It’s hard to identify how will to stand out from the crowd of graduates, fellow students and professionals. A great way to rise above the rest is to figure out your personal brand. Use these easy steps are you’ll have designed yourself as a key factor to any and every team in the sector you want to work towards.
Think about how you would represent yourself within an image? Being able to define yourself with one image will really help you realise what makes you so special.
1) Personal identity- who are you?
To start of thinking about who you are, think about what you believe you are better at than everyone else- don’t be afraid to be big headed. Why does this make you different from everyone else with the same skill?
Another way of identifying your personal brand includes giving yourself two minutes to describe who you are to someone else. This can feel weird, but you can really learn something new about yourself and what you offer to a company/industry.
Finding your personal identity is all about reflection on who you are in a professional environment
2) What you offer- mainly skills and attitude
Giving an employer the low down of what you offer in a few words can really make the difference, so before heading to a network event, do your own skills audit. Write down your skills and what experience these relate to, paid or voluntary.
One of the easiest ways to efficiently let people know what skills you offer is by completing the STAR method. For more on this look at the blog post about writing an awesome application.
Situation, Task, Action, Result.
Surprisingly, most everyday activities you complete can be turned around into the STAR format to fit most jobs.
Take a look at the top ten skills graduate recruiters are looking for according to Total Jobs. Have a think about what experiences and jobs you’ve done which relate to these most wanted skills.
- Commercial Awareness
- Communication
- Teamwork
- Negotiation and Persuasion
- Problem Solving
- Leadership
- Organisation
- Perseverance and motivation
- Ability to work under pressure
- Confidence
Tip: try include numbers in your explanations, things like ages can re4ally help an employer understand the situation you are talking about
4) What you want- your goals and hopes from the engagement
Think about your own goals, the best way to get on the right track is to write them down and figure out which route you should be heading. Not only this but writing down your goals can help you adjust your attitude accordingly.
After you’ve worked out which direction you think you need to go into, think about if you want a job, a contact or a resource out of the conversation.
This is a daunting process, so it is more than OK to not know where you want to head, even if you are in third year or masters. Just try to find your pathway and start moving along this way until you have a clearer idea of where you would like to end up.
4) A digital brand
Do you remember that picture of you throwing up outside Fibbers? You don’t want any possible employer to see it do you? Think about whether you would be okay letting your mum have a gander though your FaceBook photos.
The same goes for Twitter, you don’t want to become one of those breaking news stories where some old unearthed tweet has tarnished someone’s career. You could even the chance to launch into your chosen career because of something silly you retweeted when you were thirteen.
Just remember this, would your parents approve? If the answer is no, then an employer won’t approve so just don’t post it!
If you need any help creating your personal brand head to the Careers, Placements and Opportunities centre in Holgate or drop us an email at careers@yorksj.ac.uk.
Written by Mia Wilson, Careers Ambassador and third year journalism student!
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash