Brand YOU: Building Strong Personal Label before Entering Workspace

  •   Sat, Jul 20 2024
  •   By Vishal Nayak

July 20, 2024

In today's highly competitive world, personal branding is incredibly important for students transitioning into workplaces. A personal brand can give an individual a competitive edge over other candidates, enhance visibility and make an individual more memorable to recruiters and hiring managers. The idea is to enhance one’s employability and expand one’s professional network.

Personal branding isn't just for celebrities. In a 2020 published in the Journal of Product & Brand Management, Jenna Jacobson says boldly that everyone has a personal brand. Her exact words are: "Everyone is individually branded: one may not realize, acknowledge, embrace or manage their brand, but it certainly exists."

So how do we define a ‘personal brand’ and how can students entering the corporate world build a strong personal brand that ensures their career success?

Summing the efforts of marketing scholars who have studied the concept of a personal brand for decades now, a personal brand can be defined as “any well-known persona who is the subject of marketing communications efforts” (Thomson, 2006). This makes it different from a personal reputation, which is a general consensus built among others over a long period of time about a person. Reputation is an organic development whereas a personal brand involves consistent and deliberate efforts by the individual (or their team) geared towards shaping their reputation.

The best time to start building a personal brand is during college. The best year to start is as soon as one enters their college life but a student serious about long-term career success must begin at least by the start of their final year of college. Note that merely posting party pictures and travel / food updates on social media does not constitute a memorable professional brand (though employers look at these things too to see if a candidate is culturally fit for their company before hiring).

Building a strong personal brand boils down to: vision, planning and communication.

Defining one’s purpose

The vision part of personal branding comes handy in defining one’s purpose for their future careers and the life ahead. An example of a vision statement for a media studies student can be "I aspire to become a leading voice in digital media, bridging the gap between traditional and emerging platforms." Teachers can help here by providing proper guidance and career options to students who approach them.

Pro tip: One can either be highly focused on a specialised field of employment (eg., nanotechnologist) or have a broad area of employment in mind (eg., media professional, which can include a range of specialised professions like journalism, advertising, public relations, branding, digital marketing etc.)

Planning for Success

Before embarking on personal branding, students must indulge in self-reflection. This involves identifying one’s strengths, passions, and career goals. A safe and effective way to do this is to research their target industry to understand skills and qualities valued by hiring managers. This will help them develop appropriate content to showcase those skills and qualities through their online personas. LinkedIn should be a priority for every aspiring corporate professional.

Pro tip: Set specific, measurable goals for branding efforts, such as growing professional network by a certain percentage within a specific period. Regular evaluation is crucial – track progress, collect feedback, and be ready to pivot strategy if required.

Communicating the Brand

Most important tip in communicating a personal brand is to stay authentic and true to oneself throughout the process. Bear in mind, a genuine personal brand is always the most effective and sustainable. The key is to craft a clear, consistent message that aligns with your professional goals and resonates with your target audience. Students must use only professional language and be concise and articulate, especially on platforms with character limits. Engage in two-way communication by responding to comments and participating in discussions. Remember to proofread all content to avoid errors that could undermine one’s professional image.

Pro tip: When sharing content, focus on providing value - whether it's insights from a lecture or reading, reflections on industry trends, or showcasing individual and group projects.

In summary, with a clear vision, meticulous planning, and effective communication, a student can singlehandedly craft a personal brand that ensures a positive long-term reputation and lasting professional success. Remember, building an effective personal brand is not an overnight process but a carefully planned project that takes months to take shape and reap rich benefits. It’s a long process but that should not mean it’ll be an exhausting process. In fact, if done properly, it’s surely going to be a fun and rewarding process.

 

 

References

Jacobson, J. (2020). You are a brand: Social Media Managers’ personal branding and “the future audience.” Journal of Product & Brand Management, 29(6), 715–727. https://doi.org/10.1108/jpbm-03-2019-2299

Monarth, H. (2022, February 17). What’s the point of a personal brand? Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2022/02/whats-the-point-of-a-personal-brand

Rahayu, T., & Marka, M. M. (2024). The role of personal branding in increasing generation Z career success. Jurnal Ilmiah Manajemen Kesatuan, 12(3), 673–682. https://doi.org/10.37641/jimkes.v12i3.2530

Thomson, M. (2006). Human brands: Investigating antecedents to consumers’ strong attachments to celebrities. Journal of Marketing, 70(3), 104–119. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.70.3.104

 

 

 

 
By Vishal Nayak
Vishal Nayak is an assistant professor of MA (journalism and mass communication) at St Aloysius (Deemed-to-be-University). He has 14 years of teaching experience with core subjects including corporate communication, advertising and digital marketing. He also has six years of industry experience in corporate communication and branding.
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