Companies are no longer only perusing through resumes, some are after more – they want to see the person beyond the carefully formulated cover letter and resume. How do they find that person? According to Dan Schwabel, a leading personal branding expert and creator of StudentBranding.com, 45% of companies conduct background checks on social networks. Schwabel argues that a person brand can sometimes make or break an opportunity with a potential employer.
You are probably asking yourself, “A personal brand? Why would I want that?” Well, clearly it seems to work pretty well for celebrities and star athletes. Sure athletes have superb physical skills on their side, but without branding, they are just like everyone else. By capitalizing on talents, athletes, with the help of marketing experts, build a name and a reputation for themselves.
Students can do the exact same thing but without spending the Benjamins. We can build a name for ourselves based on our attributes and the tools that are easily accessible to everyone. Most of us are well aware that social networking permeates dorms and sometimes infiltrates our daily lives. Whether we use Facebook to socialize with our friends or to keep up with the upcoming events on campus, we are networking and creating our own personal brands.
What are the characteristics of a personal brand? A brand is a name used to identify and distinguish a specific product, service, or business. A personal brand is much more than that. Our personal brand is composed of the different values that distinguish us from the rest of the crowd. The best part of creating an online brand is that we have the ability define that brand. According to Schwabel, a personal brand consists of four elements:
- Appearance
- Personality
- Competencies
- Differentiator
Appearance
Appearance is not about who looks hot or not. Appearance is how we display ourselves, and the message we transmit. An employer will most likely not want to hire an applicant whose profile photograph sends out the message, “I love Thirsty Thursdays.” Britney Spears and Lindsey Lohan can probably get away with that, but we definitely cannot. The personal brand should target the audience. If our audience is a potential employer on LinkedIn, clearly, we will want to keep it professional.
Personality
Just like athletes who do summersaults after a touchdown or eat popcorn during a game, we, too, send out messages to the people around us. Our online profiles or tweets send out a message to the people in our networks 24/7. Luckily for us, however, we are not under the spotlight all of the time, and we can choose the message we would like to communicate with others. With a website like LinkedIn, we have the ability to communicate our values and aspirations with the click of a button.
Competencies
While an athlete needs to show his/her competencies and abilities to make the team, we need to show our polished skills as well as how they can be an asset to our potential employer. Here is our chance to highlight what we could not fit in our one-page resume or 300-word personal statement.
Differentiator
The differentiator element is what makes us unique. Some people, like Dennis Rodman, choose to dye their hair crazy colors, which differentiated him from the rest of his team. But we don’t want to differentiate ourselves so much that we are no longer a good-fit for our employer. Our differentiator can be anything from work experience, hobbies, and interests as long as it shows how we offer a unique value to our potential employer.
Personal branding seems fairly simple and a great way to accentuate our cover letters and resumes. However, I am not so big on using Facebook as a vehicle for my personal brand. I don’t have anything to hide on my Facebook, but I really would like to keep the little bit of social life I have left (Thanks LSAT) away from professional scrutiny.
With LinkedIn, on the other hand, I can see myself combining both networking and branding to help me with my internship search. Right now, I really need to work on differentiating myself from the crowd and showing potential employers that I do have what it takes for their internships. Having a marketable LinkedIn profile will not magically hand me the internship of my dreams, but at least it will show that am willing to put in the effort.
My online profile can communicate much more than my resume, which is why it is important for me to start establishing a positive online presence. What’s my next step? Clearly a makeover. Stay tuned for my LinkedIn profile makeover as I critique my profile and try to make it better.