by Julia Purcell, Senior Marketing Executive, Sigmar Recruitment
Personal branding is about understanding what makes you interesting, compelling and different and using that to communicate your unique value to an employer. With the advances of modern technology, there are a lot of ways to promote your personal brand and below are some below on and offline.
Online
Build an online profile. It’s as simple as this, if you don’t show up on Google these days, you don’t exist. All the statistics show that clients, colleagues, hiring managers, executive recruiters, and employees are all using Google to learn about you. Building a professional online presence is crucial. It’s a great way to connect with, share ideas with and build rapport with important people and companies in your industry.
Keep profiles up to date. LinkedIn and other social networking sites allow you to publish your bio, connect with other people in the system, be found by people who need to know you and enhance your online ID. You should have a profile on all relevant social networking sites, so recruiters will search you out. You need to be visible or you will miss out on lots of opportunities.
Be active. It is not just an online profile that you set up once and occasionally update. You need to interact with others and get your name out there. Use social networks to position yourself as an expert in your field. On your own pages, like Twitter, LinkedIn and your blog, share relevant information that would be useful to people in your industry.
Offline
Offline, you’ll brand yourself in a more traditional sense, through tools like your CV and business cards.
Tailor your CV. Your CV should support and emphasize the core of your brand (what makes you different). Remember to make sure your CV is consistent with your online profiles: dates, job titles and job descriptions should match up. In terms of visuals, keep a consistent look through your CV and business cards, too.
Have a business card: Even if you’re currently unemployed, have business cards printed with your name, profession and contact information, including the URLs for your website and/or social media profiles. With business cards, whether you make a networking connection at a professional event or on the train you have your information neatly, professionally and instantly available.
About the author
Julia plays a key role in the marketing and branding of Sigmar Recruitment and is responsible for Sigmar’s communications activities. She has successfully project managed the following events; Talent Summit 2017 and National Employment Week 2016 – Ireland’s largest HR conference. Julia is also a regular media contributor, writing regular blogs and features.
