In today’s business world, your personal brand is everything. It is the first impression you leave with colleagues, superiors, partners, clients and friends. You can open or close your opportunities by opening new doors and potentially closing others. Most importantly, it is one thing that you have the power to control.
Whether you’re looking for a new career, undertaking the path of entrepreneurship, or simply wanting to make sure you’re ready for any new opportunity that crosses your path, a strong personal brand can distinguish you from the crowd.
Making yourself marketable means that you are “findable.” It also makes you definable and gives you something that allows people to understand what it is about.
Ready to make yourself more commercial and attractive? Here are three super easy but highly effective ways to start:
1. Optimize your presence on LinkedIn
In today’s business environment, your LinkedIn page is truly your virtual resume. Often, it will be one of the initial points of contact with a potential employer, which will undoubtedly prove your previous skills and education. Therefore, it is important that you take the time to make your profile impressive.
Simply enter your previous jobs and some skills will not reduce it if you want to excel. While it seems completely unfair (and perhaps impossible) to express all your best qualities on your LinkedIn page, it is still necessary to do so if you are going to become marketable. Take the time to talk about what you really did in all your previous jobs.
You learned? What were your main responsibilities? What aspects of those positions are most relevant to the type of work you want to do in the future?
Nicole Strecker, managing director of a large recruitment agency, said it was better to say, “Most people spend so much time making their presentation, they forget how they appear in a search result, it’s the first thing recruiters look at.” .
This means that it is very important that you optimize the use of keywords throughout your profile. LinkedIn even offers a guide to help you find the best buzz words to communicate your qualities and skills to recruiters. Research and see what types of skills and keywords are trending in the labor market and be sure to incorporate them accordingly.
“THE BEST WAY TO START CONNECTING WITH EVERYONE IS TO IMPORT YOUR ENTIRE CONTACT LIST AND ASK THEM ALL TO CONNECT WITH YOU…ONCE YOU START RECEIVING 10-20 INBOUND INVITATIONS TO CONNECT ON A DAILY BASIS, THEN YOU KNOW YOUR DOING A GOOD JOB MARKETING YOURSELF.” – LEWIS HOWES
2. Flex your strengths
It’s one thing to say what you’re good at, but another thing is to prove it. While you may consider yourself a great speaker, writer or leader, it will not mean much to other people if you do not have proof of content to back it up.
While, no doubt, it takes time to establish yourself as a thought leader or accumulate followers in social networks that “prove” your experience, there is no reason why you can not start today. You can easily start a blog to share some of your writing pieces in any of your strengths or you can start a video channel on YouTube.
You can even access specialized blog websites and send content for publication to begin developing the ability to search your name (a large part of making it more commercial).
Of course, social media plays a huge role in thinking leadership and personal branding these days, as these platforms are excellent tools to reach a broad audience. But, they can also be very influential in their professional career. In fact, 70% of recruiters admit that they analyze the social media activity of the candidates when they consider them for a position. Make sure your social presence is beneficial to your personal brand.
3. Take industry-specific online courses
Your education should not stop after obtaining your diploma. While it is not necessary to have an exhaustive list of titles to be successful as an intellectual leader or employer, the important thing is to remember that you should never stop learning.
There are many online resources that can help you keep up with the latest technologies and developments in your industry or help you discover new areas of interest. You can even watch some informative videos on YouTube to see if there is something that catches your attention.
If you prefer a more traditional classroom environment, you can contact local colleges or community colleges and see if you can attend lectures, or ask about free educational workshops they can offer.
An ambitious apprentice is extremely attractive to recruiters and professionals. In addition, adding a list of certifications and course completions can certainly improve your resume and provide you with even more skills to promote yourself.
“SHALL I TELL YOU A SECRET OF A TRUE SCHOLAR? IT IS THIS: EVERY MAN I MEET IS MY MASTER IN SOME POINT AND IN THAT I LEARN FROM HIM. “- RALPH WALDO EMERSON
You must make your personal brand marketable if you are going to attract opportunities, just like you would with a business. Make sure you’re offering a remarkable and memorable first impression with a LinkedIn profile that accurately reflects what it has to offer. Establish your online reputation by making your skills and strengths highly marketable through the content published on personal and professional websites. And finally, never stop learning. There are many ways to keep your skill set sharp and learn new things.
Your personal brand could be the vehicle that drives you towards your goals. But we must remember that success does not only reach those who sit patiently and wait for it; You need to take action.