Getting Better at Personal Branding

by avoiding some of the mistakes others have made.

Job security is not what it used to be.

Since the 2008 economic crisis, finding a stable job has become increasingly important to most people in developed countries. In their 2015 paper in the Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, Brandon Randolph-Seng and his co-authors assert, “individuals are most likely to balance their need for economic security in an imperfect economy by getting and keeping a stable job in an established organization.”

A crucial aspect of making it through companies’ hiring processes is your personal brand as a job-seeker — how you present yourself to the hiring panel and how they perceive you.

Source: Buffer

We have more tools in the digital era to shape our personal branding — LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. However, we need to get a lot better at using them to reach the positions we want.

Forbes Magazine recently published a video titled the “The Six Worst Ways to Brand Yourself.” I have included a modified version of the list below:

1. Calling yourself a guru, mogul, maven or expressing a job change based on fear, which will not impress anyone.
2. Zombie branding that uses dull, dusty, corporate-and-institutional language that you have learned at work.
3. Branding yourself based on status symbols, like this: “Ivy League grad and alum of Apple, Google and Snap.” Are these the most significant thing about you?
4. Calling yourself the best, top or the only something-or-other. This makes you appear amateurish and will not really help you.
5. Listing all the things that you can do. You are more than what you are capable of doing. Think about what is truly significant about you.
6. Calling yourself a Disruptor, a Change Agent, or a Catalyst. These clichés do not say anything useful about you.

For more tips on personal branding, check out the following resources:

• “The 5 Keys to Building a Social Media Strategy for Your Personal Brand” https://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-strategy-personal-branding-tips
• “Why Personal Branding is the Most Important Thing You Can Do for Yourself [SSM005]” https://blog.bufferapp.com/dorie-clark-show-notes
• “Tips for Writing Your Best Bio” https://blog.about.me/2016/02/02/tips-for-writing-your-best-bio/
• “Is Your Reputation Hurting You Behind Your Back?” https://blog.about.me/2015/07/21/is-your-reputation-hurting-you-behind-your-back/
• “5 Tools to Help You Build Your Personal Brand” https://due.com/blog/5-tools-to-help-you-build-your-personal-brand/

Happy Job-Hunting!

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