The term ‘personal branding’ has become extremely popular in the last few years, but thoughtfully showcasing your public identity is far from a new idea. Eoin Murphy, a Mechanical Engineering student at the GMIT, Galway, Ireland, has created his own personal brand website where he showcases all of his inventions. Check out his website HERE. Clearly, he knows that your own website improves your presence on the web, and helps others quickly learn who you are and what you can do. Having created this fantastic and informative website, Eoin has shared some tips and advice (see below) on the approach you should take when creating your own personal brand website.
Show your background and your interests
Your aim is to allow people to quickly find out who you are and what you do. What type of personality are you? What interests you most about your field? What is your specialisation? Where do you want your career path to take you? These are all important considerations that you’ll need to spend plenty of time with before you get into the nuts and bolts of personal branding. All of these factors combined should send a clear message to employers about what they will be buying by hiring you.
Have an Ambitious outlook
If you’re only thinking about employment in terms of “finding a job,” you’ve missed a major aspect of the career marketplace. Landing a job isn’t just about searching for the right opportunity – it requires selling yourself with ambition as the ideal candidate for the job.
Add in any previous projects or experience
Your website can act as a central place for details of all your previous work projects, projects from university or work experience. Having a consistent identity online and off can assist your efforts to build your business, personal projects, and career. All the information that is needed should be housed there so that employers can access it easily and contact you. It can also act as a central place for links to your other online platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and your blog. Social media is not necessarily personal branding, but it can help.
A picture speaks a thousand words
On the Internet, visual representation is a key element of how identity is conveyed. My website showcases the work that I do, the products I invented and developed along with photographs of these products in action.
Try and sell yourself in the best way possible
Personal branding, is really no different than any other brand you see everyday – except that you’re pushing yourself as the product. The core of your personal brand should be a well-fleshed out idea of your skills, knowledge, background and professional ambitions. The key is to spend some time identifying what your brand is and try and sell yourself in the best way possible.
Be original
As the saying goes, ‘an original is always worth more than a copy’. Being original is key to standing out in the most competitive of environments; the labour market.