation.
Steps to Create a Strong Personal Brand
Whether you realize it or not, you already have a personal brand. People form perceptions of who you are after hearing about or interacting with you. However, there are ways to shape people's ideas of you. This is particularly important when applying for a job, as you want potential employers to see that you're a good fit for the role and their company culture.
Follow the steps below to develop your brand identity and use it to further your career.
1. Gather Information
Starting with a brand audit will set you up for success later. When businesses audit their existing brand, they examine its current state and position within the market. They may conduct internal and external surveys and interviews, review their current marketing efforts, and research competitors.
You can do something similar for your brand by making a comprehensive list of your professional accomplishments, experiences, and relationships. You may already have this information from your resume. Next, consider the personal qualities you want others to know about. Be specific and descriptive so you can use this information to create your brand story later.
Now, scan your social profiles to pick out comments and endorsements from others. You can also contact people you trust in your professional network to ask for their constructive feedback. Compare how you view yourself to their perception to see if there are any differences. You'll use your branding efforts to either boost current perceptions or work to shift them.
2. Define Your Values
Once you have a more in-depth idea of who you are and how others see you, it can be helpful to dig deeper to understand what's important to you. Introspection is a vital part of building an authentic personal brand. When you have a clear idea of your values, you can align your decisions with them and project the desired image of yourself to others. Uncovering your values may help you meet your goals and create deeper, meaningful connections.
Understanding your values and beliefs requires reflection and honesty. Consider what personal attributes you admire about yourself. Think about what motivates you and who you aspire to be. What character traits and habits will help you attain and excel in your dream career? In your personal and professional life, what do you hope to achieve? If you're unsure of your own traits, think about the people you admire. While these are difficult questions, the answers will help you craft a sincere, truthful brand that may lead you to the right opportunities.
3. Outline Goals
You can start setting goals once you clearly understand your values and purpose. Most people are familiar with the power of a goal—they provide a plan and benchmark for achieving a desired outcome. To create goals around your personal brand, consider what you hope to achieve. Why do you want to make a personal brand?
From there, you can write down a few specific goals. Some ideas can be to get more job offers, land your dream job, meet new people, grow your social following, or learn a new skill. Use these goals to guide every decision you make and measure your progress.
4. Determine Your Niche
The most successful brands know who they're trying to reach and what value they provide. You can apply this same strategy to your personal brand by choosing one particular niche to focus on. If you have a specific skill set or want to join a certain career path, pour all your energy into creating a brand and communication strategy around that topic. You'll have a higher chance of finding people who value the same things and can get you where you want to be.
5. Craft a Personal Brand Statement
One way to define your personal brand is to create a personal brand statement. For businesses and brands, this is usually called a positioning statement. A positioning statement is a few sentences that sum up what a business does, who its target market is, and what makes it different. They use this statement to align their marketing efforts with their values and goals. You can do the same thing for your brand.
Your personal brand statement should be short and sweet. It must define who you are, what you do, and what makes you unique. Keep it more descriptive and focus on the problems you solve. For example, a positioning statement for an accountant could focus on how they help businesses grow and succeed instead of just talking about finances. Remember to highlight why they should choose you.
6. Create a Story
Sharing stories about our lives and experiences is a powerful way to connect with others and help them understand us better. This is why your personal brand needs to have a singular theme and narrative. Consider this—would you be more invested if someone listed every one of their achievements or told you a story about how they got where they are today? Most people would find the story more engaging, and you can use this insight throughout your job hunting and branding journey.
Instead of explaining your resume in an interview, tell a story about your life or professional experience that highlights your qualities and values. Share the lessons you've learned with others online to educate and inspire. While networking, provide personal details and anecdotes to engage and connect. Stories humanize us and can lead to lasting, memorable impressions.
7. Choose Online Touchpoints
You can use a mix of platforms, including websites, social media, blogs, newsletters, events, and more.
By now, you should have a solid brand forming. The next step is to decide where and how to share it. If you're looking for a job, you should use platforms that will get you in front of employers and connect with other industry professionals. Do some research to find where your target audience is, and share your brand there.
You can use a mix of platforms, including websites, social media, blogs, newsletters, events, and more. If you're using social media like LinkedIn, include keywords from job postings in your profile to optimize it for search. The goal is to establish your online brand presence and center your communication efforts on the right people.
8. Use Cohesive Imagery
Building a personal brand online is an effective way to boost job-hunting efforts. However, profiles across the same social platform typically have identical designs and layouts. Visual branding on social media will help you stand out and capture attention, and it's as simple as personalizing your profiles with unique content.
You could add a professional headshot and use a pattern or a custom image as the background. Get creative and choose a specific font, color palette, and theme for your website and social media posts. No matter what, ensure your brand values shine through the images and designs you choose.
9. Communicate Your Brand
With most of the work done, all that's left to do is share your brand with the world. Many communication strategies are available, but your target audience should guide your choice.
Sharing valuable, original content on social media is one effective communication method, but you could also start a blog, attend professional events, or join an online community. If you don't have time to create original content, you could share other people's articles and posts along with your perspective or opinion.
Emphasize your unique contributions throughout all your messaging. If this is something you're not yet comfortable with, practice with friends and family as much as possible to build confidence. Let your personality shine through, stay positive, and focus on fostering connections to grow your brand.
10. Be Consistent
Arguably, the most essential part of branding is consistency. For your brand to be memorable and impactful, you must embody it in everything you do. Whether in an interview, talking to a colleague, or sharing a social media post, your brand should come across clearly. Through consistency, you will establish credibility and trust. Your audience and the people you interact with will start to associate you with the image you've carefully created.
Ultimately, personal brand management aims to build an identity over time that leaves a positive impression. You want people to see your value, remember you, and choose you over other candidates. You'll eventually reap the benefits of your hard work and dedication.
Start Your Career With Intuitive
If you value innovation, teamwork, and making a difference, apply for a position at Intuitive. Our team of talented professionals comes together every day to prove what's possible with minimally invasive care. We're tenacious, curious, and passionate about medical technology. When you work at Intuitive, you'll actively help doctors make a difference in the lives of patients across the globe.
We have various open positions you can apply for, whether you excel in administration, engineering, customer service, human resources, or marketing. Prioritizing a welcoming company culture, Intuitive provides the benefits you need to thrive and feel fulfilled at work and in your personal life.
Apply online today or sign up for our Talent Community to receive alerts on new job openings. We look forward to receiving your application and learning more about you.
