Author’s Note *This blog post, Personal branding workshop: Build Your Website for students, was written about 3 years ago. Today, as I realised that it may be applicable for professionals out there looking for jobs and rewarding careers – thus, the much-needed updates including a simpler title. Read on.
Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken
–Oscar Wilde
In the real world, many people are fighting for their desired jobs or positions. A typical scenario, a final year graduate and a soon-to-be-job-seeker, here we are going to call her Sarah, would start preparing her resume. She has probably received a short seminar at the university on how to prepare a good resume. She puts those tips into practice. She lists out all details, a photo, objectives, profiles, education, skills, languages and references. She sends out copies of her resumes. Hundreds of copies of resumes to her desired companies. She waits and waits for positive replies. She tries to be optimistic, she keeps her hopes high.
But, none replied…
(What did I do wrong? asks Sarah)
The above scenario may seem a little extreme, yet could strike a chord with you. And putting yourself out there on the job market can be one of the nerve-wrecking experiences. Many give up the hope of finding their dream jobs because:
It’s too hard.
No one wants me.
There’s no suitable jobs out there for me.
There’s no jobs out there. The economy is bad.
In the academic world, perhaps an ‘overrated value’ is the CGPA. Virtually everyone fights to earn the perfect 4 flat, or gets listed on the Dean’s List. Every semester, I would encounter a perfect student’s answer (in exam answer scripts).
Only that, I would see the same answer more than once. So what’s the role of students? Learning to give a perfect answer or learning to adapt to the changing environments and needs? And make mistakes along the way as a part of the learning process?
The former one is a copy & paste mindset; the latter, a growth mindset.
Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently
Henry Ford
If I could go back to my younger self, I would go for the latter. Take risks, make mistakes, learn from them.
Observe the natural laws
It is a natural law that one has to let go of something to set the stage for the gain(s) to come in. In autumn, trees shed its leaves and stay dormant in winter. Spring heralds a new beginning, new leaves come out and trees stay green in summer until autumn sets in.
n-k / Pixabay
Similarly, for crabs. Its growth is marked with several moulting stages. When its hard outer shell gets tight, a crab must shed its shell. Human also undergoes the same process, we outgrow our clothing growing up. We can use the physical growth as a metaphor for our thinking, emotions and spiritual matters too.
Experiencing pain/struggles could indicate one’s limitations, getting out of our comfort zone and learning something new. The sensation heightens our awareness. If we accept the pain/struggles as part of our growing process, eventually it will let us grow in a positive direction. We become more mature, mindful and the owner of our destiny.
So it’s nothing shameful to make mistakes, get hurt and be vulnerable. It’s a part of our growing up as a human being.
Yours truly
Hopefully as you go along, you’d become not only book-smart, but also street- and emotionally-smart as well as you are heading for bigger things in career and Life.
What could be more hurtful or destructive later in life is always in denial, feeling entitled, taking the shortcuts, not learning from mistakes and lack of ownership of yourself.
Why personal branding for students important?
So, putting yourself out there is inevitable as we are approaching the 4th Industrial Revolution. We spend more time in the digital world than in the physical world. We check our mobile phones when we first open our eyes in the morning.
Mobile first, it seems. From doing simple tasks on-the-job to lecturing to shopping, dating and watching movies. The world is becoming ‘smaller and closer’ as technology connects and bring people closer together.
The downside is many establishments and established practices (hotels, taxis, services, communication) are being re-imagined and/or replaced by technology companies. Many routine jobs have also been substituted by robots and machine learning–in factories, industries and healthcare sectors (e.g. pharmacy dispensary).
What robots can’t do (yet) is thinking and doing things creatively; examining things with a critical eye and having rich discussions; taking care of someone emotionally, telling jokes (and understanding one)…
Preparing Yourself for the Job market
I believe to market your authentic self in the real world takes skills, resilience, grit and the willingness to learn. It takes you to know yourself well.
Question to ask yourself:
- What are my strengths and values?
- What are my limitations/weaknesses?
- What are my motivation? What is my passion?
- What are my skills – much in-demand in the market?
- How can I ‘transfer’ those skills to another job market?
Knowing yourself well will unlock the treasure chest; some of which lie the greatest clues for the questions: how do I get employers to call me for an interview? How do I get my desired job?
A personal branding canvas (please see at the bottom of the page) captures all these thoughts and help to direct your awareness towards creating realistic strategies.
YOU: Personal Branding Resources
It is my view that going digital in your profession is the way to forward in this 21st century. To get noticed by your potential employers, having a website is probably one of the first things you should do for your career.
The second thing in 2020 and beyond is understanding the impact of social media for job seekers (and current employees). Take a look at the following screen grab: a quick search on Google shows social media enquiries related to job hunting and job loss seem trending.
Both – a website and social media – would paint a picture about your personality and tell a story to your potential and current employer(s).
Employers are increasingly referring to social media to screen and shortlist applicants for interviews. They wonder, will you be a good fit to our company? What will you bring to the company?
Because what you put out there, with or without much thoughts, could in turn impact their corporate image and reputation. And one extreme – having zero online presence – unfortunately, it’s a red flag to an employer these days…
Ergo, it is imperative to address and bridge the gap(s) in digital skills–real life.
In my workshop, you will learn how to build a website for your own personal branding. A beautiful and functional website can help you to:
- market and showcase your skills and talents in this 21st century.
- land your desired job.
- get contacts and network.
- known for leadership and recognition.
Resources for the personal branding using website workshop
Several examples of my personal branding websites on:
About.me (Workshop example 1)
WIX (Workshop example 2)
Googlesites (Digital leadership)
Checklist for Personal Branding: Checklist 1 (Comprehesive) | Checklist 2 (LinkedIn)
Examples of resume videos (visume): MMU (129K views!)
Download Personal Branding Canvas CC BY-SA 3.0, Dr. Aisyah Saad
For those applying for pharmacist jobs and want a job application template, read my post here. For big dreamers out there, check out this post. All the best!
