Jobs Guide Build Your Brand- Know the Crucial Step of Career Branding

When you are in a mood to taste cheeseburgers, KFC and McDonalds quickly come into your mind. When you want to shop for a runner, you always prefer Nike over other brands. Why is that? Well, you rely on these brands. It's in your heart that they won't compromise on quality and always give you their best. They have set an image in your mind. This image tells a story of quality and perfection. Therefore, you ultimately prefer them over others.

Branding is how companies influence their customers. They communicate a message through branding to their target audience who knows how a brand will serve the people, how the company will act, and add value in the life of the audience.

Branding isn't only for companies, and it is also for people. Yes, Today, I'm planning to talk about Career Branding or personal branding.

Learn From an Example

The company as a brand wants the attention of customers and desires to set a strong image in the customer's mind. In a similar way. Personas a brand intends to get the attention of its clients, recruiters, and hiring managers. He wants to communicate with them.

Tons of brands are there, but a strong brand stands out from the crowd. By doing branding right, a company can earn more sales and turn existing customers into a loyal one.  So, if you build your personal brand strongly, you would be able to stand out in the crowd- lots of applications for a job, but you will get hired. Do you know why? Because you build your brand.

What is a Personal Brand?

A personal brand defines you- Like who you are, what you do, how you behave, what values you stand for, and how you add value to those who are connected with you or bring value to your clients.

A personal brand is your story. It's no surprise to know that personal branding influences the decisions of more than 80 percent of recruiters and hiring managers.

A personal brand helps you communicate your unique qualities, skills, and other important factors with the desired industry. It builds trust and sets up your reputation.

You may think it is a big challenge to build your personal brand. Well, it's not that hard. All you have to do is follow some crucial steps. Here is my Job Guide to Build your Personal Brand. Follow it as the way I describe, and you are only one step away from your Successful career.

Know Who you are

It's crucial to become successful in your career. Many people overlook this and end up changing careers in their 30s or 40s. You won't have to make that mistake at all.

Try to know who you are by making a list of your strengths and weaknesses.

What projects make me excited?

What kind of jobs exhaust me quickly?

What does your boss compliment you about the most?

Where are you ready to help your colleagues?

What kind of tasks do you hate to do?

Get some clear answers, and its how you will figure out precisely who you are.

Feeling it a challenging task? Get help. Ask around. I mean getting help from your friends, family, and colleagues. They won't mind telling you what you are good at.

Be Clear About Your Career Direction

The purpose of knowing who you are is to relate all strengths with a specific career in the industry. For example, if you are good at communication, then Public relations seems like a great choice. When you are just entering the industry, becoming a customer-care agent can be another good choice.

Understand Your Audience

Do you want to work in the public sector? Are you planning to join a private company? It's essential to define your specific audience with whom you will connect and communicate. You should have a clear picture of your audience to build your personal brand by using a medium where that audience resides the most.

For example, if you're a graphic designer, then you need to work with varied clients. They would be interested in your portfolio and personal website. You know the client is your audience, and portfolio creation is a way to communicate with that. Hope that becomes clear now.

Follow the Footprint of Experts

Another most crucial step in Career branding is getting inspiration from successful people in the industry. There are tons of influencers, leaders, and experts. Research your industry to know all about them. Now the next step is to follow them and do what they are doing.

 Are they going to conference and networking meetings? Go and do the same. Imitating them is a good approach. You share an audience and career goal with them. The reason for following them is to get the same thing they have. Remember, you are pursuing your own brand. They already have an established brand. They did it; follow them so you can also.

Plan Informational Interview

Interested in a job role? Want to become a part of a specific company? One of the easiest ways of doing this is to plan an informational interview. You will be surprised to conduct that interview. Let them talk in an interview and then get the exact map they follow. The purpose of an informational interview is to know how they break into this role and what you can possibly do to land there.

How did you get this job?

Do I need to join a specific network or association to get the same job?

What do you think is most important for getting this job?

Questions like these are quite helpful. However, your main purpose is to explore a lot about a job and how to get it. But also ask some unrelated questions, so you don't sound like a selfish person there.

Focus on your Online Presence

I don't need to lecture you about the importance of social media because everyone knows how powerful these mediums have become from the last two decades. It would be best if you played along with others.

It means going on social media and doing what others do. On Twitter, follow top leaders and share industry stories. Every tweet on your Twitter accounts tells people what you like and what you support. So, please don't support negative things.

If you use Facebook for your family and friends, you probably share memes and other things there. In that case, you should not let your client find those memes and jokes. Keep your Facebook only for your friends. Go to settings and skip your account from public search.

LinkedIn needs to do the most work because 80 percent of recruiters will check this account. Keep it updated, write some articles, talk in groups and do whatever is necessary to grow your connections. Getting recommendations from your colleagues and past employers is something you should do to build your brand.

Recruiters will check what other people say about your behavior and talent. If it is good and positive, they will consider it.

Work on Your Reputation

Be calm and a good listener in your work environment. If you annoy people and micromanage them, they won't like it. Negative remarks spread like wildfire and damage your reputation. You can't afford that. So, when it comes to your career branding, avoid negative remarks. If you get a chance to do volunteer tasks or remain helpful in a team, please do it. These are things that you do locally to help establish your Personal Brand.

Create a Pitch

You know "Who you are? Where do you want to be? Who is your audience?" Now the next step is to create an elevator pitch. Tell your story. You will explain in a few words who you are, what you do better than others, and how you recently added value to a company.

Sell yourself with your skills, talents, and experience. It's essential to quantify your achievements so that the recruiter understands your actual worth (If they hire you). Tell them you got 10,000 impressions only in one post and brought 100 customers on board for your last company if you are an influencer. So, please create your Elevator Pitch by using the most impactful words.

Grow your Network

No wonder the more professional contacts you have, the better chances of getting a job. Just imagine getting a recommendation from your professional friend who happens to be in the same company where you want to get a job. I mean, that is something.

If an insider tells your story to the company, there are pretty good chances of getting a job. So, please, by all means, grow your network. It means going to webinars, seminars, network places, conferences, etc. Develop relationships and keep them alive by connecting on social media. It's not that hard. Simply you will comment on their posts and share your viewpoints.

Creating a connection isn't good enough. It would be best if you had a meaningful interaction. If someone needs your help in their career, go and do that. The idea is to tell them how they behave. Remember, a part of your career branding is how you act and what your reputation is. Keep that in mind.

I shared a comprehensive Job Guide to Building your Brand. I'm sure when you start focusing on your career branding, it won't be difficult for you to land the job you deserve and want the most.

Best of Luck!