How personal branding can enhance your employability
Briefing paper section:
A brand today can literally be anything today like a symbol, name, sound and much more. If we go back to when we were kids and saw a big golden M when you sat in the car with your parents you were probably thinking of fries and burgers from McDonald’s, which is a recognized symbol even for kids who cannot read. Branding on a business level is quite common and personal branding is just as important for your own career. As we know businesses are working with other businesses and it is people who is working with people, that is what’s makes this all connected.
Personal branding describes who you are and what makes you, you in life and in work, it gives an understanding of what kind of goals you have, what you offer, your quality etc. Your personal branding is also how you clients and the people who need your qualifications to hire or bring you to their company etc.
Every work you do that you do good and are proud of will make an excellent trail of your name behind you which will lining up work opportunities in the future.
Personal branding sounds like it can only be positive and help you in your career, but what kind of issues can come up?
For example, how much should we concentrate on promoting your personal brand and improve it? The issue with putting too much time on your personal brand can lead that you lose the focus on your work and career. It is important to both separate and connect your job, career and personal life as it all crossing each other and will revile your personal you.
If you can put the time and effort to monitor and maintain all this then you have the control you need.
Paul Copcutt the personal brand speaker and consultant s talking about the G.A.P (idea came from the London Underground when travellers hear “mind the gap” on the speakers). According to Pauls own website http://paulcopcutt.com/please-dont-apologize-for-your-personal-brand/, there are 3 main actions to close the G.A.P.
Gumption: Self-doubting are a big obstacle in your way, don’t rely on others to promote your name because it is you who can describe and define the best you, so have the gumption to take the initiative and take control over your personal brand and what is stand for and what it isn’t.
Awareness: If you have a personal brand, do you know what it stands for? Here it takes time to understand and to set some tension where and how you want your brand to be known. Awareness is also important to recognize and define what you are unique at and your strengths.
Pride: Your personal branding is what it says, personal. Don’t come up with lies and create a false image of yourself to make it look better. Everyone has kind of personal brand at it is up to ourselves to embrace it and ensuring what you do is right, never feel pressure over doing something that makes you uncomfortable or even worse, something inauthentic.
Employability section:
My name is Michel Aydin, I am born and raised in Sweden, Gothenburg but currently living and studying Business management in Southampton Solent University. I started to work quite early comparing with my friends and family members, in that way I gained experience.
One of my goals that I want to achieve with in my carrier is to go to work and love what I will do, to spend my working hours with what I love to do.
The business with people and to make a profit for myself or my company. And of course, things might not always go as I want them to go. There can be complications like If don’t get the job that I’ve always dreamed of, then it is important to not give up and pick up myself to keep on tussle.
According to CNN’s article is getting a job really about who you know? There is an interview with Tyler Tervoonren, the author of “advanced Riskology” and he says; “but I can say from my own experience that having connections is the most important thing a person can have when looking for work. I'm only 25, but in the three jobs I had in college and one professional job after, I got every single one of them based on my connections. In fact, I've never sat through a formal interview in my life."
I could not agree more with Tyler, under my 6 years of work experiences I have only been to two formal interviews but all the jobs were given to me in the influence of my contact network. And because of the many job I had during the years I gained a strong resume with many references.
Unfortunately, there are many people who had different kinds of difficulty with their managers at their workplaces which made them quit their job and leaving without to have any good preference. Preferences are important to have with you to the next job you apply for, so I am always trying to do my best to make a good friendship with my managers and supervisors. We are all humans and will have good and bad days at work, but what’s important is to never show it or make it obvious to my colleagues or my manager/supervisor that I cannot work fully 100%. I always try to give my best and to shut down my personal life when I come to work, the thoughts will either come to you on a negative way or it will destroy your mood.
2 Short term goal:
- Finish the first and second year with good grades and start to plan what kind of job, where I want to work and how I will get there.
- Aim for a wider contact network, people with good job and work experience that can help me archive my dreams.
- By the end of my studies I have thought through my plans, I know where I am going which could be Sweden, Gothenburg.
- My contact network is wider and I will now start to gain the amount of work experience that could take me to the top of my career.
2 Long term goals:
- Which two years of work experience I will aim higher, perhaps as a manager or have employees under my command.
- While I got a good start on my career and I made some saving, I would start to search for the true love of my life. But as per to me, the love of my life can appear next year or perhaps even tomorrow.
Reflective Evidence Section:
My time in Southampton Solent University has been the best time in my life so far, as an international student from Sweden I could not be happier with my choice of moving to England. To move to a well-known holiday place and to live there is completely different, my English language has gotten much stronger and I feel more confident speaking and understand it. I am currently living with my parent in Sweden and I am all by myself in England and that was quite a challenge in the beginning but with some effort everything is possible and I am doing very fine.
The amount of new people and friends in my life are a pure blessing, the more I think about it the smile on my face is getting bigger, these friends I made in my football team and course are loyal and will be close to me for the rest of my life.
The Units are far similar from the units that I have been participated earlier in upper high school, the tutors and professors are far more experienced with their speaking, body language and confident. I can feel how much I have grown as a person and in knowledge by just listening, create and find the information so far. Some of the units for example Business Economics have taught me how the bigger companies compete and how I will see the difference between products and their business idea, with this knowledge I can easier consider in what plan and what kind of business I want to get myself into. What business has the same ideas or ideal of business as I do and where can I grow as a businessman.