ALT_1 Personal branding for career success Personal branding for career success About this free course This version of the content may include video, images and interactive content that may not be optimised for your device. You can experience this free course as it was originally designed on OpenLearn, the home of free learning from The Open University – http://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/microgravity-living-on-the-international-space-station/content-section-0 There you’ll also be able to track your progress via your activity record, which you can use to demonstrate your learning.

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All rights falling outside the terms of the Creative Commons licence are retained or controlled by The Open University. Head of Intellectual Property, The Open University Introduction and guidance Welcome to this free course, Personal branding for career success. The course lasts eight weeks, with approximately three hours of study each week. You can work through the course at your own pace, so if you have more time one week there is no problem with pushing on to complete another week’s study. You will be able to test your understanding of the course through the weekly interactive quizzes, of which Weeks 4 and 8 will provide you with an opportunity to earn a badge to demonstrate your new skills. You can read more on how to study the course and about badges in the next sections. After completing this course, you will be able to: describe what personal branding is and understand how the concept can help you in your career understand how relevant marketing techniques and tactics can be applied to branding a person define your own, authentic personal brand and know who you want to market it to and why promote yourself effectively to employers, both in your workplace and beyond devise an appropriate plan of action to develop and promote your personal brand and enhance your career. Moving around the course In the ‘Summary’ at the end of each week, you can find a link to the next week. If at any time you want to return to the start of the course, click on ‘Course content’. From here you can navigate to any part of the course. Alternatively, use the week links at the top of every page of the course. It’s also good practice, if you access a link from within a course page (including links to the quizzes), to open it in a new window or tab. That way you can easily return to where you’ve come from without having to use the back button on your browser. The Open University would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations for the course before you begin, in our optional start-of-course survey. Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others. While studying Personal branding for career success you have the option to work towards gaining a digital badge. Badged courses are a key part of The Open University’s mission to promote the educational well-being of the community. The courses also provide another way of helping you to progress from informal to formal learning. To complete a course you need to be able to find about 24 hours of study time, over a period of about 8 weeks. However, it is possible to study them at any time, and at a pace to suit you. Badged courses are all available on The Open University’s OpenLearn website and do not cost anything to study. They differ from Open University courses because you do not receive support from a tutor. But you do get useful feedback from the interactive quizzes. What is a badge? Digital badges are a new way of demonstrating online that you have gained a skill. Schools, colleges and universities are working with employers and other organisations to develop open badges that help learners gain recognition for their skills, and support employers to identify the right candidate for a job. Badges demonstrate your work and achievement on the course. You can share your achievement with friends, family and employers, and on social media. Badges are a great motivation, helping you to reach the end of the course. Gaining a badge often boosts confidence in the skills and abilities that underpin successful study. So, completing this course should encourage you to think about taking other courses.

Getting a badge is straightforward! Here’s what you have to do: read each week of the course score 50% or more in the two badge quizzes in Week 4 and Week 8. For all the quizzes, you can have three attempts at most of the questions (for true or false type questions you usually only get one attempt). If you get the answer right first time you will get more marks than for a correct answer the second or third time. Therefore, please be aware that for the two badge quizzes it is possible to get all the questions right but not score 50% and be eligible for the badge on that attempt. If one of your answers is incorrect you will often receive helpful feedback and suggestions about how to work out the correct answer. For the badge quizzes, if you’re not successful in getting 50% the first time, after 24 hours you can attempt the whole quiz, and come back as many times as you like. We hope that as many people as possible will gain an Open University badge – so you should see getting a badge as an opportunity to reflect on what you have learned rather than as a test. If you need more guidance on getting a badge and what you can do with it, take a look at the OpenLearn FAQs. When you gain your badge you will receive an email to notify you and you will be able to view and manage all your badges in My OpenLearn within 24 hours of completing the criteria to gain a badge. Get started with Week 1. Week 1: Where am I starting from? Welcome to Week 1 of this free badged course Personal branding for career success. Congratulations! You are on your way to developing a new personal brand that will enhance your professional profile and your career. Whether you are starting from scratch or looking to enhance your existing brand, this course can help you. This is not intended to be an academic course, rather a self-help career guide to personal branding, so you’ll see references to both academic research and online blog content. For a topic such as this, there are many experienced and relevant individuals who choose to share their commentary in popular books and online, rather than through academic publications. Watch this video that introduces the week: Video 1 Introduction to Week 1 (please note this video has no spoken audio) Where am I starting from? Welcome to Week 1 of Personal branding for career success This week, you’ll start by asking ‘what is a personal brand’? You’ll see definitions from academics and business professionals and explore the pros and cons of developing a personal brand. You’ll think about your own personal brand and how you might describe yourself to a stranger, and you’ll identify your aims for the course. Finally, you’ll use time management tools to help you find time to study this course. Week 1, let’s get started!

By the end of this week, you will be able to: recognise what a personal brand is review your current personal brand identify areas of interest based on your current aims and aspirations. The Open University would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations for the course before you begin, in our optional start-of-course survey. Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others. We all have a brand already. It reflects our values, beliefs and personal qualities and determines how they come across to other people. As Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, famously said: ‘Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.’

Figure 1 You are your own brand A bearded man wearing glasses holds a Post-it note up to the camera, which reads ‘You are your own brand’.

When defining a personal brand, McNally and Speak (2009, p.4) start with this well-defined concept of a brand: ‘…a perception or emotion, maintained by a buyer or a prospective buyer, describing the experience related to doing business with an organisation or consuming its products or services.’ They adapt this to describe a personal brand as follows: ‘Your brand is a perception or emotion, maintained by somebody other than you, that describes the total experience of having a relationship with you.’ They explain: ‘Your brand is a reflection of who you are and what you believe, which is visibly expressed by what you do and how you do it. It’s the doing part that connects you with someone else, and that connection with someone else results in a relationship.’ Personal branding is viewed by academics and professionals in many different ways, and not always positively. For some, defining and understanding your personal brand is an obvious path to living a better life: ‘Building an authentic personal brand is an evolutionary and organic process and a journey towards a successful life.’ H. Rampersad (2009, p.xiii) For Tom Peters, the individual who is widely quoted as being first to talk about the concept of a personal brand, it is the only way to develop and progress within your career: ‘Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be a head marketer for the brand called You.’ Tom Peters (1997, p.2) Many of us associate it with entrepreneurship, or even celebrity, when individuals become the face of their own personal brand: ‘A great way to understand the concept is as follows… when somebody hears your name, what pops into their head? That’s your brand, for better or for worse.’ The Celebrity Branding Agency (n.d.) For some, it represents a cynicism that has made an impact on many of our lives, for example, through the rise of reality TV: ‘The branded self is one of the more cynical products of the era of the flexible personality: a form of self-presentation singularly focused on attracting attention and acquiring cultural and monetary value.’ A. Hearn (2008, p.179) For the purposes of this course, we will approach it as a useful tool for promoting yourself effectively and consistently to employers, current and future. Understanding and developing your personal brand in this context can help you to gain greater job satisfaction and progress your career as you want to. Activity 1 Quotes, definitions and opinions Allow about 5 minutes Watch the following video and, in the box below, make a note of any quotes that particularly catch your eye or seem to encapsulate your own perception of what personal branding is. Video 2 Different ideas about personal brand What stood out for you? Maybe it was the focus on being yourself, using your talent or making a strong impression on others. Although there are many definitions available, your personal brand is just that – ‘personal’. In fact, it is unique to you. You’ll explore this in more detail as you work through this course. In the next section, you’ll consider some of the pros and cons of a personal brand. You have considered what personal branding means and looked at some of the varying views and opinions about it – both positive and negative. But what are some of the potential pros and cons for you when developing your personal brand?

Figure 2 There are always pros and cons A person holds a green circle with a plus sign and a red circle with a minus sign – one in each hand.

Positives Helps you to stand out. A strong personal brand allows you to communicate clearly to recruiters or customers. If recruiters can easily see that the skills and values that you present are aligned with what they are looking for, they are more likely to engage with you. Networking becomes easier. Many people find networking a challenge, but having a clear personal brand will make it easier for you to a) identify the people you want to network with, and b) have concise and effective points to make while in conversation with them. You’ll explore networking in more detail in Week 7. Supports career decision making. Developing an authentic personal brand involves spending time considering what you want from your career and analysing what you have to offer. Once you are clear about these things, deciding which job to apply for or which offer to accept should become easier. Negatives Lack of authenticity. For many, authenticity is an important element of a successful personal brand. Devising a brand that doesn’t honestly represent who you are, and presenting that brand day after day to employers, colleagues, peers, etc., will be hard work and often personally unfulfilling. Too much self disclosure. Personal branding does involve self-disclosure. The degree to which you embrace that is up to you, but there may be a line that you are not prepared to cross. For example, you may feel reticent about sharing your opinions openly on social media. You’ll learn more about this aspect of personal branding in Week 6. Time consuming. It takes time to develop and promote your personal brand – contacting the right people, putting relevant commentary on social media, etc., so you must be prepared to commit your time to doing it properly. Not everyone supports the concept of personal branding. For example, Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, was recently asked how business people should manage their personal brands. Her reply was: ‘You don’t have a brand. I get this question a lot, and I shudder every time. Crest has a brand. Perrier has a brand. People are not that simple. When we are packaged, we’re ineffective and inauthentic.’ Her advice is ‘Don’t package yourself. Just speak honestly, factually and from your own experience’ (Holland, 2017). Sheryl makes a useful point about the potential to take personal branding too far, and in Week 2 you’ll look at what we can learn from the process of branding a product. However, even if you don’t feel comfortable with the idea of a whole branding exercise, there are components of the process, e.g. developing your LinkedIn profile effectively, that can be useful for anyone. Activity 2 Having a strong brand Allow about 10 minutes Consider someone who you think has a strong personal brand. It could be someone you know, for example, at work, in your social circle etc., or it could be someone in the media. With Jeff Bezos’ quote in mind, what do people say about them when they aren’t in the room? In the box below, list the words that spring to mind. Consider how that person communicates their brand. For example, if it’s someone you know at work, are they always positive in meetings, do they volunteer for unpopular tasks, do they talk about what they stand for, are they consistent in their contributions, etc.? Make some notes in the box below. Do you think their brand has had a positive impact on their career? You might have chosen words like ‘consistent’, ‘interesting’, ‘attention-seeking’, ‘friendly’, ‘authoritative’, etc. They might not all be things you’d want people to say about you when you leave the room, but they demonstrate that individual’s impact on those around them. You’ll find out more about how to shape that impact as you work through the course. If you chose a celebrity example, like Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie for example, you’ll know that they have hugely effective personal brands with millions of followers. You might not be interested in what they stand for – Angelina is an ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency – but you can acknowledge that their brand is clear and has been effective in developing their careers and causes. You’ll look in more detail at what you can learn from celebrity case studies in Week 2. You’ve considered the personal brands of others, but what about your own?

Figure 3 What’s your personal brand? A smiling woman wearing glasses holds an empty business card.

Take a moment to consider the personal brand that you currently have. This will give you a starting point to build from as you work through the course. Activity 3 Describing my brand to a stranger Allow about 30 minutes How would you describe yourself to a stranger in three words? Write the words in the box below. Try to think of words that would be relevant in a workplace context. Here’s a selection to get you started. Honest, creative, diligent, trustworthy, positive, innovative, organised, empathetic, effective, accurate, detailed, questioning, friendly, problem solver, supportive, dedicated, reliable, ambitious, flexible, thorough, focused. Then, ask three people you know and trust, e.g. colleagues, friends and family, how they would describe you in three words. Add those words to the box below. Were the words similar to the ones you came up with, or were there differences that surprised you? Do you like how your friends or colleagues described you, or are there things you would like to change about their perception? Understanding how others perceive you, and how their viewpoint compares with your own, is a useful starting point for understanding your personal brand. From there you can decide whether your current brand aligns with how you want to be seen by others. Given our focus on the workplace, is that brand going to be useful in progressing your current career plans. If not, why not? Do you need to change the brand or change your career plans? Sometimes, the things that you perceive as positive might well be seen as negative by others. For example, characteristics such as ‘creative and innovative’ might not align with a role that requires someone who can follow well-established procedures without deviation. Or, if you describe yourself as ‘thorough’, someone else might see that as ‘obsessive’. As you work through this course, you’ll be able to consider these points in more detail and decide what you need to do about them. Now that you have a snapshot of your current personal brand, the next section will help you to consider how you want to develop it further. As personal branding can be applied in so many different ways, it is important to be clear about why you want to develop yours at this point in your career.

Figure 4 Be clear A hand holds a camera lens in front of an image of woodland. Around the hand the image is blurred, but through the lens it is clear.

For example, you might be looking for: a clearer sense of who you are and what you have to offer – the process of understanding and developing your personal brand will help you to gain that, increasing your clarity and confidence a chance to rebrand – if your priorities have changed and your current personal brand no longer reflects what you want from your career, a rebrand could help you to progress in a more fulfilling direction further development in your workplace – a strong personal brand can maximise the chances of your name coming up when opportunities or vacancies arise a clear and consistent message to share with your networks, both off and online – this can make networking easier and more effective, leading to interesting connections and opportunities ideas about how to promote yourself effectively to new employers, e.g. through job applications and interviews – having a clear brand to promote, and knowing how to promote it, can make a significant difference to your success rate. Activity 4 What do I want my personal brand to do for my career? Allow about 10 minutes In the box below, explain why you want to develop your personal brand. Knowing why you want to develop your personal brand and how you want to use it will help to inform your progress through the course. Whatever stage you are at, this course is designed to share something useful with you each week, but some weeks may be more relevant to your journey than others. There are many benefits to developing your personal brand. Executive Career Coach, Susan Chritton’s blog (n.d.) lists ten of them: Permission to be yourself – express your authentic self, be the person you are meant to be Gains in confidence – look at your strengths and know you have something of value to offer Building credibility – through consistent actions that align with your brand Showcasing your specialty – use your unique combination of work experience, life experience and personal characteristics to determine your niche Leaving your mark – people will remember you through your actions, your expertise and the emotional connections that you make Connection to your target audience – a strong personal brand helps you interact with your target audience in a clear, consistent way that quickly becomes familiar Distinguishing yourself from the competition – make sure your target market discerns something different about you The support you need – be clear about what you need so you can ask for support with clarity Focusing your energy – use your brand like a filter to help you decide what to focus your energy on Letting yourself be lazy – a personal brand thrives on consistency, so once you’ve got it right, you don’t need to re-invent yourself. A key element of personal branding is finding the time to do it properly. In the next section, you’ll look at ways to identify and protect that time. While you will no doubt have every intention of completing this course, we all experience time pressure in our lives. The first things we drop are often the additional activities that we take on for our own development or enjoyment. Spending a small amount of time identifying when you can work on the course each week, and deliberately setting aside that time, can make a difference.

Figure 5 Fitting it in A hand holds a black alarm clock with a white face. The clock is surrounded by drawings of things that take your time, e.g. books, a laptop, a coffee cup, a paper aeroplane, etc.

To complete the course, it is recommended that you allow a minimum of three hours each week. If possible, you should choose times when you can bring energy and attention to the task. For example, if you function better in the mornings, you might want to set your alarm earlier and complete a section before you start your daily routine. Alternatively, a person who is more energetic and motivated in the evening might find allocating time towards the end of each day more productive. Activity 5 provides a tool that will help you to identify the time you have available for this course. If you’ve completed other courses on OpenLearn, you may have undertaken this activity before. Activity 5 How do I spend my time? Allow about 15 minutes The schedule below lists 90-minute blocks of time between 8 am and 11 pm on the seven days of the week. It assumes that most people sleep sometime between 11 pm and 8 am, but you can adapt this for your own circumstances. Complete the boxes, showing how you spend the hours within each block of time. Table 1 Hours spent

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
08:00–09:30
09:30–11:00
11:00–12:30
12:30–14:00
14:00–15:30
15:30–17:00
17:00–18:30
18:30–20:00
20:00–21:30
21:30–23:00

After undertaking Activity 5 you should have a clearer idea of the time available in your usual week. You should now be able to identify blocks of time that you could devote to completing this course and achieving any goals you set yourself. If you need additional help in finding those blocks of time, you can use the Time Management tool in the Toolkit. This will help you break down large tasks and be realistic about your priorities. Now that you’ve completed Week 1, you can take a short quiz to help you to reflect on what you’ve learned. Week 1 practice quiz Open the quiz in a new window or tab (by holding ctrl [or cmd on a Mac] when you click the link), then return here when you have done it. By this point, you should have a better understanding of what personal branding is all about. You’ve considered how different authors view it and some of the advantages you can gain from it. You’ve also taken some time to reflect on your own personal brand and why you want to develop it. You should now be able to: recognise what a personal brand is review your current personal brand identify areas of interest based on your current aims and aspirations. Next week, you’ll focus on what makes a successful brand. You can now go to Week 2.   Week 2: Understanding marketing principles and practices Welcome to Week 2 of the course. Last week you were introduced to the idea of personal branding, considering your own personal brand and why you want to develop it. Before exploring personal branding in more detail, this week you’ll pause to look at some of the approaches used by marketing teams when branding their organisations and products. For most of us, this is a much more familiar area of branding, and by understanding the key elements of a good brand in this context, you’ll gain a useful insight into how you might develop and promote your own personal brand. Watch this video to introduce the week: Video 1 Introduction to Week 2 (please note this video has no spoken audio) Understanding marketing principles and practices This week, you’ll focus on a broader aspect of branding - looking at what can be learned from the way marketing professionals brand products and organisations. You’ll consider their tactics and techniques - identifying the key elements of a successful brand, considering the concept of a target audience, and recognising the importance of brand positioning. Throughout the week, you’ll explore how these principles can boost your own personal brand. Week 2, let’s get started!

