🧐 High-achievers, here's what you can do to dress up your professional persona.
Personal branding tips but make it relevant and realistic.
Personal branding is important not only for social media influencers, political figures, or company leaders, but also for anyone looking to offer values in return for an income: which is basically how employment works.
Specifically for high-achievers, settling for less is never the main goal. To stand out the right way at work, and to leave remarkable impressions for your next career steps, create the right personal branding for YOU, and let the magic happen!
Debunking the myths
Most of us have probably seen an article relating to personal branding before. But how many have actually started implementing something from it? Chances are, we feel like we don’t need personal branding, or we feel like it’s just not for us. There are many myths surrounding personal branding that could stop us from reaping the benefits. Some of them include:
Myth #1: Personal branding is only important for leaders or people with influence. This is partly true, as essentially every one does have influence. But as we’ve touched upon in the intro above, it is not limited to prominent figures.
Myth #2: People with great personal branding often lose touch with reality / don’t have a great sense of self. This assumption might come from the fact that some people often seem like they have two different personalities online and offline.
Myth #3: Personal branding only works for extroverts and not introverts. Contradictory to popular belief, personal branding is not ALL about showing up at events and speaking at seminars.
Watch our IGTV discussion with Andin Rahmana, digital marketing strategist and Purwadika School lecturer, on personal branding myths and the simple daily steps we can take to start building a great personal branding here.
Applying the tips
If building or having a personal branding seems too out of reach, you can always start small by amp-ing up the tools you most probably already have: social media channels. One platform that could be a good kickstarting point for an attractive professional persona is LinkedIn. For all the fresh grads—and even professionals, make sure you check these boxes below to get noticed by the right people:
Make sure your cover photo is relevant to your career field / the career field you’re looking to get into.
Display your full name and current title (not a rhetoric, as it impacts the LinkedIn SEO).
In your profile description, include relevant keywords that would reflect your past experiences.
When writing your professional experiences, do not shorten institution names to cater to those who might never heard of the institution beforehand. Bonus: add numbers to show your work’s impact.
See examples for each point and read more on the ways to get your LinkedIn ready for window-shopping recruiters in this Twitter thread.
Embracing the basics
Now more than ever, most high-achievers are probably looking to adjust their personal branding more towards their online audience. Though this strategy is great to follow, we may never neglect the basics of offline or real-life personal branding. Even while working from home, keep in mind this general guideline to brand yourself among colleagues and industry people offline:
Show your expertise as much as possible.
Give people ways to find out about your achievements without bragging about them.
Make yourself easy to contact for thoughts and questions via phone, email, and other communication channels.
Always lend a hand to other people in your industry (bloggers, colleagues, newbies, etc.).
Join local, national, or international forums and professional groups (as members first, and then make your way up to the committee board).
Volunteer for groups with shared values as the personal brand you’re looking to build.
Read on more opportunities at work where you can show your personal brand in this article.
Looking for even more personal growth and career tips? Be sure to follow us on Instagram @lifeatmekari and LinkedIn for insider tips and event updates (like the IGTV event we feature in this Edition)!