Personal Branding: A quick guide

Personal branding.  It’s a popular buzzword these days… so what does it actually mean?  Personal branding is a process of developing the image you want to portray to the outside world- particularly the professional world.   It’s you, with just a little extra polish and poise.  A strong personal brand will help set you apart when you are networking and applying for internships and jobs.  So, how do you create a personal brand? 

Step One: Do a little soul searching.  Figure out who you are right now, and how that fits into who you think you want to become.  This not only has to incorporate your career aspirations, but also your own personal development.  Think about your past experiences in terms of education, work, and community service. What kinds of skills have you acquired?  How have you grown from these experiences? 

Step Two: Consider where you are right now.  What classes will you take next semester?  Have you pursued any leadership roles in the clubs and organizations you are involved with?  If you aren’t yet involved in any clubs, which ones are you interested in?  What are you gaining from your experiences this summer? 

Step Three:  Perform a gap analysis.  Once you have given your past and present situations some in-depth thought (it’s a good idea to write out this information… you can also look at your resume to help you organize your thought process), it’s time to consider what you are missing.

For example, let’s say you are entering your sophomore year as a business major.  You know from your coursework that you are interested in accounting.  You have a job right now at a summer camp- the same summer job you had last summer.  So you aren’t working at a job that is directly related to accounting, but if you really broke down your experiences at camp, you would see that you are gaining (among other valuable skills) an abundance of patience- a great attribute for a successful accountant.  And, you have an extra accounting course in your schedule for Fall 2011.  So you are going to gain a wider understanding of accounting principles.  What you are missing now is an experience that helps you better understand what it’s really like to be an accountant.  To remedy this, you might consider attending a ZebraCAN information session so that you can link up with an accountant and conduct an informational interview.  You can also become OCR eligible and begin applying for summer internships in the accounting field.    

Step Four: Putting it all together. Now that you gained an understanding of what you have done, what you are doing, and what you need to do, it’s time to construct a personal positioning statement.  Think of this as your slogan- a short verbal representation of you.  It needs to be concise:  Honors student exploring career possibilities in accounting.  Voila! You’ve just made significant progress towards building your personal brand. 

Here comes the challenge: living out that slogan and enhancing your brand every day! Stop by the Career Center (we’re open during the summer!) and let us provide you with some guidance on how to do this.