Personal branding strategies for professional self-presentation and career development

Sell Myself

Three personal strengths that I possess are being thoughtful, outgoing and responsible and I selected these because they are at the core of my overall purpose in my professional life: I aim to be considerate, perceptive and engaging while delivering quality results and meeting the objectives with which I am tasked as a leader. Three areas that could use improvement in my estimation are my capacity to balance work and family life, time-blocking, and networking: because I am already very busy and devoted to my work, I sometimes lose sight of familial obligations due to inadequate time-blocking, which also keeps me from networking as I would like.

An article that relates to how I could "sell myself" is entitled "Networking as an American Sport Psychology Doctoral Student: Creating and Marketing Your Personal Brand" by Scott Barnicle and Damon Burton (2013). While sports psychology is not my field, this article does offer some helpful tips on how to sell yourself in the professional field of my choice. Coupled with my own self-analysis, the article provides a framework that allows me to formulate 5 strategies that will maximize my preparedness in presenting my professional self.

The first strategy is to be aware of my personal brand. This allows me to think objectively of myself, not as being proud or boastful but as a marketer might view a product: what does this offer? How can we best present it? For myself, I know that the best qualities I offer are my sense of perception, ability to organize, and bring people together in unison. Thus, I can market myself as an organizer and concentrate on branding myself to people who appreciate organization. Part of this strategy consists of getting involved with groups that are looking for organizers. This can be non-profit, volunteer, or any kind of work -- so long as it is something that allows me to show off my skills.

The second strategy is to develop positive relationships (Barnicle, Burton, 2013). Relationships are like support beams in the professional world. No structure can be erected without them. Thus, as I set about branding myself, it is important to concentrate on helping others and showing that I am someone who can be trusted to listen, help and provide guidance and assistance in various ways. This will help foster healthy relationships with individuals who can in turn later act as sources for referrals or even work.

The third strategy is to network effectively. As this is not a strong suit of mine, it requires time blocking, arranging time so that networking can take place. Networking is about making contacts and spreading your name. Like relationship building, it involves talking to people and letting them know you exist.

The fourth strategy is to develop a leadership style that fits the role you are in. For me, this would be servant leadership, because I aim to serve teams and help them unite and coordinate so as to achieve a single goal.