Employers are not just looking for workers who can sell their products or ideologies; they want employees who can sell themselves. Personal branding is becoming increasingly important in the job market, and students can be creating their own self-brand now.
“Personal branding is much like product branding, but instead, it helps market you to potential employers,” said Amy Bramlett, career consultant in the Career Center.
Bramlett gave three key aspects for personal branding: knowing yourself and your best professional attributes or characteristics, knowing your target audience, and using this information to determine your competitive advantage.
“People usually think of the rèsumè as a tool for personal branding, but it’s larger than that,” Bramlett said. “Personal branding includes those written documents such as a rèsumè and cover letter, but it also includes social media, your elevator pitch, your knowledge, skills and abilities, your professional impression and even your personality and reputation.”
Tonya Nelson, Honors College professor and director of communication for the Honors College, said relationships can have a big impact on a personal brand, and it is good for students to begin thinking about branding themselves.
“I think it’s very clever for students to be thinking that way,” Nelson said. “After the war, people could just put that there were washers at this place at this time for this amount of money. It was more of an announcement, and now it is a persuasion. There are brands that literally become a part of our lives.”
Nelson said this brand mindset is indicative of today’s cultural value of relationships.
“We live in a culture that values relationships,” she said. “Branding can fast-track a relationship.”
Fast-tracking a relationship between a potential employer is important because it can give common ground as a basis for a relationship and bring about familiarity.
“Familiarity breeds comfortability,” Nelson said. “It’s smart to be perceived as being part of that organization. If you can fast-track your relationship with an employer, and make them feel like they already know you, the risk of hiring you has moved from high to low.”
People make decisions based on intellectual decision making, but often there is a gut feeling that plays a part, Nelson said.
“The person who seems to fit the company the best will get the job,” she said.
Bramlett said it is important for students to be working on creating their personal brand now while they are in college.
“It’s a very simple process that begins with determining what you would like your personal brand to convey,” she said. “What adjectives do you want to be associated with you? What adjectives are associated with you now? The great thing about starting while you are in college is that if you still have skills or experiences that you need to build to get to where you want to be, there are opportunities everywhere to gain those skills and experiences.”
Bramlett said if students are unsure of the types of skills they need to have, it is good to seek out help from family, professors and other professionals.
“Opportunities to refine your personal brand are out there. Sometimes they just have to be uncovered,” Bramlett said. “Once you’ve determined what your personal brand is going to be, own it. Everything you do should reinforce your personal brand. Never underestimate the effects of your actions, whether positive or negative.”
Both Nelson and Bramlett said a resume is not enough to warrant getting a job.
“That’s why I think [relationships] are absolutely critical, because everyone has a great resume,” Nelson said. “If you have a tough conversation, and I don’t mean awkward or inappropriate, but if you are a person who can communicate really well, that’s really more important.”
A person’s resume is a small part of who they are, Bramlett said.
“[It] can’t convey your personality, your intangible strengths, or your personal and professional philosophy,” she said. “These are all things you would evaluate and develop on your journey toward personal branding. Your personal brand is a script for how you would convey this information to someone else.”
Additionally, there is a right and wrong way to create a personal brand.
“It cannot be just a cosmetic, make a logo brand,” Nelson said. “That is not true branding. Branding moves someone from familiarity to absolute loyalty, and it takes work. If you are too familiar and I don’t feel like we know each other yet, it will fail. You can’t act like you have a relationship with a person before you do. It is weird.”
It’s important to be genuine when interviewing for a job, and Nelson said including personal stories or experiences can help set an applicant a part.
“I always talk about personal experiences,” she said. “You have to be strategic because when you think about it, everyone will say the same thing. No one applying to work at a daycare will respond, ‘No I don’t like kids very much,’ when asked if they enjoy working with children. It is good to explain why and build your relationship with stories that showcase your responses.”
Professors and professionals alike agree that social media can be a double-edged sword when creating a personal brand.
“Social media can be a great contributing factor to branding yourself, but it can also seriously derail all your efforts to brand yourself if it isn’t consistent with the other pieces of your personal brand,” Bramlett said. “After you’ve determined your personal brand, write and act from that script. A blog is great for people in certain professions that value written communication or social media, but they’re not for everyone. Social media is a great way to get the message of your personal brand out there in the world.”
However, Bramlett said there are a few good things to keep in mind when posting online.
“Whether you’re posting a status, tweeting, or posting pictures or videos, each of these items will either add to or retract from your personal brand, so post carefully,” she said. “A good rule of thumb is to make sure everything you post is safe for your grandma to read or view. Just keep in mind that at any moment your new boss can look at your social media posts. As we all know, once it’s out there, it’s hard to hide or get rid of it, so be cautious. Adjust your privacy settings to where you must approve all posts including you. You’ll thank yourself later.”
Chris Roberts, an assistant professor in the journalism department, said having an Internet presence is beneficial.
“Everything we do is about being able to communicate,” he said. “What I want is students who are blogging. In fact, we require that in JN 101. But even beyond that, I try to get them to write as much as they can. Ultimately, writing is thinking, and thinkers are usually good writers.”
Bramlett encouraged students to visit the Career Center to help with the specifics of creating a personal brand.
“Your brand should be specific enough to make you stand out amongst your peers, but it should also be general enough to give employers the impression that no matter what they may assign you or ask you to do, you’ll have the knowledge, skills and abilities to accomplish that task,” Bramlett said.
