Three steps to manage your personal brand if you don’t have work experience

Isabel Iglesias, a human resources consultant and expert, points out that the first step is self-awareness, then strategy and, finally, visibility

Just as important as a résumé is the personal brand or footprint that each person possesses. Seth Godin, author of the book “The Purple Cow, Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable”, defines a brand as “the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another”. However, transferring this concept to professional life, we need to distinguish ourselves from the rest in our résumé to get a job.

Isabel Iglesias, a consultant on digital transformation issues applied to human resource management and selection processes, points out that “the development of a personal brand either for entrepreneurs, professionals or young people will help to boost their careers”. She believes that one does not need to have a lot of experience to manage one’s personal brand. “You can develop content curation, which involves filtering and improving the content and then sharing it across networks”.

What is personal branding?
It is the correct and conscious management of perceptions, memories and expectations that we want to generate in others. It reflects what we are, what we do and what we say as professionals. In other words, it is about achieving a personal image so that as soon as someone hears our name, it ensures you get the job. “Managing our personal brand is a long-term task; it conveys the idea of us as professionals. The way we interact, the way we share content has been going on for many years”, says Iglesias.

The three steps to managing your personal brand:

1- Self-awareness: We must define our competences, values, capacities y skills. This will be the starting point in creating our personal brand. It is often resolved with these questions: What distinguishes you from the rest? What are you passionate about? What are you going to offer the company? For example, participating in volunteer work or having performed activities abroad, even if they have little bearing on your career, will be part of each person’s personal brand.

2- Strategy: Developing a good strategy is key to being clear about what you want others to see in you. First, answer these questions: Why do you want to develop your personal brand? Who are you going to address? What are your goals? In this step, you must list the tools and channels you will use. For example, social media are a channel to provide information, although it is important to keep our image under control. We must control what we say and how we say it.

3- Visibility: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Vimeo, Youtube and Behance are some of the channels through which you can make yourself visible to your potential bosses. “This step is one where people usually make mistakes. Most people start by using social media without a strategy or goal. And the results are unreliable, even quite limited” says Iglesias. She also warns that this visibility must be based on quality content; sometimes, too much has the opposite effect. “When you provide low-value content, you run the risk of becoming an invisible profile, without quality content”, she says.