talkshop

Had a chat with Alvin over the class BBQ and he mentioned personal branding and building yourself up with your value or skill. Thats quite right, otherwise you are just a piece of wood floating in the sea, waiting for movements from rocks, breakwaters or other woods.

So.. what’s this personal branding?
Kate Souham at careerone.com.au, an aussie online job directory, writes that it is a career tool, one that you need to upkeep, to build people’s perspective on you. Of course the important thing is whether is it helping you or not, your wanting to be the team player versus your contrarian mindset, blasting every idea your colleagues offer.

Back to the internet
This article from LifeHacker, offered by Alvin sums up the whole argument about your brand profile. You do not want to be completely misunderstood or mistaken as someone else. Solution 1 is to create and steer your own profile, start your own blog, website that covers your interests, mindset and behaviour (if you will). That way, people will be able to know about you better and in the way you wanted it to be.

"The internet has nothing on you", says who?
Yes… Think of the vulgarities you spewed online, the rants against the government, authorities and even other people, these are putting you in the bad light. You might be pre-screened before you have the chance to explain yourself. So do yourself a favour and read this article from the Wall Street Journal, headhunters can and will find out about you online. Clean up while you still have time.

With the internet, there exists opportunities that allow you to portray yourself better as an individual or specialist. There are headhunters or job agencies that use the internet to find out more about their prospective applicants. Good luck :p