Creating a Personal IT Brand
Posted December 16th, 2013
Personal branding is not a new concept. It is the process by which professionals establish a distinctive name and image. They do this by consistently generating a valuable message with a recurring theme. Creating a personal brand is an effective way to set yourself apart from the competition. Your brand also helps you be viewed an authority in your field, because in this job market, it is important to be seen as a subject-matter expert, versus just one more general (yet skilled) applicant.
So follow these steps to start building your personal brand:
Start now!
- The best time to start building your personal brand is right now. It takes time to develop a reputation and following.
Figure out what you do best
- In order to have a strong personal brand, you must first determine who you are and how you are different. You need to be able that difference in a way that highlights your value. You won’t be able to effectively communicate your brand if you’re unclear on this yourself.
Identify your audience
- To whom are you trying to appeal? When you have a clear picture of your target audience, you can define and refine your message.
Identify your relevancy
- To highlight this, go to any online job board and read through some job descriptions. Employers are looking for specialists…not generalists. So figure out what you are good at and promote its value.
Plan your approach
- Are you a blogger? Speaker? Social butterfly? Lean on your natural strengths and develop a written plan for where, when and how you will lean on those strengths.
Create your toolkit
- Your personal branding toolkit consists of many things – a blog, website, business cards, resume, testimonials, cover letter, portfolio, social network profiles, etc. It even includes the clothes your wear, your body language or your communication style. Your brand must be consistent and positively reinforce every part of your toolkit.
Content is king
- There are a number of ways to create content – open source projects, webcasts, whitepapers, online discussion groups, etc. Social media can be used to strengthen your brand by commenting on online posts, retweeting relevant tweets and engaging others in LinkedIn groups and forums.
Be professional – always
- First impressions are extremely important, and you never know when the opportunity will present itself for that first impression. In addition, pay attention to your online presence. Keep your personal brand and your personal life separate online. Remember, the impression that you create online will be available indefinitely – for better or worse.
Bookmark our Candidate Resource Center at Bayside. We have the resources you need to begin your job search, and when you are ready to begin looking for your next information technology job in the Bay Area, send us your resume today! If you are looking for technical job recruiters in California, contact us today.
