August 11, 2015, by Laura Estrop

What Is a Personal Brand? (And How Can You Get One…?)

By Daniella Dutton, Employability Officer

What do people think of you when you walk into the room?

Laura Howlett from ICAP hosted a session in the Business School exploring how you can build your personal brand and ensure future employers know who they are buying into. It is important to remember that what you think of yourself might be different to how other people see you.

What is a personal brand?

Your personal brand is the way you market yourself and your career as a brand. It is an on-going process where you establish yourself as a brand, developing how you showcase what you can offer to an employer. Your brand primarily consists of how you come across in a face-to-face situation and how you behave in the social media world.

How do I start my own personal brand?

Let’s start at the beginning, when you meet people, the first seven seconds are the most vital. Here are the top 11 things that people will instantly notice about you:

1. Desirability
2. Sexuality
3. Education
4. Politics
5. Religion
6. Ethnicity
7. Sophistication
8. Wealth
9. Success
10. Credibility
11. Trustworthiness

Use these to start thinking about what qualities you would like people to notice about you. For example, if you want to come across as friendly, you could smile when you meet new people.

How can I verbalise my brand?

Think about celebrities and the brands they create for themselves. Take Barack Obama or Beyonce, for example:

• What is their personal brand?
• What image do they portray?
• Do you trust them?
• What is it that you do/don’t like about them?
• Is there anything that’s admirable OR are there qualities that you think you would like to have?

To get a sense of what your brand might look like, you can link qualities in yourself to people that you admire. Are you a confident public speaker like Barack Obama? Do you have a unique fashion style like Beyonce?

It is also worth thinking of personal brand like a triangle, there are six areas you should consider:

1. Values – what do you think is important? For example; honesty.
2. Drivers – what motivates you? For example; money, status or passion.
3. Reputation – what would others say about you?
4. Behaviours – how do you act? How do other people view you?
5. Skills – what are you good at? Think about professional skills and sports.
6. Image – how do you present yourself? What do you look like?

Why is your personal brand important?

• It improves your self-confidence
• Allows you to focus on your strengths
• Provides employers with a way of seeing who you are and what you will bring to the company

Think about your personal brand now. Are you happy with it? Think about where you would like to be ten years down the line, maybe a slight change in your current personal brand can get you there quicker.

If you would like to know more about personal brand, book an appointment with one of our careers advisers.   

Photo: Ryan Rancatore – Personal Branding 101 Wordle

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