The Importance of a Personal Brand

Personal Branding is not something I had thought about up until recently when I attended a talk held by Jennifer Holloway, Personal Brand Specialist and Founder of Spark, where she spoke about how to create your brand and the advantages of having one. Now I understand that this is something that may not be the top of your priority list but after attending this lecture I think it should definitely be up there!

Let’s first look at what personal branding is. Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon, described personal banding as “What people say about you when you’re not in the room” and you can influence what they say by giving “clues” either through written, verbal or auditory mediums. For example, wearing a suit to an interview is a visual clue which indicates professionalism and success, whereas jeans and a t-shirt could indicate laziness.

The internet is one of the biggest portals for your personal brand, especially for a job seeker – Let’s say you have sent your CV to a potential employer, you’ve got some good achievements on there and you have been invited for interview, great news! The next step now for 9 out of 10 hiring managers is to look at your LinkedIn profile. This is the ideal opportunity to leave those clues to influence the manager’s opinion so they already have an idea of what you’re about before you head into the interview, and ultimately, it can act as the building blocks for that rapport which is so important in the interview process.

Along with directing a potential employer down the right path there are a number of personal benefits to deciding your brand:

• Enhancing self-awareness – the personal branding process highlights both your strengths and weakness helping you to define who you are.
• Clarification of your goals – To create a personal brand you need to be 100% clear about what you want to achieve.
• Visibility – a personal brand can help highlight your career achievements to others. The phrase “I let my work speak for itself” just doesn’t cut it anymore.
• Confidence – A personal brand will give you confidence in your strengths and where you can apply them best.

So I would say that creating a personal brand is something you should seriously consider, not only will it assist to develop your career through what you have decided to be known for, but it will grow your confidence as a person to know where you skills and expertise can be best used.