Personal branding is becoming essential in today’s business climate. Think about the big brands that you know such as Apple. When you hear the word in a typical conversation you aren’t thinking about the fruit. The name has come to represent something larger than the word. Job seekers can create a powerful personal brand using free or inexpensive online tools to attract the right employer. Here are four steps to creating your online brand.
Buy Your Own Website
Web addresses are still pretty inexpensive. Services like Go Daddy or Network Solutions can offer packages to buy your own name with a dot com attached. It is important that your acquire that domain before another person or brand buys the site, and it becomes unnecessarily associated with you. If you can’t get the dot com, try for dot net or dot me. Then join social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter to ensure that you have those tools at your disposal as well.
Showcase Your Strengths
Your new website can now be your platform to demonstrate your worth to potential employers within your industry. You need to set yourself apart from your competition and an online portfolio along with a blog can show that you are an expert in your field. Use creativity and knowledge to create a site that will keep people coming back. Use social media to promote new content. If you have work examples that you can easily showcase (as a PDF, an e-book, a website), then don’t be afraid to include those examples.
Do What You Love
Knowledge about your interests and skills isn’t enough. You should also show excitement and passion about what it is that you do. When hiring managers and recruiters are looking for candidates they want to see someone who will excel in a job and a specific environment. When you demonstrate this passion, it can show them what it will be like to work with you. Having a job that you are passionate about will make it easier for you to want to do a high-quality job and go above and beyond to be successful.
Keep the Message Consistent
In order to make the most of your professional brand you need to make all of your online platforms match. You can work with a designer who can create a logo that you can use on your website, social media, and business cards. This will be something that will draw readers in and associate this image with you whenever they see it. Portraying the same image across a number of platforms tells potential employers – as well as the rest of the world – what you stand for and what you represent. Doing that consistently and doing it well will really help you.
Are you ready to create a brand that keeps people interested? NRI Staffing is now hiring for jobs in Washington DC and can help you today!
