Developing A Personal Brand While Still In School
A few weeks ago I made a presentation at a local university which led to a discussion in the hallway with a pre-business student. She was concerned about how to prepare for the competitive job market once she and her husband graduated, and was curious about my thoughts on personal branding. We had a really cool discussion and it made me think about what YOU can do to begin to develop your personal brand.
First, what is a personal brand?
My favorite analogy is one that came up on a recent podcast with branding expert Anna Farmery. During our discussion she said something like "personal branding is taking my two dimensional presentation (a resume) and showing the prospective employer who I am in three dimensions." What a cool way to put it - how powerful would it be to communicate to a prospective employer who you are with much more power than even the coolest, best resume?
There are many people that have identified their personal brands, and are actively promoting their brand. This is not to say that they are over-zealous self-promoters, nor are they doing this promotion in bad taste. But in this world where we are expected to change jobs every three to five years, developing and quantifying a personal brand is a significant part of your career management strategy.
And you can begin right now!
First, I'll tell you that I'm not a personal branding expert. And you should know that some people think "personal branding" is an over-hyped thing, perhaps a fad (my words, not theirs)! But I'm convinced that having a personal brand that is quantified and accessible by others is key to job security. Where our parents got some kind of job security from their employers, we must look at our career management strategy for job security!
In the next few posts I'll build on some of the ideas here - but my hope is that you can spend some time considering what your personal brand is, how to quantify it, and what place your branding strategy has in your career management!
Let's start with one simple thought:
You already have a personal brand!
It might be that you are a good student. Or a bad student. Or an intern. Or a party animal. Luckily your brand that you have right now likely won't be your last, and lasting, brand. Think about where you want to be in 10 or 20 years, and think about what your brand will be then. What kind of expertise will you have? Who will know about you? Will reporters want to have you in their roladex as a subject matter expert? Will peers come to you for advice?
This is a good place to start... we'll dive into more of this over the next few posts!
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