Personal Branding Interview Preparation Guide

Personal branding is the practice of people marketing themselves and their careers as brands. While previous self-help management techniques were about self-improvement, the personal-branding concept suggests instead that success comes from self-packaging.

A branding is a symbol, design, name, sound, reputation, emotion, employees, tone and much more that separates one thing from another.

Here are seven ways to start building an awesome personal brand:
☛ Start thinking of yourself as a brand
☛ Audit your online presence
☛ Secure a personal website
☛ Find ways to produce value
☛ Be purposeful in what you share
☛ Associate with other strong brands
☛ Reinvent

Once you understand how you wish your brand to be perceived, you can start to be much more strategic about your personal brand. This does not mean you can not be human. A strong personal brand can yield tremendous ROI whether you are working with an organization or leading one.

Having a personal website for yourself is one of the best ways to rank for your name on the search engines. It does not need to be robust. It can be a simple two to three page site with your resume, link to your social platforms and a brief bio. You can always expand on the website with time.

We have all been there. Someone in your network posts something utterly mundane or ridiculous and you wonder what compelled them to do so? A medium is not a substitute for a message. Find ways to add value to your audience by creating or curating content that is in line with your brand.

Every tweet you send, every status update you make, every picture you share, contributes to your personal brand. It is an amalgamation of multiple daily actions. Once you understand how you wish your brand to be perceived, you can start to be much more strategic about your personal brand.

Your personal brand is strengthened or weakened by your connection to other brands. Find and leverage strong brands which can elevate your own personal brand. Start with the three C's, company, college, colleagues. Which school did you attend? Are there groups you can join? An alumni newsletter you can contribute to? What hidden opportunities are available within your company which you have yet to tap? Consider submitting a guest post to the company blog or look at other digital assets you can connect to your brand.

A strong personal brand is dependent on a strong narrative. In other words, take a second to think of celebrities you know who have a strong personal brand. They are all have a very clear story and a consistent brand. If you have multiple passions or areas of interest, a narrative becomes even more crucial so there can be unified theme.

Businesses create vision and mission statements. Creating a personal brand begins much the same way by creating a personal vision.
Only you can determine how you want your life to unfold. You can not control every aspect of your life but you can create a long-term vision and develop steps to achieve that vision.
Your life's vision should include how you see yourself in 10, 20 and even 50 years. Consider the elements in life that would make you happy family, beach house or a challenging corporate job.