How to leverage your personal brand to build a stronger network ahead of a job search

Some time ago, I reached out to a recent college graduate Thanuja Ananthavel. We chatted for a while, and I had an opportunity to learn more about her personal struggles in carving her career path amidst the pandemic. 

It didn’t take us long to touch upon the topics such as the importance of personal branding, networking, and a few other things she wished she knew ahead of her job search. It turns out, Thanuja is a great example of how you can leverage your personal brand to build a stronger network ahead of your job search. 

Step 1: Take Time to Curate Your Personal Brand

Before we go on, here’s a revolutionary thought: a personal brand should not be something you have to build. Rather, a personal brand is a culmination of who you inherently are and how the world perceives you. What is often overlooked is the fact that our lives take place in both online and offline worlds. Taking care of how you look and present yourself in the offline world will only take you so far before your online persona gives out a different impression of you.

What do I mean by this? In most cases, we are not as mindful about how we are perceived in the online world as much as we are in the offline world. Take time to go through your online presence and see whether your online persona aligns with your goals and your true personality. Personal branding is a way to market yourself to others. So make sure that your online efforts help you out in that respect. 

What did Thanuja do? Well, as a marketing graduate of the University of Toronto, Thanuja found herself in a curious position at the end of her studies. With virtually no marketing experience, Thanuja searched for a way to distinguish herself in the online world. Upon revising her online presence, she decided that a personal website would give her the edge she needed and set her apart from the severe competition. As she states on her personal website, “in today’s fast-paced world, it is crucial to imprint a bold first impression!”

Step 2: Leverage Your Personal Brand to Build a Stronger Network

Thanuja’s idea behind creating a website was to give her a space to present herself, but also to appear more professional when reaching out to businesses she wanted to connect with. And sure enough, it wasn’t long before she began networking and ultimately doing freelance work for small businesses. But how do you leverage your personal brand to build a stronger network like Thanuja? 

Start by researching your desired industry. Determine what aspects of it interest you the most and focus on the specific area that you want to build a reputation for yourself in. Next, define your audience. Whose attention do you want, and what are they interested in? Depending on the topics of their interest, begin focusing on the aspects that can catch their attention. 

Let’s say your area of focus is influencer marketing. Create a blog section on your website and create content that would be interesting to your target audience, for example, best practices for working with influencers and freelancers. In other words, what is it that they are looking for? Grow your online presence by sharing these content pieces through your social media platforms. 

To better present her work and show potential clients her expertise and potential, Thanuja also provided detailed descriptions of her projects. She clearly outlined her strategies and how she executed them and accompanied them with a visual presentation of her work. Providing high-quality examples of past projects that also tie into your own areas of interest – plus your audiences – is the best way to leverage your brand for networking. 

Once you build this site, it’s time to share it. Reach out to past peers, colleagues, or even people you’ve never met but want to work with. By creating content that serves as common ground between you and those you want to target, you’re setting the stage for a fruitful working relationship.

— Article by Tijana Ostojić, a Freelance and Career Building Expert at Domain.ME, the international tech company that operates the internet domain “.ME”, and encourages students to place emphasis on ways they can stand out in the recruitment process by focusing on their online presence.