Your LinkedIn doesn't need to be perfect – four ways to build an authentic profile to boost your personal brand
- Written by Brad McKenna, Associate Professor in Information Systems, University of East Anglia
The idea of a “personal brand” might seem like the purview of celebrities and influencers[1]. But if you’ve spent any time on LinkedIn, you’ll know it’s something anyone can develop with well-crafted posts and engagement.
In recent years, students and young professionals have turned personal branding[2] into a tool for success in competitive, global job markets. A personal brand is about both how you differentiate yourself from others[3], and about how others perceive you.
How you represent yourself online can have implications for your career prospects. To learn more about how to successfully develop a personal brand, we interviewed[4] those who are doing it well – Generation Z students in their final year of university. We also spoke with recruiters and a career advisor about creating personal brands on LinkedIn.
3. Engage with others
A good personal brand isn’t just about your own profile, it also involves engaging with others to show your dedication and interest in the profession. You should initiate conversations, collect thoughts and gather feedback from others in your field. As one student told us:
We’re all developing, and I don’t want to show employers a perfect, yet not ‘me’ image. Instead, I’ll show I’m a constant learner.
One way to do this is, like the student who wrote about improving her writing, to share stories about how you accomplished something or reached a goal. Posts with a strong narrative about the process of success (or failure) can spark discussion and debate, strengthen your personal brand and get the attention of recruiters or employers.
4. Keep your personal life separate
While authenticity can endear you to employers, you should still maintain professionalism. It is important to set clear boundaries between your work and private life, and make good use of privacy settings to maintain your personal brand.
Regular self-monitoring of social media profiles is important to manage your desired online persona. You should carefully tailor the choice of language and writing style on LinkedIn depending on the industry and company where you would like to work.
Your posts on professional sites can be personal, but from a professional context and not something you don’t want recruiters to see – for example, photos that show you partying. You may also want to, as some of our Gen Z participants did, search your name on Google or other social media platforms to see what images and posts appear, and monitor from there.
References
- ^ celebrities and influencers (onlinelibrary.wiley.com)
- ^ personal branding (doi.org)
- ^ differentiate yourself from others (doi.org)
- ^ we interviewed (doi.org)
- ^ This article is part of Quarter Life (theconversation.com)
- ^ When what you type doesn’t mean the same thing to the (older) person you’re texting or tweeting (theconversation.com)
- ^ Trust is important if you want to succeed at work – here’s how to build it (theconversation.com)
- ^ Why menstrual leave could be bad for women (theconversation.com)
- ^ Pressmaster/Shutterstock (www.shutterstock.com)
