Top Five Reasons for Personal Branding for Students

• Have you ever Google yourself and noticed the result of your name on Google?
• Have you ever noticed what people say about you when you are not there?
• Have you ever tried to understand the key skills that differentiate you from the rest of the world?

If your answer is NO to the above questions then you have not yet started thinking and leveraging your Personal Brand. You are advised to begin with the journey of creating your Personal Brand by now.

Even if you have not found and realized the answer to the above questions but there are already answers for these questions, Hence whether you know or not but you already have a Personal Brand. Your Personal Brand is anything from your Name to your personality, your voice, your spoken ability, your reputation, your skills, or the combination of many that differentiate you from the rest of your competitors.

“Building your personal brand as a management graduates enables you to market yourself, hone your skills set & experience to develop you a stronger aspirant in the corporate world. You have to stand out from the crowd in the eyes of employers. Once you create your brand, it gives wings to your career”

As a fresh candidate you can opt a way to start - Ask your friends, your class mates, teachers and your parents, about what image comes to their mind when they think about you. And then, begin with leverage those positive traits into your personal punchline as USP. Keep growing and going with this practice over time.

Here are five steps to create your Personal Brand-

1. Take your Selfie

      Like you take Selfies from your mobile phones to see how you look like same way take the SELFie to understand your true self. Your Skills, Strengths, Weaknesses, your interests, desire and passion. It is all about developing a deeper understanding of self.

2. Set and understand your vision and aspirations (Know where you want to be?): The next step about setting your long term goals and aspirations this will help you to finding your direction and defining your target audience. If you want to enter in to marketing Job your target audience is probably marketing recruiters and if you want to start your own business than Investors or clients could be your target audience

3. Re-Invent Yourself by investing in yourself

     Step one and two let you understand the gap in your skills set, knowledge, attitude and personality. In this step you got to break your comfort zone to get the best version of you.  Reinvention is not a standard process that can be viewed from books or from internet. It id customized to individuals capabilities and aspirations. It’s very essential to watch and track your o self creation & reinvention as an ongoing journey of self-discovery. Reinventing yourself is related to finding your IKIGAI, or your "reason for being."

4. Build your online and offline Branding Strategy

Build your portfolio/ profiles that speaks of your passions and aspirations on social media platforms. Enriching your LinkedIn profile to showcase your hobbies/interests, skills and Aspirations is essential. If you are an active user of Facebook and/or Twitter, you should ensure that your profile and the contents you upload/share on those network sites is consistent with the overarching contents of your personal brand. As a student you are advised to

1. Prepare your video resume
2. Maintain your Social Media platform with consistency
3. Create and communicate in various platforms
4. Keep on posting your videos on YouTube
5. Your Network in your net worth
6. Register, create and build your website

5. Be The you

Now, it is about being yourself, The outside world keeps on throwing you challanges and attracting to change with who you are. Living in a world which is continuously evolving & developing, it’s expected from you to always be yourself from within. When you truly understand yourself you lead to a fulfilling and rewarding life. Without understanding and living your true self you would never connect with your core purpose and would not be able to understand the meaning of life.

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely author’s own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha

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