By the end of this week, you will be able to: describe the key elements of a successful brand appreciate the concept of target audience recognise the importance of positioning a brand correctly. First, you’ll consider what makes a successful brand, and look at how the key elements might transfer to the subject of personal branding. In the Design Council’s Power of Branding (n.d.), they describe ‘four cornerstones’ of any good brand: The big idea – what lies at the heart of your company? Values – what do you believe in? Vision – where are you going? Personality – how do you want to come across?

Figure 1 Successful brands A photo of the digital advertising signs in London Piccadilly.

Those cornerstones could equally apply in a personal branding context. In fact, they go on to suggest some very relevant questions you might ask yourself, including: What is your offer? What makes you different? What is your ‘personality’? What do consumers want or need? Author and motivational speaker Simon Sinek is very clear about what makes one brand more successful than another. Watch him explain in this short video: Video 2 Simon Sinek - Start With Why - TED Talk This is only a short excerpt from his 2009 TedTalk, ‘How Great Leaders Inspire Action’, which goes on to explain why the human brain responds so well to starting with ‘why’. The link to the full presentation is given in the Further reading section at the end of this week. Sinek’s Golden Circle model focuses on why a particular organisation does what it does, and why presenting this clearly to customers can lead to greater success. In Activity 1, you’ll consider how to apply this approach to yourself. Activity 1 ‘What do you do?’ Allow about 15 minutes In many social and business situations, people ask us ‘What do you do?’ Take a few minutes to think about how you currently answer that question and write your thoughts in the box below. For example, you might say ‘I’m a teacher’, ‘I make architectural models’, ‘I’m in accounts’. Now watch this second Simon Sinek clip, in which he focuses his ‘start with why’ approach on himself. Video 3 Start with why: answering the question ‘What do you do?’ Taking into account Simon’s advice, how could you change your answer to that question? Write your new answer in the box below. In the language of the marketeers, what you’re doing in this exercise is starting to develop your ‘elevator pitch’, typically two or three short sentences that explain who you are and what you do. As Sinek suggests in the video, if you focus on ‘why’ you do it, you should receive an even more positive response. Your focus for this activity is on what you do now. As you work through the course, you’ll have the opportunity to evaluate whether what you do now is something you’d like to change in some way – perhaps enhancing your current role with additional responsibilities or taking a completely different direction. In Week 8, once you’ve worked through the course, you’ll revisit the idea of an elevator pitch. The ‘big idea’ described by the Design Council is closely linked with their other ‘cornerstones’ of values, vision and personality. In the next section, you’ll start to look at those in more detail. In a corporate context, company values describe what your organisation stands for. Typically, they are kept to a maximum of four or five and are usually communicated through actions and words.

Figure 2 Core values Core values is written in chalk in the centre of a board with lots of relevant words written all around it, e.g. trust, quality, integrity, innovation, ethics, respect, etc.

Research by communications consultancy Maitland (Marinker, 2015), looked at the stated core values of FTSE 100 companies. Here’s the top 10: Integrity Respect Innovation Safety Transparency Excellence Team work Honesty Trust Responsibility. The Maitland report draws attention to the fact that ‘so many of the more commonly expressed values relate to behaviour traits rather than strategic or operational characteristics’ (Marinker, 2015, p.4). It also suggests that ‘Most people will consider these to be universally desirable behaviours rather than distinctive and informative glimpses into corporate culture’ (Marinker, 2015, p.8). When considering your own personal values, bear in mind the comments made here. For example, you might want to ensure a mix of behavioural and operational characteristics within your brand. Employers will certainly value integrity and respect, but they also want to know about the more operationally useful skills you have, such as problem solving or strategic thinking. The point about universally desirable behaviours is also very relevant. If your personal brand is the same as everyone else’s, how will you distinguish yourself from the crowd? It could be said that there are various companies that don’t demonstrate the values they claim to stand for! This is something else to consider in a personal context. If you choose to present yourself in a certain way, you need to ensure that you can live up to that image. Activity 2 Brand values Allow about 10 minutes Think of a brand you admire and try to identify its values. Most companies will list their values somewhere on their website. For example, you might choose: Microsoft’s values of (Microsoft, 2018): innovation diversity and inclusion corporate social responsibility philanthropies environment trustworthy computing or the Coca Cola Company’s values of (The Coca Cola Company 2018): leadership collaboration integrity accountability passion diversity quality. In the box below, write a short paragraph or a bullet pointed list of the ways in which you think your chosen brand demonstrates or communicates its values in what it does or says. Your chosen brand might communicate its values in the quality of its products, its approach to sustainability, its commitment to innovation, etc. The Design Council guide (Design Council, n.d.) explains why communicating values can be difficult: ‘It’s not easy to communicate values: overt marketing may seem disingenuous, while not communicating your values in any way may result in people not seeing what you stand for. […] Any values you portray have to be genuine and upheld in the way your organisation operates.’ Companies also need to find the right methods to communicate their values, for example, ‘through graphic design, language, advertising, staff training, the materials used in product manufacture and so on’. When a company’s brand values are clearly communicated, they attract people who share those values and who will become core customers. They may even become brand advocates, sharing the brand with others and encouraging them to find out more about it. You can see how this transfers to a personal branding context. Attracting the attention of like-minded colleagues, peers, etc., will ensure that your reputation spreads in the right way. You’ll look in more detail at the tools you might use to share your values, e.g. a CV or a social media post, later in the course.

Brand vision is the concept whereby a business strategically plans where and how its brand will be positioned at some point in the future, e.g. 5 or 10 years from now. A famous example of vision comes from Bill Gates at Microsoft: ‘Microsoft was founded with a vision of a computer on every desk, and in every home. We’ve never wavered from that vision.’ (IMDb, 2018) In the 40 years since he shared that vision, Microsoft have made significant progress towards achieving it!

Figure 3 Microsoft premises The Microsoft logo at the entrance to head office.

In the context of your personal brand, having a vision about where you want your career to be in, for example, five years’ time, will help you to define your brand and communicate it more effectively. For example, you might want to be working for a new employer, and so you’ll need to communicate your brand to a wider audience than if you were looking for internal promotion. Typically, a vision should always be just out of reach – something for the organisation to strive for. In your case, regularly re-evaluating your career progress and ambitions is a good habit to get into, and will allow you to change your vision as your career develops.

Brand personality is all about the human characteristics that can be attributed to a brand. The Design Council explains: ‘Personality traits could be efficient and business-like, friendly and chatty, or perhaps humorous and irreverent’ (Design Council, n.d.). This aspect of a brand aligns strongly with the concept of personal branding. You won’t need to make up personal characteristics for your brand as they will be your own, but you will need to choose the ones you want to highlight and showcase. Personality can be demonstrated in the language and tone used to promote a particular brand, or even in the colour of its logo. While you won’t usually need a logo for your personal brand, it might be interesting to consider what colour would best represent you and the brand you want to develop. Activity 3 What colour is my brand? Allow about 5 minutes Boutique Media Communication has developed an infographic to explain what different colours might suggest about a particular brand.

Figure 4 Colour infographic Several vertical columns each have a colour at the top with a number of related words listed below. At the bottom of each column are examples of brand logos that use the relevant colour.

Look at the list of characteristics associated with each colour and decide which one best represents your own personal brand. Write the colour in the box below. This activity is intended to be a fun look at another aspect of branding. However, if you are someone who responds well to visual content, you might find it useful to have a colour in mind when you’re thinking about your personal brand. For example, someone who identifies with the red column in the infographic might present themselves very differently to someone who feels more aligned with green. Of course, there are practical situations where it would be useful to have a particular colour in mind too, for example, if you are planning to promote your personal brand through social media, such as Facebook or Instagram, etc. Now that you have a clearer understanding of the key elements of a successful brand, in the next section, you’ll start to look at the importance of identifying your target audience.

Target audience is a subject that marketing and branding professionals spend significant time on. Failing to identify the correct target audience risks wasting time and money, potentially attracting the wrong audience, or creating communications that are too generic to be effective.

Figure 5 Target audience A hand draws a circle in red pen around a group of white figures on a screen.

Focusing on a small business context, Blick (2013, pp.42–44) explains that successfully reaching your target audience is a two-stage process: Identifying it – considering the type of customer group that your business will appeal to. The smaller the target group, the more manageable it becomes to reach them. Researching it – getting to know the target audience before you start to communicate with it. This process is just as applicable in the personal branding context. For example, there might be numerous potential employers that your brand will appeal to, so how can you narrow them down to make communicating with them a manageable proposition? Blick suggests some practical questions that you could adapt and apply to yourself (p.43), for example when considering employers you’d like to work for, such as: Will you only be targeting certain postcodes, towns, counties, etc.? Do you only want to target businesses of a certain size? Can you be more specific about the type of business? For example, if you’ve identified ‘schools’ as your target audience, can you narrow that down to certain types of schools? Blick also suggests a variety of research methods that are equally relevant to personal branding (pp.44-45), including: Searching online for forums or blogs that your target audience may belong to [or co-ordinate/produce themselves] Subscribing to publications that your target audience reads Calling businesses you’d like to connect with to find out how they currently use your type of business or service [in a personal context that might include asking where they advertise vacancies or what skills they are short of, etc.] Finding out if your target audience belongs to a membership organisation or group that has events, conferences, etc. that you could potentially attend. If you can gain a better idea of what the organisation is looking for and whether that matches what you have to offer, and can identify key people to approach for more information, you can significantly enhance your chances of success when making applications. In the recruitment world, the more targeted and well-researched your application, the more likely you are to be invited to interview. Activity 4 Tara’s target audience Allow about 10 minutes Tara is unhappy at work. She wants to change direction but has no idea where to start. She is currently a retail assistant in a high street clothing store, but would love to be a landscape gardener. She has GCSEs but no relevant gardening qualifications. Her relevant experience comes from gardening at home and volunteering to help maintain the plants in a local park. Referring to Blick’s advice, outlined in this section, what would you suggest Tara does next? Write a bullet pointed list in the box below. You might have suggested: Tara decides whether she wants to stay where she is or move away and makes a list of potential employers in her chosen locations. Tara subscribes to some relevant publications and joins online blogs and forums about landscape gardening. This might give her some information on employment in the sector and allow her to gain some useful contacts. Tara finds the contact details of relevant employers, e.g. garden centres, plant nurseries, landscape gardening companies, and gets in touch to find out what jobs might be suitable for someone with her experience, where they advertise them, etc. Tara could also ask for work experience with some of these potential future employers, or ask for advice about courses and qualifications she could undertake. Once she has researched the sector in more detail, she’ll have a much better idea about her next move. Now you understand the importance of knowing your target audience and what their needs are, the next step is to look in more detail at brand positioning. Once the brand and audience are clear, the marketing professionals’ next step is brand positioning.

Figure 6 Making your brand stand out Multiple orange squares have been drawn on a blackboard and a hand is drawing a white circle in a small gap.

Kotler and Keller (2003, p.867) define brand positioning as ‘the act of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the mind of the target market.’ The Branding Journal (Marion, n.d.), explains that ‘brand positioning describes how a brand is different from its competitors and where, or how, it sits in customers’ minds. A brand positioning strategy therefore involves creating brand associations in customers’ minds to make them perceive the brand in a specific way.’ The following examples of brand positioning, using brand taglines from past and present, illustrate different ways in which a brand might be positioned: Table 1 Examples of brand positioningAdapted from http://equibrandconsulting.com/services/brand-consultant/brand-positioning/examples

Focus on the benefitVolvo: ‘For life’M&Ms: ‘Melts in your mouth and not in your hand’	Focus on the consumerFacebook: ‘Helps you connect and share with the people in your life’Sainsbury’s: ‘Live well for less’
Focus on how the company does businessAudi: ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ (Advancement through technology)Burger King: ‘Have it your way’	Focus on the competitionApple: ‘Think different’Avis: ‘We’re #2. We try harder’

As the more concise messages of social media marketing grow in popularity, taglines are used less frequently, but this categorisation of how to position a brand might be useful when considering your own personal brand. For example, you might: emphasise the benefits a potential employer will gain from hiring you – highlighting the skills/knowledge/experience you bring to a role focus on the employer as a consumer and explain how you can make their life easier explain how you ‘do business’, e.g. showcasing your values and how they align with those of their organisation, or clarify the ways in which you are better than your competitors (although it is important to do this in a way that doesn’t make you appear mean and overly competitive, as that can backfire). Activity 5 My own brand perceptions Allow about 15 minutes Look at the following well-known brand names and list your observations of those brands in the box below each one. Don’t spend too long thinking about it, just write down any words that spring to mind: 1. Apple 2. Amazon 3. Tesco Were your perceptions negative or positive? Were they based on your personal experience of those brands or the way they are presented through their advertising, etc.? Did you perceive them one way before you experienced them and then change your mind? Once you have a personal experience of a brand, then your perceptions are based on a whole range of things, from interactions with company staff, to product reliability, etc. Prior to that, you are more likely to be influenced by the branding messages you see. The same applies to potential employers. Until they meet you, they only have your job application, social media posts, what other people say about you, etc. to go on, so you must present your personal brand in a way that encourages them to get in touch. Once a company has positioned its brand, it must then ensure that the messages it shares about that brand are consistent. This too has strong parallels with personal branding, as you’ll see in the final section this week. Big brands know that delivering a consistent brand is crucial in winning the trust of customers, so they present the same message over and over again. If customers know and trust the brand, they are more likely to demonstrate brand loyalty and become effective brand ambassadors.

Figure 7 Consistency is an important tool In the centre of a pile of tools is a spanner with the word ‘consistency’ written on it.

William Arruda (2016) uses Starbucks as an example: What would you think if you walked into a Starbucks and the barista got your triple tall, half caf, iced, non-fat latte wrong? You’d probably say to yourself, “First-world problem,” not fret too much and go about your day. What if you went to a different location the next day, and your order was mishandled once again? Part of the brand promise of Starbucks is that you’ll receive a customized beverage that perfectly suits your palate and your diet, no matter how complex the details or your order are. How many times would you be willing to experience inconsistency before you switched to a different caffeine dealer?

Figure 8 Starbucks coffee A Starbucks cup stands next to a pile of coffee beans

Arruda goes on to make the point that brand consistency doesn’t mean you can’t change anything about what you do. The Virgin brand is a good example of that. The history of the organisation incorporates: 1960s − a student magazine 1970s − record stores and a record label 1980s − video games, an airline, holidays, balloon flights and hotels 1990s − a radio station and cinemas 2000s − trains and a mobile phone network 2010s − space travel and banking!

Figure 9 Virgin airline The red tail of a Virgin plane against a blue sky with white clouds

What remains consistent across the Virgin empire is its brand values − ‘providing heartfelt service, being delightfully surprising, red hot, and straight up while maintaining an insatiable curiosity and creating smart disruption,’ and its purpose – ‘changing business for good’ (Virgin, 2018). Activity 6 Consistent messages Allow about 5 minutes Think back to Activity 3 in Week 1 when you asked three people to describe you in three words. List the words they used in the box below: Did each of them use the same or similar words when describing you, or were they different? If they used similar words, that would indicate that your messages about your brand are consistent. What you need to consider next is whether they are the right words to reflect the brand you want to convey. You’ll consider the key elements of your personal brand in Week 4. If they used different words, was that because they know you in different contexts? Many of us have a different persona in the workplace to the ‘real’ one that we show to our friends and family. Is there something you could do to make those personas more aligned? Being consistent is equally important in what you say and what you do, and the two should be closely aligned. When people start to trust you, your personal brand is working and new career opportunities will start to arise. Now that you’ve completed Week 2, you can take a short quiz to help you to reflect on what you’ve learned. Week 2 practice quiz Open the quiz in a new window or tab (by holding ctrl [or cmd on a Mac] when you click the link), then return here when you have done it. This week’s content has demonstrated some of the core principles and practices involved in successfully marketing a product or organisation. As this is more familiar territory for many of us than personal branding, we’ve used this consumer context to introduce some of the themes you’ll go on to consider in later weeks of the course. By now, you should have a clearer idea of how important branding is in business. You’ve considered the key elements of a strong brand, looked at how to identify a target audience and explored brand positioning and the importance of consistent messages. You should now be able to: describe the key elements of a successful brand appreciate the concept of target audience recognise the importance of positioning a brand correctly. And you have a sense of how those essentials will be relevant to your own personal branding process. Next week you will look at the development and use of personal branding in more detail. You can now go to Week 3. Week 3: Personal branding explained Welcome to Week 3 of the course. Last week you were introduced to the processes and practices behind branding a product or organisation, and you started to consider how they might be applied in a personal branding context. This week, you’ll look at personal branding in more detail, exploring how and why it has developed and what can be learned from those who use their personal brand effectively, or not. Watch this video to introduce the week: Video 1 Introduction to Week 3 (please note this video has no spoken audio) Personal branding explained Personal branding is still a relatively new concept. In the 1990’s Tom Peters said ‘It’s this simple. You are a brand. You are in charge of your brand.’ The impact of social media on personal branding has been huge, and you’ll explore that later in the course. This week, you’ll focus on how a strong personal brand can make a difference in the workplace and look at what you can learn from the way celebrities use and manipulate their brands. You’ll also consider what happens when mistakes are made, and how to avoid them happening to you. Week 3, let’s get started!

By the end of this week, you will be able to: recognise how a clear personal brand can be beneficial to your career appreciate the ways that celebrity branding tactics might be used to your own advantage understand the value of developing an authentic brand. You’ll start the week looking at how personal branding has developed. When considering the origins of personal branding, authors often quote Socrates, who said ‘The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavour to be what you desire to appear’ (Karaduman 2013, p.465).

Figure 1 Brand is important The word BRAND is written in red against a white background with lots of associated words and drawings around it, e.g. research, identity, strategy, trust, etc.

In the 1950s, sociologist Erving Goffman first published The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (Goffman, 1990) which suggested that we spend our lives playing a series of different parts in order to present ourselves to others in the best possible light. Watch this short video clip which explains his work in more detail: Video 2 Erving Goffman’s work Following his 1997 article, ‘The Brand Called You’, many authors refer to Tom Peters as the ‘father of personal branding’. Peters (1997 ) closes his article with the following call to action: It’s this simple: You are a brand. You are in charge of your brand. There is no single path to success. And there is no one right way to create the brand called You. Except this: Start today. Or else. This viewpoint was ground-breaking when it appeared over 20 years ago, but now personal branding is a more familiar concept. It has grown in popularity in recent times following the explosion of the internet, combined with a desire to prioritise job satisfaction and a need to stand out in an increasingly competitive job market. Before the internet, the first people to use personal branding to their advantage were celebrities and other professionals with a public profile, such as politicians. They used television, radio and newspapers, or made appearances at events, giving speeches and meeting people. Activity 1 How things have changed Allow about 10 minutes Imagine a politician campaigning to win an election in the 1990s, before the internet and social media became ubiquitous. If you were in their marketing team, how might you seek to promote their personal brand? For example, which media would you use? How would you ensure that their messages reached the maximum number of people? Fast forward to now. How would your promotional campaign differ? Note your thoughts in the box below. 1990s:
Now: In the 1990s and before, politicians had to rely on inspiring oration and personal charisma. Appearing at key events, giving speeches and shaking lots of hands, would allow people to see and hear what they had to say. Newspaper, radio or television coverage would broaden their reach – as it still does today. Now, social media has changed all that and a politician doesn’t even need to leave their office in order to reach millions. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. all allow them to get their message directly into the homes of potential voters, reaching the younger generations whom most want to influence. The impact of the internet and social media on personal branding has been huge. But this has also lead to a common misinterpretation of what personal branding is. Arruda (2017) explains: …personal branding works when it is based in authenticity and a genuine desire to add value to those around you. It is not a ‘me me me’ way of life. Personal branding does allow you to stand out in an increasingly competitive world. It helps you clarify and express the value you can deliver to your team and employer. Personal branding is not a competition to see how visible you can become – for the sake of being visible. It is not measured in the number of tweets you can post per minute and it is not a function of putting yourself at the center of the world. Arruda goes on to lament that ‘conflating personal branding with social media excess has eroded the true value of personal branding as a serious career development strategy’. In the next section, you’ll look at how effective personal branding can be beneficial in your workplace. Paying attention to your personal brand at work can have an impact in two key areas: You are better prepared to present a clear message to others about who you are and what you have to offer. Colleagues, peers and employers will have a clear understanding of what they can gain from working with you. Sometimes, you might want to boost your personal brand image in the workplace because you are facing a challenging situation and want to demonstrate that you can deal with it. Business Image Consultant, Jane Chapman, explains how having the right image can enhance your confidence and authority. Video 3 Interview with Jane Chapman Jane Chapman OK. So how can your image help you enhance your authority in a challenging work context? It's an interesting one. But the first thing I'd say would be think about the psychology of colour. Now in terms of colour, when we wear a dark neutral-- so that might be a navy blue, it might be a charcoal grey, or grey, might be black, it might be-- it's probably those three, actually. When you wear a darker neutral, it automatically gives you a bit more gravitas. It's hard to explain why, but we see it. So typically if you base your outfit with some of those dark neutrals in there-- add in a bit of other colour to make it interesting. You don't want to wear black head to toe. But go for that darker colour. It will give you a bit more gravitas. The second thing, really, is wear something that you feel a million dollars in, that you feel really comfortable in, that you don't have to think about all the time. The third thing is wear something that makes you feel confident. Typically that's by dressing a bit smarter. OK, so we've talked quite a lot there about dress. In terms of your body language, just think about not doing all this closed body language where you shrink down, but actually that you're thinking about eye contact, you're thinking about projecting confidence. And to be honest, with your image, when you look like you can handle anything, chances are you'll feel confident enough to do it.

The following case studies illustrate some of the benefits of a clear personal brand. Leya and her unexpected opportunity Leya had been working as a careers adviser for five years, when her boss suggested she might like to try managing a department for a few months while a colleague was seconded elsewhere. Management was not something Leya had ever considered but her boss was sure she would excel. She accepted the offer and found that she really enjoyed the role. She is now the Director of a large careers service. Leya’s manager offered her this opportunity because she had developed a clear personal brand within the organisation. She was known for her strong interpersonal skills and her ability to motivate and encourage others. While she hadn’t deliberately cultivated a brand, by being open and honest in all her interactions with colleagues and clients, her personal brand was authentic and clear for all to see. Linda and her successful job interview Linda had been a manager for several years when she saw an opportunity to try something new. She applied for a job that seemed to require her skillset, but included oversight of many operational areas that she knew little about. If the organisation wanted someone to lead on operational detail, she knew she wouldn’t be a strong contender, but she was invited to interview. At the interview, she decided to be clear about who she was and what she could offer, rather than apologising for the gaps in her knowledge and experience. She focused on her track record of working with a wide range of different people, bringing them together and building effective teams. She got the job! Linda was successful because the authentic brand she communicated in her interview was exactly what the employer was looking for. What she didn’t know was that there had been significant personnel issues prior to her appointment and the team was fractured and aimless. By presenting her brand clearly and confidently, Linda convinced the employer that she was the perfect person to sort that out. Philip and his social media marketing When Philip left a senior role to start a freelance career, he wanted to let the right people know he was available for work. He took some time to develop a website, thinking carefully about how he wanted to present himself, and then he switched his focus to social media. Focusing mainly on LinkedIn and Twitter, he then started regularly posting thoughts and ideas, commenting on other material, etc. This was something he had always done anyway, but now he was doing it more deliberately – carefully considering the comments he made and how they might be perceived by potential employers, and ensuring they were regular and timely. Offers of work followed! Philip used social media to promote his personal brand, but he was thoughtful about what he posted. For him, this wasn’t about collecting followers or setting a target to send five tweets a day. He wanted the right people to notice and remember him – for the right, professional reasons. Once he had created an effective and valued personal brand, he was able to start approaching some of his followers directly, with ideas about how he could help them and their organisations. His pitches were well received as his reputation was already strong. Gayle Johnson is a self-employed copywriter and coach, who took a more deliberate approach to defining her own personal brand at work. Watch this short video to hear why she decided to do this and how it helped her career. Video 4 Interview with Gayle Johnson Gayle Johnson I first started thinking about my personal brand when I was working at the university in York, so it was a large organisation. I felt as though there were lots of competing demands on my time. There were lots of strategic changes and lots of different change programmes happening. And as a middle manager, I felt like I had lots of pressures from all around, really. And it made me start to think, where do I fit in all of this, because in such a large organisation, you can't control everything. But what you can control is what you stand for. So I started to be a lot more conscious and a lot more deliberate about how I was showing up at work. And I wanted to do that in a way that felt honest and true to me. So it wasn't as though I was sort of putting on a mask. In fact, that's the opposite of what I wanted to do. What I wanted to get back to was what I really stood for and bring more of that out at work. So I did. I started to think about what was important to me, what values were important to me, and what that meant for how I worked with people or how I could influence priorities myself. And through that work, I found I got a lot more confidence in myself because I was being myself a lot more. I wasn't trying to please everybody or be the person that I thought I should be because of a particular job title. I was being myself. That gave me a lot of strength and a lot of confidence. It also meant, I think, that I was more effective because I wasn't wasting all this energy on wearing a mask or any of those sorts of things. I was doing the work. And it also meant that my relationships with particular people at work really strengthened. And I think that's really powerful. For me, having a network of people you really trust and who really click with you is a really powerful way to go through work. And as I say, the most important part of it was that I sort of developed this newfound strength and trust in myself. That was the first step, I suppose, I took to put towards personal branding. And secondly, through doing all of that sort of work, I realised there wasn't much more I could do with that job. That wasn't going to fulfil me much more than it already did. Doing the personal branding work meant I got a lot more out of my job satisfaction, but there was a limit to it. So I decided to leave and take a bit of a risk and set up a business on my own. And that's where I really started to be very deliberate about my personal branding because of the work I do now is as a copywriter and a writing mentor. And I'm by far- you know, there are many, many, many of us. There are thousands of us. And I firmly believe that in order to get work, people have to trust you, that people buy people. So I was very deliberate about being myself, about what I wanted to portray to the world and how I wanted to show up. I wanted to let people into my world a little bit. And that's really worked because I'm now three years into that business, and I only work with people who I really have a connection with. And that means they really value what I do. So we're all happy. I enjoy the work, they enjoy working with me, and we get a good result. So it's really made a difference to me being much more conscious about my brand.

Activity 2 How could personal branding help me at work? Allow about 15 minutes Think about your current work situation. How is your personal brand working for you at the moment? Has it brought you any unexpected opportunities like it did for Leya? You’ll look in much more detail at how to develop your personal brand later in the course, but for now, choose one thing that you are happy with and one thing you’d like to improve about it. Write your thoughts in the box below. You might find it helpful to reflect on your answers to Activity 3 in Week 1. Throughout the course there is the option ‘Download your answers for the documents on this course’ on the left hand side. This will produce a PDF document of all of your answers to the activities for you to refer back to as needed. Leya didn’t consciously develop a personal brand at work, but others recognised it because of her consistent actions and behaviour. Gayle had a very clear idea of why a strong personal brand was important to her and developing it helped her to feel more authentic in the workplace, enhancing her personal job satisfaction and professional relationships. Activity 3 in Week 1 might have given you a sense of how your brand is currently perceived by others. If it has, you can start to consider if there’s anything you want to alter or enhance. For example, you might want to promote a particular strength or set of values more strongly, or you might simply want more people to know and recognise your brand. Throughout the course, you’ll explore ways to make both of those things happen. Now you’ve had a taste of how personal brand can make a difference to ordinary people in the workplace, you’ll move on to look briefly at how celebrities use their personal brands and consider what we can learn from their approaches. For most of us, discussions about personal branding bring certain celebrities to mind. They are obvious examples of individuals with a personal brand, cultivated deliberately to maximise their following and thus the potential profit they can make from appearances, product ranges and endorsements.

Figure 2 The red carpet A glamorous woman in black dress has just stepped out of her car onto a red carpet. Photographers crowd around her and flashes go off.

But what can we learn from their approach that could be useful in our own careers? There are several things that celebrities do, that we can adapt for our own use: Many of the most successful celebrities have a clearly defined brand.If you look at the brands of talk show host and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey, or singer-songwriter Lady Gaga, they are clearly defined and come across as authentic. We know what they do and what they stand for, or can very easily find out. While you might not be looking for global recognition (or maybe you are!), it is important to take time to identify your own authentic brand. You’ll look at this in more detail later but starting with questions such as ‘What are my values?’ or ‘What do I want to be known for?’ is helpful. They look for opportunities to share their brand through a variety of channels.In the celebrity world, endorsement of existing products broadens the profile of your brand, allowing you to reach new audiences. For example, footballer David Beckham’s endorsement of watches, whisky, etc., or singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake co-founding a clothing line with an established designer. Look for opportunities to showcase your brand in a different way − for example, you might start a blog or volunteer to present something at a meeting or conference. Making connections with other celebrity brands can broaden awareness of your own.For example, singers might duet with other famous singers on their albums, e.g. David Bowie and Bing Crosby’s unforgettable ‘Peace on Earth’/‘Little Drummer Boy’ Christmas single; or actors perform together in comedy sketches for fund-raising TV events such as Comic Relief, or make guest appearances on other successful shows.You could write a guest blog for someone who has an audience you know you can connect with, or volunteer to give a presentation about your work to staff in another department. The key point here is about expanding your network. Successful celebrity brands have clear boundaries.Many celebrities have struggled with what to post on social media or how to respond to negative comments – some have even withdrawn from it altogether. Those with the most successful brands have clear boundaries about how much they are willing to share and what they will or won’t respond to.Personal branding is usually closely associated with social media, and this is undoubtedly a way to reach a much wider audience. However, you must decide how you want to use it yourself rather than feeling pressurised to have an online profile. Ask yourself – ‘Will it help me to achieve what I want in my career or are there other methods that might be more effective?’ If you do use social media, focus on one tool rather than trying to spread yourself across every platform. LinkedIn is an obvious one for many professionals, but you might find that Instagram is more aligned to your brand and ambitions. You’ll look at promoting your personal brand online in Week 6. Activity 3 Using social media Allow about 10 minutes JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, is a regular user of Twitter. Look at the following examples of her tweets and describe your impression of her personal brand in the box below. (If you already use Twitter and would like to use another public figure who you follow for this activity, please do.) ‘It’s that anniversary again. This year, I apologise for killing someone who didn’t die during the #BattleofHogwarts, but who laid down his life to save the people who’d win it. I refer, of course, to Dobby the house elf.’ ‘Argentinian artist Marta Minujín’s monumental replica of the Greek Parthenon created with 100,000 copies of banned books, to [sic] symbolizes the resistance to political repression #womensart’ ‘You’re free to offend. The rest of us are free to say we’re offended. That’s what freedom of speech means.’ ‘Your regular reminder that @AlabedBana is the girl who live tweeted as bombs fell, while pro-Assad apologists claimed she didn’t exist.’ From that small number of tweets, you could have picked up the following: Caring and appreciative By apologising for something unpopular in one of her novels, she shows that she cares about her fans. She is also referring to an exciting event in one of the books, which might entice new readers to investigate further. Champion for the repressed She is using her ‘celebrity’ to showcase women’s art and demonstrate her support for the repressed. Strong willed By responding to her detractors, she demonstrates that she is strong and clear about what she believes in. Not afraid of expressing her opinionsAnother opportunity to draw attention to repression – she clearly has strong political views. A key element of J K Rowling’s tweets is that they are consistent and clearly reflect her personal brand. The reader is clear about what she stands for and so can form an informed opinion about whether they support her or disagree with her viewpoint. In a career context, your tweets can similarly impact on how an employer perceives you and whether they want to work with you. So, while the celebrity brand is probably a step beyond where you hope to position yourself, there are several things we can learn and borrow from their approach. In the next section you’ll look at an individual who has a particularly strong personal brand and explore what happens when a brand works well. Oprah Winfrey is a talk show host, actor, philanthropist and owner of a multi-media production company. The Cult Branding Company (n.d.) offers a summary of her brand, which includes the following details: Some TV personalities seem distant and removed from the general public, but Oprah has never shied away from sharing intimate, personal details about her life with her audience. […] By sharing these intimate personal details, Oprah shows her viewers that when the lights and cameras are all put away, she faces many of the same problems as they do. She is indeed an ordinary person with ordinary problems to overcome. It’s her seeming vulnerability and fragility that make her that much more inclusive of a brand.

Figure 3 Oprah Winfrey receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom President Barack Obama has just placed the Presidential Medal of Freedom on a blue ribbon around Oprah Winfrey’s neck.

While sharing that level of detail would be uncomfortable for most of us, and usually unnecessary in a career context, this case study very clearly illustrates the value of an authentic brand. What is authenticity? The concept of an authentic or true self is a contentious one. The authors outlined in this section believe it to be a relevant and important concept, while others describe it as a non-scientific ‘fiction’ (Strohminger, 2017, p.7). Strohminger gives two reasons for her conclusion: ‘the true self depends on the values of the observer’ and is therefore subjective ‘and strongly tied to what each individual person herself most prizes’, and ‘claims made on its behalf may completely contradict all available data’ so ‘the true self is posited rather than observed’. While the existence of an authentic self might not be scientifically proven, the word ‘authentic’ is regularly used when discussing personal branding as it presents a useful and relevant concept. Leading positive psychology academic, Professor Stephen Joseph (2016) gives a list of what he perceives are the common characteristics of authentic and inauthentic people, which includes the following: Table 1 Common characteristics of authentic and inauthentic peopleAdapted from Joseph (2016)

Authentic	Inauthentic
Have realistic perceptions of reality.	Are self-deceptive and unrealistic in their perceptions of reality.
Are accepting of themselves and of other people.	Look to others for approval and to feel valued.
Are thoughtful.	Are judgemental of other people.
Are able to express their emotions freely and clearly.	Are unable to express their emotions freely and clearly.
Are open to learning from their mistakes.	Are not open to learning from their mistakes.
Understand their motivations.	Do not understand their motivations.

Joseph explains: ‘If behind what a person says and does is a defensive and self-deceptive approach to life, then no matter how passionate and committed they are to a cause, ultimately they are not being true to themselves.’ Watch this short video to see how respected author and motivational speaker Simon Sinek explains authenticity: Video 5 Simon Sinek on how authentic behaviour builds trust Activity 4 Can I be authentic at work? Allow about 15 minutes Based on what Simon Sinek said about ensuring that you believe in the things you say and do, ask yourself the following questions and write your thoughts in the box below: Are there times when I must do things that go against my own values? For example, you really value family but you are required to work long hours and, as a result, always feel like you’re neglecting them. Do I ever have to work in a way that doesn’t reflect my preferred style? For example, your job requires you to focus on the bigger picture when you would much prefer to immerse yourself in the operational details. If you feel that your work doesn’t align with your values or preferred working style, and that you’re having to present yourself in a way that feels uncomfortable, or inauthentic, that can have an impact on your job satisfaction. The Kaleidoscope Career Model (Mainiero & Sullivan, 2006), based on a five-year study examining people’s career patterns, identifies three parameters that lead people to ‘take stock of their career decisions and make changes and transitions to meet their needs’: an individual’s need for challenge a need for balance a need to ask ‘How can I be authentic, true to myself and make genuine decisions for myself in my life?’ We all have to compromise sometimes in the workplace, but if you feel you are compromising too much, that can impact on your job satisfaction, your attitude towards your job and the way others perceive your personal brand. You’ll explore your values, strengths, attributes, etc. later in the course, but this activity is designed to start you thinking about whether your current role allows you to be yourself in the workplace. While discussions about ‘authentic self’ will undoubtedly continue, for the purposes of this course it might help to think of authenticity as meaning ‘genuine, real and true’. The more honest you can be in presenting your personal brand, the more effective it will be in representing who you are and what you are looking for. There are several high-profile cases of celebrities aligning themselves with products or advertising campaigns that have impacted negatively on their personal brand. For example, in 2014 Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson, also known for her support for various charitable organisations, signed a contract to promote Sodastream. The company headquarters are based in Israel, and they have a factory in an Israeli settlement on the West Bank. At the time, she was also an Oxfam ambassador. Johansson subsequently received a letter from Oxfam, explaining that as an organisation it officially ‘believes that businesses that operate in settlements further the ongoing poverty and denial of rights of the Palestinian communities that we work to support’. She stood by her decision and eventually stepped down from her Oxfam role (Thorpe, 2014).

