Building Your Personal Brand

Philip Goodwin, OSU Career Services Associate Director

Building Your Personal Brand

Philip Goodwin, OSU Career Services Associate Director

What is Personal Brand?

• The practice of people marketing themselves and their careers as brands

• The ongoing process of establishing a prescribed image or impression in the mind of others about an individual, group, or organization

• The process by which individuals differentiate themselves from others

Online Reputation Management

1. Discover It2. Clean It3. Build It4. Manage It

Discover It

Discover It

Discover It

Discover It – The Reality• Famous namesakes taking up all of front page Google search

(deceased people, artists, actors, singers, church, bodybuilder)• Alcohol/partying• Pic of nose picking• Profanity and ethnic slurs• Inappropriate photos

– Scantily clad (bedroom shot, bikinis)– Comments on photos– Selfies, selfies, selfies (and selfies in the car)

• Radical views/political references• Food, food, food• Complaints (restaurant, current job, etc.)• Not enough privacy settings – I could see timeline, photos, etc.

Clean It• What employers DON’T want to see

– Partying (excessive or pattern of them)– Swearing and derogatory comments– Consistent negativity– Complaints about current/past employers– Inconsistencies with what has been communicated in resume or

interview– Inappropriate handles/emails (@hotmama, idaman@yahoo, etc.)– Distasteful pics (bikinis, loads of selfies, etc.)– Extreme views on current events or politics– Spelling/grammar errors– Illegal or offensive material– Criticism of others

Clean It

• Delete or remove undesirables where possible

• Remove tags• Request others to do the

same• Restrict through privacy

settings

Clean It

Online Reputation Management Services• BrandYourself.com• Reputation.com• Gadook• Profiled.com• Webimax• Socially Clean

Build It

• What employers want to see– Updated information– Relevant connections– Business-style, professional LinkedIn with a quality,

professional photo– Information backing up resume and interview– Image the company would be proud of– Positive, effective communication– Hobbies, interests, values that line up with the person you

say you are– Maturity/professional image– Honesty/truthfulness was a common theme

What do you want your magazine cover to look like?

Manage It

• Continuously monitor privacy settings• Block/unfollow connections with undesirables• Easiest strategy is if you have any questions

about a post, blog, or pic – don’t do it• Keep all sites updated• Periodically perform research• It doesn’t end once you have the job!• Be careful – always think about online safety

“Can I just send you a text?”

OMG I your company. Can I have a job?

My name is not Omg. Who is this?

Purposeful

Be AvailableFollow

through

Get Involved

Lead

HelpOthers

ShowUp

BeYou

Reveal Self

Build Trust and

Relationships