This post is sponsored by Knowledge to Action
There’s never a single time when you should be building your personal brand to boost your career – you should always be building your personal brand. That way, if and when the time comes that you are seeking a new role, you are in an ideal position where you know people within your industry, you can showcase that you have been building your skill set and your social media profile is set up in a way that reflects your brand well.
Here are five great tips for simple things you can do on an ongoing basis to boost your personal brand, and therefore your career.
Build Industry Skills
You can greatly increase your personal brand within your career and therefore your employability by building on your industry knowledge. This demonstrates that you are engaged in the industry and are up-to-date with the latest developments. Investigate some of the training and development programs are available. Industry bodies and organisations often offer specialised development programs that are highly relevant and current. Alternatively, there are also industry-specific training organisations such as Knowledge to Action that have developed their own suite of specialised materials.
Improve Your Workforce Skills
No matter what anyone tries to tell you, workplaces filled with emotions and agendas – much like anywhere humans form groups in life. Humans are emotional beings and whether it’s your colleagues, clients, boss or your cleaner for that matter, they will all have emotional reactions to situations both within and outside of the workplace. Most people have just learned to reduce their reactions to these feelings.
It’s important to build your skills in order to successfully navigate through this terrain. Skills such as communication, problem solving, management and teamwork are vital in any organisation, and you will greatly improve your employability and personal brand by demonstrating a commitment to developing these skills. There are courses and seminars specifically designed to do so.
Demonstrate Initiative
Employers generally love individuals that can demonstrate initiative. What can you do to demonstrate your initiative in a relevant way? If you’re currently in an organisation, try to identify a gap in the offering or procedures and put forward a business case that capitalises on the opportunity. If you’re unemployed, look for low cost opportunities such as contributing to an online business blog or building an e-commerce platform. Whatever you do, make sure it is relevant in some way to the role you are trying to secure.
Build an Online Presence
Recent studies have shown that 48% of employers will Google candidates following a job interview. Do a search on yourself. What will prospective employers learn about you from the Internet? Will it influence their decision, for better or for worse? You can increase your professional presence on the web by building a profile on professional social networking sites or contributing to discussions in business forums.
Revisit your CV
You may have been updating the content, but how long has it been since you refreshed the style and format of your CV? Are you still using the template that came with Word 2003? Refreshing the design can help your CV stand out when recruiters and HR managers are sifting through the hundred or so applicants. Some job hunters are finding excellent results from CVs that also incorporate graphic elements such as graphs and tables. There’s a balance that needs to be achieved. Make sure you’re still selling your skills and relevance to the role. You don’t want your CV to promote style over substance.
I think that when it comes to your CV, ensure that the key points are up high; the material reflects your skillset; and the skills most relevant to the job you are applying for are highlighted.
Strengthening your skills, demonstrating initiative, forming an online presence and refreshing your CV can go a long way to building a stronger personal brand. This will put you in a better position throughout your career.
How have you built your personal brand? What are the steps you’ve found useful?
