Developing Your Career Brand
You might ask: ‘Why is Career branding important?’. Your career brand is your professional reputation and expertise within your field of work and industry. It is how you are known for your experience, strengths, skills and value that you bring to your work. You might be thinking about how to go about identifying your own career brand and what is needed for it. There are a few ways to establish your career brand which will be discussed below from a coach’s perspective and hopefully these tips you will find helpful.
First, it is important to ask ourselves internal questions to identify and clarify our own career branding. The question ‘Who am I?’, you might never have been asked this before by anyone or you might not have asked this about yourself. It is not the easiest question to answer as it requires self-reflection and solitude to understand your own thoughts, how you feel and mindset. To answer the ‘Who Am I?’ start looking at your own values, beliefs, passions, principles, know your interests and hobbies. When you are clear on these the ‘Who am I?’ becomes easier to answer and then you can move onto the ‘what’ and ‘why’.
Questions to look at for the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ can be the following:
Why do I want to do this?
What is my purpose?
What are my motives?
What do I want to achieve?
It is also important to look at the ‘how’ for your career branding. A question you can ask yourself is ‘How do I see myself and what do I want other people to see in me?’. This is the story you want to portray through your experience and journey in your career. Know your ‘who’, which is your area of expertise and the people or industry you want to be known within. Think about what you want colleagues, managers and other professionals to recognise you for.
Another important step in establishing your own career brand is to be able to identify your core values. Your values will help you clarify what is most important in your life and what is not important. Your values help bring purpose, meaning, fulfilment and reward to your life. Knowing your values will help make decision making easier since you know what you desire. Most people would have between 3-5 core values. It is worth the time to clarify your values as it will help make it easier to find the work you are meant to pursue. Your core values will influence your career choices, how you approach your work and the professional reputation you develop.
Another way to help develop your career brand is to look at your key skills and strengths. You can look at all the jobs you have had to date. This can be part-time or full-time roles. List the roles, responsibilities and tasks you carried out, the skills you gained, the people you reported to and the people who reported to you. Think about the contribution you made in these roles and what you were good at. You can also look at all the qualifications and training you have done to date for your education. A qualification can include a degree, masters or a diploma from university. You might have done a course or a workshop that helped you gain a new skill. You might have had training in marketing, sales, assertive communication, presenting or bookkeeping. All the training and qualifications will help demonstrate your strengths, skills and expertise within your career brand.
Look at your personality traits and soft skills for your career brand. You might be independent, self-motivated, kind, caring, responsible, warm, adventurous, empathic, curious and creative. With soft skills, you might have a good attitude, communication skills (speaking and listening), problem solving, time management, critical thinking and the ability to work in a team. These qualities can influence how you work with others and contribute to your professional reputation.
Your achievements and awards can help support your career brand. It can be academic, like writing a thesis, publishing an article or getting the highest results in your class. Teamwork and group projects can also demonstrate your contribution and participation in what made the outcome a success. Volunteer work can be within your local community, organisation or charity. Did you receive an individual or team award? This could be in sport, drama, music, athletics, public speaking, writing or art. Also have references or testimonials from academic lecturers, your manager and colleagues from past or current jobs, as these will help support your key skills, strengths and achievements. Being able to demonstrate your experience and accomplishments helps others understand the value you bring.
For your own career branding, the best advice I can give you is to just be your authentic self. By being authentic, you are comfortable and happy within your own skin. You act and live in a way that shows your true self and how you feel in the moment. You share your journey and how you reached where you are in your career. By being authentic, it separates you from the market, as no one else can be you and you are unique. When you are authentic, you know your purpose and why. You trust yourself and know your core values. You are honest and tell your truth. You have found your own voice in this world. Your career brand should reflect who you are rather than trying to be someone you are not.
Once you have taken the time to do the internal work on yourself, you can start to build and develop your career brand. Consider social media platforms you want to be on, such as LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and other platforms relevant to your career. Make connections and establish a professional network. Join groups, post your own articles, including blogs and thoughts. Give tips and advice in areas where you have knowledge and expertise. Share your ideas and experiences to help others understand what you know and what you bring to your field. Get a mentor who can help and guide you in developing your career brand. Reach out to more experienced professionals for advice and ask them questions. Most would be happy to help share their expertise. You could set up a podcast and get people of interest on it and/or be a guest on a podcast.
Your career brand is not just about what you share online. It is also about how you communicate, how you work with others, the contribution you make and how you conduct yourself in your professional life. Over time, these experiences help shape and add value to your professional reputation.
I hope these tips will be of benefit for developing your career brand and supporting your professional life. Don’t leave it to chance and take control over the career you want to have. For your career, you are your own best asset. Have fun, be creative and curious with it!
