Hello. Helloooooo?! Anybody there?! If you are a subscriber / regular listener to the podcast (and huge thank you if you are!) - you may have been knocking on my podcast door and asking this question. It has been over a month since I published my last episode of the Dive Into Your Career podcast. Not great (says my inner critic) for someone who intends to publish one podcast episode per week.
But (she says, determined to turn lemons into lemonade) - what better time to talk about this week's topic: Finding joy in creating content and your personal brand.
When it comes to career development, I am a HUGE advocate of actively creating your personal brand and an integral part of that is publishing content online.
Think about it:
- Do you have a favourite beauty TikToker?
- Do you know which LinkedIn contacts talk about opportunities for international students? Or social mobility? Or diversity, equity and inclusion?
- Which instagrammers in your world create awesome travel on a budget content?
- When you are ready to pay attention to your finances, which podcasters or YouTubers do you turn to?
Content creators often carve out a niche of sorts - for which you can depend on them. I hope that the Dive Into Your Career podcast here is one of the places you turn to when you are focused on your career progression.
When you associate a certain person with a topic or specialism (or even personality trait - such as a content creator being funny) - that person is successfully building a personal brand. This is something that can make you positively stand out.
... and where else it is useful to positively stand out? Yup - that's right - when you are applying to jobs.
Be yourself - loudly! Whether you want to publish content about sports, marketing, social impact, entertainment (music / film) , travel or anything else - you are engaging with something which is of interest and potentially brings you joy.
So - whether you know you can regularly publish weekly or fortnightly or whether you are a bit adhoc (falling off the map like I did for a month) - get started. You can even warm up with LinkedIn (such an important platform) before potentially going down the road of a blog, podcast or YouTube channel.
As well as any awesome work experience and internships - you can highlight your uniqueness through sharing what you choose to be known for online - and let this be a jumping off point for building relationships and positioning yourself well for job opportunities.
If you are not yet convinced remember, you can revisit episode 077: What is PERSONAL BRANDING and can it improve my career prospects - but I do hope you are 'sold' on what we have been talking about today and are ready to create or revive the platform/s upon which you are creating content.
In the summer or autumn of 2023 I am likel
Do feel free to engage with this topic (or indeed with me) at any of the below: