When looking for a job it’s important to make sure you know your own value. Your value can be determined by your own personnel skill and how well you can present yourself to an employer. This gives you the opportunity to stand out in your field compared to the others. This strategy is better known as personnel branding.

Creating a personal brand

Today when you look for a job it is important to know how to market yourself to an employer. The first step to doing so is creating your own personal brand. Forbes lists the golden rules to creating a personal brand

1)Have a focus

2)Tell a story

3)Create a positive impact

Having a focus is valuable because Forbes says employers see to many people who are unfocused when presenting themselves. A tip and good way to stay focused to help your personal brand is to decide what you want to focus your key message to focus on and stick to it.

Telling a story for your brand Forbes says is one of the most effective strategies. A tip for your own personal brand is create a story that your audience can engage in and is genuine. Telling a story also is another way that you can stand out in a field to an employer compared to others in the field.

To ensure your personal brand can create a positive impact make sure you understand you are your brand regardless of your job, and staying positive will also help grow your brand. A positive impact will allow your own personal brand to be more recognizable to employers and business so it is important that you try to create a positive impact.

Your personal brand

Your personal branding strategy is important to plan. Your brand describes your reputation, where you stand compared to others in the field, and what goals you are looking to achieve for the future. Your brand is what will help you stand out compared to others in your field when you are looking for a job. Your personal brand can also make you more money for your future depending on how you can sell yourself. Those who stand out compared to an average professional in the field can make up to thirteen times more money and can be recognized as global professionals.

Conclusion

Self-promotion can help positively impact your own job or business positively. It is important to have focus, be able to tell a story, and especially to leave a positive impact for your own brand to help you get that job or start your business. CEO of amazon Jeff Bezos explains self-branding as “what people say about you when you’re not in the room”. This is important to keep in mind when coming up with your own personal brand to help you think a little deeper when it comes to your own strategy. These tips and information regarding personal brands should help guide you in the right direction to help better understand how to create your own individual brand and get the job you’re seeking.

Social media puts the world right at your finger tips, allowing you to customize your own personal profile, connect with friends at the click of a button, and a place to share your photos and post about yourself for everyone to see. When you post on social media you allow your friends and others to see what you post and give them the option to comment, like, or share your content. Social media is being used nowadays more than ever by millennials who have become addicted to posting about themselves and the number of likes they can get from there peers. Our generation gets satisfaction from “likes” on social media because it gives a sense of satisfaction to each individual that eventually causes them to become addicted. People treat “likes” as a form of validation, the more likes people get the better it makes them feel about themselves which leads to a single button controlling the way millennials feel and interact in our world today.

The Problem

People are letting social media control the way they live life. A TEDx talk mentioned how millennial today are becoming addicted to likes on social media. From the Ted talk one surprising statistic shows the average person has 5 social media accounts and spend about 9 hours a day using social media. This statistic addresses just how much time social media takes out of the average person’s life and has caused our generation high rates of anxiety and stress that is at an eighty year high. When a person uses social media and gets a “like” it sparks dopamine receptor causing them to feel good every time they get notified of a like. This is the problem why millennials emotions are affected so greatly by social media.

The video Generation Like from frontline addresses the way millennials feel when they get a “like”. From the responses in the video the majority of millennials say that getting a like on social media makes them feel cooler. Millennials are treating “likes” as a social currency and allow them to control the way they interact in our world. People are giving social media the power to control their emotions and express who they are.

How you can take back control of your life

It’s no secret that social media is controlling the lives of millennials. Millennials are letting a like button control their mental health and the way they live life. It feels as if once you get lured into social media it becomes addicted and hard to figure out ways to ignore it. Some days you it seems as if social media has taking control of your life, and it is difficult to take back control of your own life once you have become addicted. Forbes published an article discussing ways to reduce social media use. After reading the article I have taken away a couple tips to reduce your own social media usage and also help you take back control of your own life.

Ways to reduce social media usage

1. App Limits
2. Unplug
3. Delete Social Media

From the Forbes article it introduced a new application from apple which helps limit social media usage. This application works for IOS 12, and allows users to limit the amount of time they spend on each app. Once you have spent to much time in one day on an app from the settings you choose, it will send you a notification telling you that you are over your daily usage limit.

Unplugging technology is another easy and simple way to take back control of your life from social media. For some it can be difficult because of a job or class that requires technology, but if you can allow yourself to unplug for a couple hours a day you can take back control of your life and not worry as much about what’s happening on social media.

The last solution and the easiest would be to delete social media. By deleting social media you no longer allow it the opportunity to control your life.

Today I took a social media course on HubSpot for my technology in public relations and advertising class at GVSU. After reviewing the lessons from the course I took a test that consisted of seventy questions about social media in order to get certified. I passed the test with a score of 68/70 and learned new ways to develop a social media strategy, how to build content, and other essentials for continued success when using social media. The HubSpot taught me a lot about social media that I didn’t know prior to taking the course and I am proud to say I am certified!

1. UFCW Local 951

Position: Communications assistant

Requirements: Superior Writing skills, creating newsletters using InDesign, basic graphic design skills

Where I fall short in skills required for this job would be first creating a newsletter. I have writing a newsletter before but am not familiar with the InDesign system.

2. Area Agency on aging of western inc.

Position: Public relations & Communications coordinator

Requirements: Non-profit experience, strong communication skills

Where I fall short for this job would be with non profit experience. I have worked and helped a non profit organization multiple times in my life and at college with organizations that I am part of on campus which would help but I feel it could require more work then I have done with my past experiences. Also I believe I have good communication skills but know that they also could use improvement.

3. John Ball Zoo

Position: Sustainability Internship

Requirements: Interact positively with coworkers, meet deadlines, adapt to change quickly

From what the job requires I would fall short with experience meeting deadlines. I do believe that it wouldn’t be hard to do depending on what the task is. From past job experience I wasn’t required to meet deadlines so that would be the one area I would focus on where I may fall short.

4. 3:11 Youth Housing

Position: Communications intern

Requirements: Manage deadlines, assist newsletters, event communications

Where I fall short for this job would be in communications. I don’t think my communication skills are bad, but think they could be improved for this job to help present myself more professional when interacting with others.

5. Live Nation

Position: Production summer intern 20 Monroe live

Requirements: Enrolled in college/ University, conduct yourself in professional matter, high proficiency with MS office

Where I fall short would be with MS office. I am familiar with systems such as word, excel, power point, and access but lack other programs that MS offers. Not sure which systems the job requires and my skills could always be refreshed because I don’t use all the systems on a consistent every day basis.

6. Spectrum Health

Position: Communications specialist

Requirements: Fund raising, event planning

The skills where I fall short for this job would be with event planning. I don’t have much experience planning events. I would have to see what steps a person would take when it comes to event planning to help me improve this skill so I can feel comfortable managing it on my own.

7. West Michigan Whitecaps

Position: Operations assistant

Requirements: Painting, power washing, game day preparation handle customer

Where I fall short for this job is with painting and power washing skills. I have never done maintenance on a baseball field so i would need to learn those specific skills in order to get this job.

8. Kent Consortium

Position: Part time communications coordinator

Requirements: Communications skills

For this job I fall short with communication skills. I have worked as a manager and dealt with customers in a professional manner, but I feel the communication I would do for this job would require knowing more about the company.

9. Viking Group

Position: Marketing communications specialist

Requirement: Creating and implementing marketing and promotional strategies, manage advertising media plan, maintain inventory

Where I fall short for this job is creating and implementing marketing and promotional strategies and managing advertising media plan. I am unfamiliar with doing both in a workplace and would need to learn hands on to help me learn how to do the specific skills the job requires.

10. SaveOn

Position: Advertising sales representative

Requirements: Conduct presentation with clients, sell products, generate new customers

The skills that I fall short of for this job is with conducting presentations with clients. I don’t have experience presenting presentations to clients in the workplace and would need to learn how to do it confidently and professionally.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton