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Networking is more vital to the success of a career than ever before. While 50 years ago you could secure employment by simply knowing someone looking to fill a gap that suited your unique skill-set, in this day and age, the internet has made the job marketplace all the more competitive.

For people looking to make a name for themselves in heavily populated industries, standing out is essential. Therefore, many successful professionals have taken to the idea of having a personal brand and promoting it like one would promote any other product or service.

Your personal brand tells potential clients, competitors, bosses, and partners who you are as a worker and what you stand for. This is not something to be taken lightly, as networking now has immense power over whether or not you succeed in your industry.

If you’re unsure about just how to promote your personal brand to the masses, here are our top tips for getting the job done:

Dress the Part

It’s no secret that what is considered acceptable office apparel has changed dramatically over the last century. But even in the last decade with millennials taking over the employment landscape we have seen immense changes in what people are wearing. In a growing number of offices, shined shoes have been replaced with Converse high tops and pressed shirts have been tossed to the side in favour of cotton ones.

Depending on your industry, this may be totally acceptable. But many people take “casual” a little too far and end up sacrificing their professionalism in favour of wearing athleisure outfits to business meetings. At the end of the day, your clothing choices say a lot about who you are, and if you want to come off as refined and professional, we suggest sticking to more traditional sartorial choices.

Be Authentic

Many people believe that they need to sacrifice their personalities and the things that make them unique in order to appear professional, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, people can sense when you aren’t acting completely yourself, and it can read as disingenuous.

You can maintain authentic industry relationships that inspire people to want to work with you while simultaneously instilling healthy boundaries about which subjects you discuss with them.

All across the professional sphere, people are attracted to authentic individuals who bring their stunning personalities to every project they work on. If your potential colleagues, bosses, and clients like who you are, not some watered-down version of you, they will want to work with you. It’s as simple as that!

Figure out What Makes You Unique

Each person on earth has something about them that makes him or her completely different from anybody else. In a traditional office setting, there are many roles that need to be filled by the right people who can add their personal value to everything they work on.

So what is it about you that renders you valuable to the people you wish to work for? Is it your immense capability to lead? Or maybe it could be your impressive writing skills? Whatever it is that sets you apart from the crowd is something that you need to harness the power of and promote extensively so that anybody looking to work with you is aware that your skills are unmatchable when it comes to X, Y, and Z.

Once you start gaining notoriety for the attributes and talents that make up how you’re trying to sell your personal brand, you’ll know that you’re doing it right.

Get Social

As a thriving professional, you probably already have a LinkedIn and Twitter account. But when was the last time you went onto those pages and updated them?

Let’s imagine that you’ve just applied for a job at a high-powered firm in your industry and you totally aced your interview. The person who interviewed you thought you were completely qualified for the position; however, there were a few other candidates who were also highly impressive. If he or she then went to investigate the professionalism of your online presence and found that your LinkedIn page hadn’t been updated in a year or two – that may tell him or her that you are unmotivated or disorganized, which may lead to another candidate being chosen for the position.

This is the kind of easily avoidable situation that many people fall into. The moral of the story is that your online presence is equally as important as your real-life one, and staying on top of your personal social media strategy is paramount to finding success in your field.

If you are out there in your industry working hard every day to find the success you know you’re destined for but are having trouble keeping up with your personal social media strategy, contact us today to learn more about how our services can enhance your personal brand.