Figure 4 When your personal brand goes wrong A woman sits at her desk in front of a computer. She has taken her glasses off and is rubbing her eyes.

More recently, supermodel and television personality Kendall Jenner made an advert with Pepsi that involved her handing a can of the fizzy drink to a riot policeman at a protest. Given recent #BlackLivesMatter protests in the US at that time, the public felt it was an inappropriate subject for a soft drink advert and there was widespread condemnation (Sanghani, 2017). The company apologised and cancelled the advert. Although there has been no lasting impact on the careers of either individual, both had to deal with negative feedback and will potentially have lost credibility with some of their followers. While you are unlikely to be involved in global advertising mistakes, or become linked with controversial projects, there are broad lessons to learn from these examples. Think about what or who you align yourself with. Do they fit with the personal brand you wish to promote? Also, make sure that the views you choose to share with colleagues, social media followers, etc. represent your personal brand effectively. You’ll consider how to promote your brand on social media later in the course. Webber (n.d.) discusses common mistakes people make with their personal branding in her blog post. They include: You haven’t clarified your purpose – first decide exactly who you want to be and then start your self-promoting. You’re not sharing the right things – are you over- or under-promoting, or being careless about what you share? You’re caught up in the career you’ve already had, not the one you want – choose the projects and experiences that you’d most like to replicate and talk about them. Activity 5 It doesn’t work for me Allow about 10 minutes Think of a person in the public eye with a high-profile personal brand you really don’t align with. It could be a reality TV star, a politician, an actor, etc. Use the box below to summarise why their personal brand doesn’t work for you. Now try to list what other people do like about them, also in the box below. This person’s high-profile brand suggests that even though you don’t feel aligned with them, others clearly do. Perhaps they have made some obvious mistakes that have put you off. Or, perhaps their brand simply doesn’t attract or interest you, and maybe it never could. The point here is that you can never devise a personal brand that will appeal to everyone. If you are brave enough to share the authentic you with the world, you must accept that some negativity is likely to come your way. And that’s fine. Not everyone will like you, not everyone will buy into your values and what you present. But those who do will be the people you will most enjoy talking to and working with. Now that you’ve completed Week 3, you can take a short quiz to help you to reflect on what you’ve learned. Week 3 practice quiz Open the quiz in a new window or tab (by holding ctrl [or cmd on a Mac] when you click the link), then return here when you have done it. This week, you have focused on real life examples of personal branding and looked in more detail at the impact it can have in the workplace. You’ve considered what can be learned from the personal branding of people in the public eye, and how their approach can be applied to those of us who don’t aspire to celebrity! You should now be able to: recognise how a clear personal brand can be beneficial to your career appreciate the ways that celebrity branding tactics might be used to your own advantage understand the value of developing an authentic brand. Next week you’ll begin to look in more detail at developing your own personal brand. You can now go to Week 4. Week 4: Developing my personal brand Welcome to Week 4 of the course. Last week you learned more about what personal branding is, looking at how a personal brand can be used in the workplace and considering some celebrity case studies, both good and bad. This week, you’ll concentrate on defining the various elements of your own brand, understanding what you want it to achieve and exploring the key attributes you want to promote to others. Watch this video that introduces the week: Video 1 Introduction to Week 4 (please note this video has no spoken audio) Developing my personal brand You’ll begin this week by considering the different elements that your personal brand might include. You’ll look at what you have to offer and what is important to you, exploring your values, identifying your strengths, and describing your personality traits. Next, you’ll consider your career goals and start to write your story, pulling all of those elements together. Week 4, let’s get started!

By the end of this week, you will be able to: recognise the key elements of your personal brand articulate your values, strengths and personality traits more clearly describe your career goals. Over the rest of the course you will be referring back to your answers from the various activities this week. It is worth noting that there is the option ‘Download your answers for the documents on this course’ on the left hand side of every page. This will produce a PDF document of all of your answers to the activities for you to refer back to as needed. You’ll begin this week by considering the different elements that your personal brand might include. Before you can start to promote your personal brand to employers or others who might influence your future career, there are three broad stages to putting it together: Know what you have to offer and what is important to you – take stock of your values, strengths, behaviours, etc. Know what you want – have a vision for where you want to be career-wise at a point in the future, e.g. three years’ time. Know what you are going to say – be ready to share your personal brand clearly and succinctly at every appropriate opportunity.

Figure 1 Figuring it out A man stands in front of a white wall, as if in an art gallery, looking at a series of images drawn on it, e.g. a lightbulb, a clock, a target, a handshake, etc.

While this might sound relatively straightforward, don’t underestimate the challenge involved. Many people find identifying their strengths and values a difficult process, and it can take time to do it properly. However, having a clear idea of who you are and what you enjoy will help you to decide what you want to do next – whether that means setting your sights on a specific career or recognising the right opportunities when they arise. Back in Week 1, you started to think about what your personal brand is at the moment and whether you need to make some changes. This week gives you the opportunity to delve deeper and focus on what’s important to you and what you’d like to share with individuals and organisations in the working world. You may already be comfortable with who you are and what you have to offer, or you may be at an earlier stage on that journey. The aim of this week is to give you a flavour of the thinking and activities you might undertake to clarify elements of what you have to offer, such as your values, strengths and personality traits. These activities are designed to be useful to all course participants, regardless of experience, but some of you might feel the need for more support at this point. Identifying your values and strengths, etc. is something a careers adviser is well qualified to help you with. Click on the following link to find out more about what the Open University Careers and Employability team can offer. Alternatively, a coach, mentor or even a friend can provide support and feedback as you process your thoughts. Feedback is an important tool – when you’ve decided on your list of values/strengths etc., find ways to test your analysis with family, friends or colleagues. Activity 1 Find a friend Allow about 5 minutes Receiving feedback is extremely valuable when you are undertaking the type of self-assessment outlined throughout this week. Before you start to work through the various sections, take a few minutes to list the people you know and trust who could offer some feedback on the values, strengths and personality traits that you come up with. Don’t aim to collect feedback from everyone on your list for all the exercises. This could feel overwhelming for everyone involved, including you! It may be that some people are better placed to offer feedback on your skills and strengths, whereas others might comment more usefully on the personality traits you’ve identified. In the next section you’ll focus on a fundamental element of who you are and what you stand for – your values. There are several elements that are important to consider when determining your personal brand. In this section, you’ll focus on your values.

Figure 2 What do you have to offer? A pair of hands, palms upward, holds a small brown paper package tied with string and with an unmarked label attached.

Many careers professionals will begin a discussion about occupational choice by focusing on your values, as several studies have shown that values often align with occupational preferences. For example, it has been found that individuals preferring, choosing or attaining business occupations were generally high on utilitarian orientation and material values; people choosing medical occupations, social work, and teaching appeared to be high in social values, in particular on altruism. (Sverko et al, 2008, p.557) Mind Tools defines values as ‘the things that you believe are important in the way you live and work’ (Mind Tools Content Team, n.d.). The more closely you can align your values with the way you live and work, the more satisfied you are likely to be. Gayle Johnson is a freelance copywriter and coach, who has consciously built her business around her values. Here, she explains why that was so important to her and how it has worked. Video 1 Gayle Johnson - Values Gayle Johnson For me, values are principles or guiding lights for your life, really. They're the foundations of everything. And it doesn't matter what your values are, and it doesn't matter what you then build up out of them- if you're kind of strong in what you believe in and what you stand for, you can then work with that to turn your hand to anything. So I spend a lot of time thinking about what were the most important things for me. And I did lots of reflective exercises to get to grips with that. And for me, values came down to things like connection and compassion, and I built my business around those sort of brand values, if you like. There's lots of different ways to be in business. And with copywriting, which is what I do, there's lots of different ways to do that. And I could see other people doing it very, very differently. And at first, I got really daunted by that and I thought couldn't possibly-- I'm not a slick hipster marketing type of person. And to try and pretend to be that, firstly, would've just felt really difficult. I would have spent all of my energy trying to be someone I wasn't. And I just wouldn't have been as good as those people. So what I decided to do instead was be very clear about what I stood for. So the way I see it, it's about being kind to yourself. And tuning into your values is a way to be kind to yourself because you're working with yourself, not against it. So by doing that, I then built my website being very clear about my values, being very clear that I wanted to work with values-driven people which meant that I didn't say I was only going to work with people from a particular industry, it was people who were driven by something deeper. And it's meant that I've attracted people who I love to work with, and we understand each other. So it's really helped me having the values as a kind of breadcrumb trail through the woods really. And then if something goes wrong because those values are still strong, it doesn't matter. Mistakes happen. Sometimes things don't go perfectly, but you can always come back to your values, recenter a bit, and and go off again. So I found them anchor points, really. And they've certainly been helpful in me attracting the sorts of clients that I really enjoy working with and then in turn who value me because it's almost like magnets, I guess.

Activity 2 Identifying my values Allow about 20 minutes This activity is an exercise that is commonly used in values work. Gayle has used it herself and with clients, and refers to it in this short video as she explains why understanding your values can help you differentiate yourself from others doing the same work. Video 2 Gayle Johnson - Values Advice Gayle Johnson To spend some time kind of internally thinking about it, the way I did it was to come up with a list of values and then do a sort of process of elimination. But I also spent some time thinking about situations where I'd really felt alive, I'd really felt on fire, I really felt like I was working at my best. And then I thought about what those values meant to me. And it was through that sort of thinking work that I came to understand what my values were. And I would really encourage anyone to do that. And the benefit of doing it is it really does anchor you in your own work. It stops you comparing yourself to others, because it doesn't matter if your values are, let's say, growth and ambition and wealth. That might be what you're really all about. And then someone else's values might be around harmony and community, those sorts of things. And they could be doing the same sorts of work, but their vibe will be very different. And the way they then interpret their work would be very different. So I think by tuning back into your values, it can help you, certainly, when you're starting out in business or in a new role, potentially, avoid that feeling. It can help you avoid that feeling of imposter syndrome, because you're doing it your way. And no one can take that away from you ever. And it doesn't mean that mistakes don't happen. But it's something you can always come back to, tune into. And it gives you strength to keep exploring and keep going in a way that feels right for you.

Step 1: Spend a few minutes thinking about times when you felt happiest, proudest, most fulfilled, or as Gayle puts is – ‘alive’, ‘on fire’ and ‘working at my best’. You can include examples from both your home and work life. Use the box below to record your notes if you need to. Step 2: When you have reflected on those occasions for a few minutes, consider the values that best represent why those times in your life made you feel so positive and list them in the box below. The following image will give you some ideas of values, but if you think of others that fit better, add them to your list. If you’re running out of ideas, there are numerous lists of core values available online – type ‘core values’ into an internet search engine to find them. Go with your initial reaction to each word. Don’t overthink it.

Figure 3 Which values will you choose? A word cloud incorporating numerous values is presented in the shape of a speech bubble. Prominent words include compassion, individuality, responsibility.

Step 3: Narrow down your list to between three and five core values and list them here. 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Your core values will already be reflected in what you do and what you say when you are comfortable in your environment – but identifying and labelling them in this type of exercise can help you to ensure that they are more visible professionally, and can have an influence on your decision making. They should hold a prominent position in your personal branding. As Gayle explains, knowing your core values can also help you to feel more comfortable about what you have to offer and how you operate. There might be several people in your organisation who do the same job, but none of them will have exactly the same approach to it as you and that is what makes you unique. Understanding the values that are important to you will help you to recognise good career opportunities when they arise. If you’ve already done the thinking, it will be easier to see if a particular role aligns with what you feel is important. For example, if you chose ‘wealth’, salary will be a serious consideration. If you value ‘individuality’, a work environment that requires you to conform might not be a comfortable one. This can be a challenging exercise so do seek support if you need to, either from a careers adviser or coach, or from one of the people on the list you made in Activity 1. Mind Tools offers an alternative version of this exercise that includes a tool to help you prioritise your core values if you’re struggling. Find it here. Many of us don’t take the time to deliberately think about our values, yet we all have them and they guide what we do. You might feel that your values are clearly expressed in your home life, but what about at work? In the first video, Gayle Johnson talks about using your values as anchor points to come back to, and this can be helpful when you’re making career decisions. Aligning your job with your values can be an important element of job satisfaction. For example, if you are someone who strongly believes in accountability, but you have colleagues who seem to get away with making mistakes and blaming someone else, that can make you angry, unhappy or demoralised. If you are self-employed and your values include freedom and independence, that should be a good match. If you plan to use your personal branding to find a job that gives you greater satisfaction, clearly communicating your values, to those in your network and beyond, is a good way to start. In the next section, you’ll look at another important element of your personal brand – your strengths. A common explanation of the difference between strengths and skills is that strengths are innate, whereas skills can be learned and developed. For example, our natural strength might be communication, but we’ve learned the skill of writing concise reports.

Figure 4 What are my strengths? A little girl is dressed as a superhero, wearing a blue t-shirt with a red mask and cape. She raises her arm as if she’s about to fly up into the sky.

In a career context, our strengths are also thought of as the skills we have that we most enjoy using. Occupations, roles or situations that allow us to use those strengths are likely to lead to personal satisfaction. Another useful way to think about it, is that using your strengths energises you, whereas other activities might feel draining. Simply knowing your strengths won’t necessarily lead you to a new career path, but evidence suggests that looking for opportunities to use your strengths in new ways does have the potential to make you happier (Seligman et al. 2005, p.416). Activity 3 Using my strengths Allow about 15 minutes Think about the things you do, in work or outside, that really energise and enthuse you. List them in the box below. Now choose one of those activities and analyse the skills you are using when you do it, for example, communicating with others, organising something, being creative, etc. List them in the box below. Of the skills you have just listed, which are the ones that make you feel energised when you use them? Is it all of them or just certain ones? List them here: The skills that you listed in the last box are your strengths. This is a quick exercise, and if you found it useful, you could go back and repeat it for all the activities that you enjoy. Are there any strengths that come up again and again? When you have a clear picture of your strengths you can add them to your personal brand. If you struggled to define your strengths in Activity 3, there are many lists of skills and strengths available online or in print. Holloway (2017, p.39) gives a useful selection that are more nuanced than most, including the following: telling engaging stories extracting key points creating order from chaos never ever give up never miss a deadline create harmony in a team researching new concepts effortlessly funny unfaltering focus up to the minute knowledge ultra-calm in a crisis intuitive empathy technologically savvy nurturing a network stress-testing ideas. Do you have any strengths on that list that you could use in new ways in your current role(s)? As well as communicating your values and strengths, your personality is an important element of your personal brand, and you’ll consider that in the next section. Your personality, combined with your values, strengths, knowledge and experience, is what gives you your unique personal brand. No-one else will be able to offer the same combination of factors.

Figure 5 Everyone is unique Approximately 50 overlapping passport photos of people of different ages, genders and ethnicity are laid out as if on a notice board

In Week 2, you considered the relevance of a ‘brand personality’ and the human personality traits that might be attributed to a product or organisation. In this section, you’ll consider which elements of your personality you might incorporate into your own brand. Activity 4 Describing myself Allow about 10 minutes Imagine you’re at an event where everyone is meeting for the first time and someone asks you to describe yourself. What would you say? Focus on your personality traits; for example, you might describe yourself as humble, direct, charming, passionate, irritable or odd! For a useful list of prompts, look at David Ball’s ‘Big Long List of Personality Traits’. Write one or two short paragraphs in the box below: How did you find this exercise? Easy, difficult, enlightening? People respond to this exercise in different ways and can often be too modest or self-deprecating in their descriptions. Did you focus on the aspects of your personality that are positive or did you highlight some of the negatives? When developing your personal brand, the positive aspects of your personality are the obvious ones to share, but is there anything you can learn from the negatives? For example, that characteristic that you are describing as ‘shyness’ could actually be highlighting your ability to observe, listen and analyse. This activity provides more information to consider/include when developing your personal brand, but to position your brand effectively, you need to know what you’re aiming for. In the next section you’ll focus on what you want from your career. Setting key goals for your future career is an important part of this personal branding process. Once you know what you’re aiming for, you can tailor your personal brand and the approach you take to promoting it.

Figure 6 Know where to start A straight road heads off into the distant mountains. The road marking says ‘START’ with an arrow pointing down the road.

While you might already have a concrete, detailed career plan, it doesn’t matter if you don’t. If you’re at an early stage in your thinking, your current goals might be relatively broad. For example: working in a certain context, e.g. with animals achieving a specific status, e.g. managing a team, or being based in a different location, e.g. overseas. Promotion of your personal brand at this early stage could involve talking to people in roles that interest you or contacting employers who might facilitate those goals. This research will tell you if your personal brand aligns with what they are looking for in a colleague or employee. In Week 5 you’ll consider the employers’ perspective in more detail. Even if you have more developed career plans, many successful and satisfying careers are developed from opportunities that arise unexpectedly. The key here is to be open to those opportunities, so relevant goals might be to: investigate interesting opportunities seriously and with positivity (i.e. asking yourself ‘how could I make that work?’ rather than assuming ‘that wouldn’t work for me’) follow the social media channels of interesting people and organisations attend an event, e.g. conference, job fair, etc., that relates to an area of work that is of interest. In this case, promoting your brand might involve networking (you’ll look at that in more detail in Week 7) or commenting on the social media posts of key individuals (see Week 6). Activity 5 encourages you to articulate your goals without thinking about them too deeply. Even if you haven’t done any detailed career planning yet, this exercise will provide a useful starting point. Activity 5 Identifying my career goals Allow about 15 minutes Try to answer the following question in 30 seconds. What are your three most important career goals right now? