The Personal Branding Process
The Career Fair’s in 9 days. CRAP.
“The list of companies is super long, I barely have a halfway-decent suit, and anyways, I dunno what to even do in there.”
Ever hear the phrase, “excuses are for losers?” Yeah, well the same applies to people that pass up Career Fairs, cause in that fish tank of employment opportunities could very well be your big catch.
What’s personal branding? Simply put, it’s a method of finding your best characteristics and letting them shine. It’s a way of letting someone remember those qualities and distinctions you hope people think of when your name pops up.
Some great personal brands? The Beatles, Starbucks, and Hawaii. OK, maybe I’m a little biased; but you get my point. These things are exciting, high quality, and a little expensive, but well worth it. You want to be that asset to a company, that distinction, making a difference in the long haul.
“Great. But what about my complaints above?”
1. The list of companies can be filtered by major, location, and class year being recruited (if specified) on JobFinder. Don’t look at it as daunting! Do some research beforehand to find companies that pertain to your particular career interests.
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2. Ask a friend to borrow their clothes and dry-clean them later, OR wear a shirt and tie with some nice shoes, OR ask mom and pop to send some old clothes your way before next Wednesday comes! Your appearance is the first step to personal branding, and company reps WILL remember if you wore Nike’s to your introduction…trust me, found out the hard way.
Ask a Peer Advisor like myself or an upperclassmen in the CDC if what you think is acceptable to the Career Fair will really fly; or just search Google for business-saavy people, which will produce similar results.
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3. Attend “How To Work A Career Fair” this Wednesday 6:00PM in SL115, with representatives from Vistaprint spending their time with what has typically been a standing room only crowd. Here they’ll tell it like it is, demonstrate great (and not-so-great) introductions, and give you the advice you’ll need to rock it yourself!
Figure out in the next 9 days what it’ll take for others to remember YOUR personal brand. Don’t worry about others’ brandings and introductions. Maybe it’s your speech, your body language, or your initiative that people will remember most.
Whatever the case, be yourself and take that chance to brand yourself out there!
