- Self-Branding: Who am I? What do I want?
I never gave much thought about branding until I read Ilana Gershon’s second chapter in Down and in the New Economy (2017). I didn’t even know what branding was! Upon finishing the chapter I did some quick research and found many helpful sites that offer their own step-by-step instructions.
Other sources I’ve found were not that different than what is presented by Gershon.
There are many aspects of the job hunt that I find intimidating, but I see branding as a means to make myself stand out among the competition in the media communications career path.
I am about to re-enter the work force after an unintentionally long sabbatical. I am taking a different career path than I had before, but I am still on a path that leads to a creative career. Because I am making a career transition, I will most likely link my brand to one of my hobbies, and luckily for me, my hobby is photography. This is a concept Gershon brings this up as one method she learned at a workshop in San Francisco. (32)
I feel that a self-brand will also be helpful, as I have had many short-lived jobs in the last years before I went back to school in 2014. By branding myself I will be able to explain why my work history is “a maze” or “checkerboard.” According to Gershon, not staying with just one company isn’t uncommon (32), and as a millennial, I’m actually part of a majority. This takes away some of the stress I was having before reading Gershon’s book. However, the new stress, and I don’t know if it should be causing me stress, is the prospect of coming up with a self-brand.
“Who people expect you to be on LinkedIn is often very different from who they expect you to be on Facebook.” (45)
I’ve always tried to make my persona on Internet only a fraction of my authentic self, because I like to have an element of privacy online. I do use the Internet to job hunt/research, and understand it is now expected of me to have certain networking sites such as LinkedIn, which I do have a profile for. I agree with Gershon that how I present myself on this site is, and should, be much different than how I present myself on Facebook. My profile on LinkedIn does need some serious updates.
“…everyone has an authentic self, and the brand one develops is supposed to reflect this authentic self.” (Gershon 35)
I can make a list of traits that describe me, but part of the point of the self-brand, from my understanding, is to keep things to the point. However, my brand is a reflection of myself. To create this I have to seriously look at who I am and decided exactly what I want. I have a habit of getting distracted and/or changing my mind. Until I gain control of this, my brand is still in the works.
(This is a stock image that seems like a good start. (maybe?) I need colors and logos and all good things that make me look like me!)
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Works Cited/Hyperlinks
Cuccureddu, Gianluigi. 2013. “How to Create in 9 Steps Your Personal Branding Strategy.” IntelligentHQ. Accessed Sept 12, 2017. https://www.intelligenthq.com/social-media-posts/how-to-create-in-9-steps-your-personal-branding-strategy/
Gershon, Ilana. 2017. Down and Out in the New Economy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hydar, Shama. 2014. “7 Thins You Can Do To Build An Awesome Personal Brand.” Forbes. Accessed Sept 12, 2017. https://www.forbes.com/sites/shamahyder/2014/08/18/7-things-you-can-do-to-build-an-awesome-personal-brand/
Zimmerman, Kaytie. 2016. “Millennials, Stop Apologizing For Job-Hopping.” Forbes. Accessed Sept 12, 2017. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kaytiezimmerman/2016/06/07/millennials-stop-apologizing-for-job-hopping/
