What is your Personal Brand?

A brand is a product, service, or concept that is publicly distinguished from other products, services, or concepts so that it can be easily communicated and marketed. This is how businesses stand out and helps customers make buying decisions.

But it isn’t just businesses that have a brand. We all have a personal brand that influences how others see us. This is especially relevant when we are looking for a new job or opportunity.

Why does it matter?

In today’s job market it can be tough to stand out. Good grades, lots of prior industry experience or even if you have done the actual job before doesn’t guarantee you the position you want or even an interview. Standing out is key and ensuring showcasing your skills, experience, knowledge in the best way could be the difference between getting noticed and not.

Here at Vantage we want to hear and see not only the skills and experience you can bring but your values, motivations and own unique strengths. The more we understand about you as an individual the better we can see if we are the right career match to you.

Your Online Brand

Online branding is becoming more ingrained in how we communicate with social media channels like Facebook and Twitter becoming more popular in how people express themselves. For a new job or opportunity selling yourself though these channels has never been as important as it is today. LinkedIn has particular supported potential employers see your personal brand by showing a glimpse into your career history, the activity you post about, the things you are interested in and has also provides a physical image of you from the photograph.

Top Tips:

• Make sure your Linked in profile is up to date, clear and has no spelling errors.
  
• Ensure the picture is professional and well photographed.

Tailor your CV

Have you tailored your cv to each different job you are applying to? Have you made it clear how your skills match to the job you have applied? If you have answered no this could be hindering your application making it to the next stage of the recruitment process. Building your personal brand on paper is hard and will take extra time and effort but will increase your chances of getting to the next stage. The more we understand how your skills/experience/achievements match our job role the better. Also, by spending the time tailoring your CV will demonstrate your motivation for the opportunity we have available.

Top Tips:

• Put the time in to tailoring your CV. Employers receive can receive hundreds of cv’s for the same vacancy so ensure you stand out by highlighting how you match the role.
• Ensure the information on your CV is easy to read, structured well and is clearly presented.

Behind every CV is a good cover letter

Sometimes a cv can feel a little confining as you are covering your whole life on to the recommended 2 sides of A4. A cover letter gives you a further opportunity to really sell your skills and why you want to work for us. A good cover letter should also include reference to our business in relation to any research, job role and why you are suitable for the job. Overall keep the cover letter clear, concise and relevant with key links to our business and the job you have applied for.

Top Tips:

• When communicating in written format ensure there are no grammar or spelling errors, you can do this running a spell check but it may be worth reading through your application a few times as an extra check.
• First impressions count and this your opportunity to start telling your story. The more time spent at this stage the better.

Interview

The interview is your chance to tell your story. More than likely there will be other candidates interviewing for the job so you need ensure you are memorable.Providing just a list of things of what you have done will help us understand your experience but unfortunately will not make you stand out. We want to hear about who you are, understand your values and what is important to you whilst hearing what motivates you. To help you do this we tend to ask competency based questions which usually start with ‘tell me about a time when or give me an example of’. See further interview tipshere.

Professional presence- this can be anything from your demeanour, your behaviour, body language and how you dress. Hiring managers will start to form opinions about these areas quite quickly.

Top Tips:

• Ensure you plan your outfit as leaving it last minute could damage the personal brand and professional presence you are trying to create.
• Focus on communicating in a clear and compelling way. Show us how passionate you about our business and the job you have applied for.

Your personal brand is about showing yourself in the best possible light to help you get through the recruitment process. Good luck!