Have you thought about your personal brand? Do you know what information is in the public domain about you and how others perceive you?
A personal brand is not something you hear people often talk about and I am sure there’s a couple of you reading this thinking: “what do you mean by personal brand?”. Well, let me start by telling you that a personal brand is extremely important. It is everything to do with you and encourages you to evaluate yourself and think about yourself from different perspectives. Doing this will help you create your own personal image and establish what you want to be known for. It will also support you through the recruitment process as it will assist you in “selling” yourself, your experience, skills and expertise; everything about you, not only on paper but in person.
A personal brand is the sum of your overall unique experience, education, skills, likes and dislikes and anything else that makes you, you. You may not be aware of this, but you are always promoting your personal brand, whether it be through your CV, cover letter, social media presence or even how you speak, your body language, what you wear and anything else that others can see.
Your CV is the best way to “sell” yourself on paper. It is important to ensure that your CV is truly reflective of you and your brand. Recruiters and Hiring Managers will spend an average of only 7.4 seconds looking at your CV, so it is essential that you make it clear, concise and easy to read with a simple layout, basic fonts and clearly marked headings and key words. You want to make it as easy as possible for a Recruiter or Hiring Manager to scan your CV and pick up all your relevant skills, experience and qualifications.
Recruiters and Hiring Managers will also use social media to ‘screen’ you to determine your suitability. They will not only be looking at your skills, experiences and qualifications but also, try to gauge your personality to ensure you’ll fit in with their company culture and team. Therefore, it is important you either have your social media accounts on private or at least remove anything that could be misconstrued. Finally, you must ensure that your LinkedIn profile exactly matches the information on your CV – the companies you’ve worked at, the role titles and dates! A mismatch in information might make you appear untrustworthy and certainly be enough to raise questions!
If you’re looking for more information around personal branding, advice and feedback on your CV and cover letter, or a consistent social media presence, then get in touch with our Career Coaching Consultants at coaching@jlegal.com.au