Not to be overly dramatic about it, or anything
As some of you may know, I’ve done a fair amount of work for clients in the recruiting industry, and I’ve been talking about the importance of personal branding vis a vis career growth for a long time.
But I want to be clear: For most people – people who have regular jobs, and aren’t looking to become independent consultants or start a business – personal branding doesn’t mean you have to create your own website and blog every day or amass a legion of Twitter followers. It’s really just about doing two things:
- Creating a personal narrative. This is the ‘story’ about yourself that explains how your education, experience and skills come together to make you a perfect for X role or X career. It’s what you say when people ask you what you do for a living or what you want to do for a living; it’s what you say when you’re networking with people who may be able to give you your next big opportunity; it’s the narrative that helps you map out a career path and make choices about your next career move. Remember: People don’t have time to figure out how your teaching certificate, project management experience and passion for great design make you perfect for a job as Director of Training. You need to be able to explain it to them, confidently and concisely.
- Making yourself visible and interesting. Have you ever logged in to LinkedIn, seen a status update or post from one of your connections and thought: “Gee, Bob always seems to be doing something new. He must be doing well”? Maybe Bob has an interesting LinkedIn Summary; maybe he’s uploaded a presentation he made at a conference; maybe he just posted a link to an interesting article with a witty comment. It doesn’t matter which – Bob’s keeping himself top-of-mind, establishing himself as someone who’s engaged with his work and his industry, and making himself look smart and connected. All of these things are good for his career, because the next time someone has an opportunity in his field, guess who they’re going to think of first?
(BTW, if you’re in a role where you create a lot of presentations, whitepapers or other materials, you really should be posting them on LinkedIn. It’s not only a good way to keep track of all the great work you’ve done, it also increases the chances that a recruiter will find you the next time they have an opportunity and search LinkedIn for candidates.)
Still not convinced? The infographic below does a good job of explaining why branding yourself is good for your career.
