The Student’s Complete Guide to Branding Yourself
Posted on Tuesday, April 18th, 2017
When you apply for a placement or a job, do so knowing that there are dozens, if not hundreds of other applicants applying for that same job. If you’re a student, the competition is even more fierce: a flood of your peers is after the same placement or job as you. So how do you set yourself apart? How do you make an employer remember you?
The answer is to brand yourself.
As a student, the idea of branding yourself can be overwhelming. How do you brand yourself when you’re not even working yet in your field? And what does ‘branding yourself’ even mean, anyway?
Branding yourself means getting yourself known for your abilities. It gives you the confidence to talk about what you’re good at, and helps you connect with the people who can help you build your career. It helps you get familiar with where your strengths lie, and distinguishes you from the crowd.
In this guide, we’ll take a step-by-step look at the process of branding yourself as a student. We’ll look at how to establish your brand, how to communicate it, and how to use it to get fantastic opportunities.
What is Your Brand?
Your personal brand is made of up of the characteristics, appearances, expectations, and skills that follow you. It is, essentially, your reputation. You want your reputation to be strong and positive, so that you are spoken of in a positive way as your network grows.
Like it or not, you already have a reputation. Developing a reputation is inevitable, and will happen regardless of whether you want it or not. Branding yourself means taking control of that reputation, so that you’re the one in charge of how people perceive you. It’s a powerful tool.
Creating Your Brand
The first step to establishing your personal brand is figuring out what your greatest attributes are.
Sit down with a pen and a piece of paper and make a list of your best strengths. Don’t think too hard about it—the things that come to mind first are probably your strongest assets.
Organization, enthusiasm, dedication, teamwork—these kinds of skills can all go on your list. Industry-specific skills are important, too. Think of things particular to your field at which you excel. Think of the skills and abilities that set you apart and make you different. This will become the basis of your brand.
The next step is to find evidence to back up your strengths. You are highly organized—but how? Maybe you created a work plan during a group project to keep all your teammates on track. You are enthusiastic—prove it. Did you participate in school spirit activities in high school? You are dedicated—did you take on an extracurricular passionate project in your field?
This is like building a resume. You can list all of your best attributes, but without the evidence to back them up, they’re moot. So add those proof points to each strength you listed. Keep this list handy—it will be super helpful when you prepare for job interviews, go to networking events, or write cover letters.
Defining Yourself
Once you have your list of skills built, you’re ready to define your brand. Choose three or four of your best skills and their proof points and build them into a sentence. Something like, I am a hard working and enthusiastic [computer programmer/landscaper/business student/etc.] dedicated to excellence, which I demonstrate by….
You don’t need to share this sentence with anyone, but it will form the foundation of all the branding work you do from this point forward.
Represent Your Brand
When a company brands itself, it ensures to reflect that brand in everything it does. Now that you have your brand message figured out, you need to do the same thing.
Resume and Cover Letter
You already know that you need a different resume and cover letter for every job you apply to. But now that you know your brand, you want to ensure that your resumes and cover letters reflect it.
Work your chosen skills and strengths into your cover letter. In your resume, list the work experience that reflects those skills. Remember, these skills are what set you apart and make you stand out from all the job applicants, so it is important to have them clearly stated in your application.
Online Presence
As you enter the professional world, the importance of managing your online identity is paramount. Employers will be looking at your social media, and if it doesn’t match the brand that you’re trying to build, you could undo a lot of your hard work.
In theory, keeping your online presences professional and on-brand is easy. You shouldn’t communicate anything through social media that you wouldn’t feel comfortable discussing in a job interview.
In practice, this can be a challenge. Our blog post about online reputation management can get you started on maintaining a professional online presence.
Now that you know your brand, you can edit your LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Facebook to communicate it. By having all your presences show the same brand, you build a strong and consistent reputation for yourself.
Visual Identity
It also builds on your brand when your visual identity matches up with your reputation. This can encompass everything from the way you dress to the way your resume looks.
Design
Building a strong brand means having a strong and consistent visual identity across all your communications. But don’t worry—you don’t need to be a designer to make this happen.
First, make sure that your cover letter, resume, and references are consistent. Choose two fonts that you’ll use on everything—one for titles, and one for body text. Build a simple header that you can use on all these documents. You don’t need to get too fancy; you just want them to match up (check out our resume gallery for inspiration).
If you’re in an industry that uses a portfolio, or if you’ve gone the extra mile and built a personal website, you want those to match up as well. Whether it’s online or in physical form, keeping your visual identity consistent will go a long way to making you memorable to potential employers.
Dress and Appearance
This aspect of your brand is dependent on your industry, but it plays a key role. Your way of presenting yourself will reflect on your reputation.
While it may not mean showing up in a suit and tie, the way you dress represents the respect you have for those around you. No matter what industry you’re in, being presentable will reflect well on your brand.
It’s up to you to determine what kind of presentation is appropriate in your industry, and how you wish to be viewed within that. But staying consistent with your presentation is yet another cornerstone of your personal brand.
Embody Your Brand
You’ve discovered the foundation of your brand, and put it into actionable words. You’ve made sure that your resume, cover letter, portfolio, and online presences all reflect the brand you’re building. Congratulations—you are well on the way to having a strong, successful brand!
The next step is to consider how to maintain it.
Work Ethic
The number one way of maintaining your brand is to live up to the hype. As we said at the start, your reputation will follow you, so it’s your job to make sure you meet the expectations you’ve set forward.
By continuing to embody the strengths that you identified at the start, you will grow your brand and earn yourself a great reputation.
Networking
Networking is the best way to find a job. And with your new, strong brand, you’ll stand out in any networking situation.
LinkedIn is great for online networking, but nothing beats in-person events. Check out local networking events, get some business cards printed (remember to make them match your visual identity), and head out. These kinds of events can be intimidating, but you’ll meet leaders in your field and start to get your name out there. You’ll come across as the professional, dedicated young worker that you are.
Personal branding takes some effort to implement, but the payoff is well worth it. You will establish yourself as organized and dedicated to doing excellent work in your field. You’ll start to be recognized for your skills and strengths, and begin building a great professional reputation that will follow you for years.
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Are you a student interested in taking a co-op program? An employer interested in hiring an Algonquin College co-op student? Get in touch with us in the co-op office! Visit our website at https://www.algonquincollege.com/coop/, connect with us at coop@algonquincollege.com or call us at 613-727-4723 Ext.7623.
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