Personal branding is the process of marketing yourself and your career online or off to prospective employers. Essentially you are the product, and your brand is the way you are perceived in a business sense. According to a CareerBuilder survey, 62% of hiring managers are using Google to find out further information about their candidates. With this, personal branding is becoming more important than ever. So how can you start building your brand? Webrecruit looks into fundamental steps of developing your brand, and how it can help you in your job search.

1. Ask Questions Before You Start

Ask yourself questions, what is it that you are passionate about? Is there a particular message or theme you are looking to convey or a purpose to your brand? Think about the value in what you are putting online that shows more than just what you do, which can help people to identify you and what you are about. Take advantage of the strengths or skills that you have to enhance the value of your brand.

2. Write a Blog or Personal Website

Writing a blog or having a personal site can be a great way to showcase your interests and skills. It can also show that you are putting a substantial effort into your career and your passion. Where a job application or CV may be limited, your personal website or blog allows you the freedom to show who you are. This can contain articles, photos, or can act as a portfolio of your work.

3. Keep Connecting With Others

Connect with a circle of influencers and build relationships that are positive. This can be done by commenting on and sharing articles others have written. Stay in touch with your connections, and connect them together as well. The wider your network, the more resources you have to help you to expand your knowledge.

4. Maintain Your Online Presence

Use a similar or the same type of personal appearance across your social media platforms and networks, it is important to be identifiable (this should also be the case in your interview). You don’t have to be online everyday but it helps to post, like, share and comment on content regularly to build an online presence. Additionally, this shows that you are passionate about not only your own content but others as well.

5. Use Social Media Platforms

Make use of the different platforms available. Social media makes it easy to build on your brand and reach out to others in similar online communities. Platforms such as Pinterest, YouTube, or Twitter can provide you with options for a variety of different communication methods.

It also makes it easier for hiring managers to search for you using tools such as Facebook and LinkedIn. It may be worth keeping your Facebook private by changing the settings if you feel that there is inappropriate content, as many employers can be put off by statuses and photos on your page. To find out more about how you can make the most of your LinkedIn profile, see our blog on 11 must have LinkedIn features your profile needs.

Personal branding can be a useful tool to help you as a job seeker identify what it is that you are passionate about, but it should also be a way to speak up about your accomplishments and show your personality to potential hiring managers. Remember however that consistency is key; this should be established in your photos, writing, and content. Utilising your online presence will lead recruiters to not only finding you but wanting to interview you, where you can then put in to use what you have portrayed throughout your brand.