Get noticed by Employers, Build a Professional Brand!
The rise of the internet has drastically changed the way people apply and hire for jobs, and COVID drove a large pool of employees and employers to work from home further removing personal interaction. How on earth is anyone supposed to stand out to an employer?
The answer, is building a Professional Brand! Especially in a field like cybersecurity where communicating who we are and our values may be a little more difficult to communicate outside of pen and paper certifications.
What is a Professional Brand?
A personal brand is the image, reputation, and perception that people have of an individual. It is the unique combination of skills, experiences, values and personality traits that make a person distinct from others. A strong personal brand can help individuals establish credibility, build relationships, and achieve their personal and professional goals.
So in sort, it is a professional representation of you, your goals and values. Why is this important? Well if you communicate your personal brand well, not only will you stand out in an incredibly saturated job market but you will also attract companies who fit your personal brand.
How do you start?
This part will take some thinking, and will be the foundation for your Professional Brand moving forward, so take some time with it. I want to stress the key word here "Professional" Personal Brand...so as you think about your foundation, do it from a mind state of professional progress. Think about where you are at in your professional journey, and the type of business you would like to work for (your audience). Think about your ultimate , then define a brand value proposition. A brand value proposition should answer these questions...
Who are you and what do you want to do?
What makes you stand out from other professionals in your field.
What specific skills, experience, and strengths do you bring to the table?
What are a few specific benefits of working with you or hiring you?
What is your vision for the future?
What are your personal values?
Define your audience.
Defining your audience is thinking about the type of company you feel would best fit YOU. I know as a job seeker, especially in the beginning the answer can feel like "Anyone! I'd just like to get started" and that answer is totally ok, but targeting a specific type of company in your branding can help you get noticed.
Things to consider when evaluating the type of company you would like to work for:
Company culture: What are the companies values? Do they align with your own personal beliefs and work style?
Work life balance: Evaluate the company's approach to work-life balance. Are they flexible with scheduling and remote work options? Do they prioritize employee wellness and offer benefits that support work-life balance?
Career growth and development: Consider the opportunities for career growth and development within the company. Does the company invest in employee training and development? Are there opportunities for advancement within the organization?
Leadership and management styles: Would you work best in a forward thinking and creative environment? Would you prefer to work in a very scheduled traditional environment?
Once you have a better Idea of what YOU want then you can build your brand to attract the right employer. A sample of this would be perhaps you want to work in a high tech, fast paced, and advancing environment. Knowing this about yourself you may build a resume digitally online to be interactive and flashy to impress employers. Suppose the reverse, you would like to work in a more traditional type environment? You might choose to have a very clean text, simple to read resume with a clean cover letter.
Build your platform.
At his point you should have a pretty good idea of your goals and audience, or at least a starting point, you don't need the entire script before you get started.
Let's talk about WHERE you create this professional brand. You can create your brand on one or a combination of platforms the key is to communicate on platforms where your audience hangs out. If we are talking about cybersecurity, then LinkedIn is a must. To further stand apart from your peers, consider starting a website or blog to document your journey and share. What do you put on these platforms? Anything that speaks to you and drives your professional narrative! Talk about a class you are taking and what you have learned, a meetup with other like minded professionals, a book you read that you found interesting, an article you would like to talk about, a new certification you are going after and so much more! This will start a living proof of concept for your professional brand. An employer will often take a swing through your LinkedIn profile to get a feel for who you are as a person and all of this work will QUICKLY tell them all about you and your voice. Something I highly recommend is be mindful of your "tone" and stay positive, negativity will likely turn people away from your profile.
Build Your Audience!
Ok you have your vision, you have your platform, you've been posting about all the really amazing things you are doing to take steps in your career advancement, now what? Networking!
This is when it's time to bring that target audience to your platform. Luckily, if we are talking about LinkedIn, it's pretty easy to find the people we are looking for. Look for recruiters, talent acquisition professionals and hiring managers that align to your target audience and start sending those connections. If you feel like someone is a particularly good connection hop into their inbox and tell them a little about yourself and what you are looking for, or just say hi. What is the worst case? They don't respond? No big deal just keep on with your networking. A key point to your success will be not getting discouraged. Resumes will go unanswered, you might get a ton of "we are moving on to other candidates" emails, you may even get all the way through an interview just to be ghosted. You may even get snarky comments from others that they don't like how you are doing things (I actually got a handful about my tattoos, didn't stop me from getting hired at an awesome job with values that reflect my own). IT'S OK! Don't give up. Accept professional advice gracefully, keep working on your own development and you WILL GET THERE.
Now go out there with the confidence of a toddler in a batman cape and kick ass!
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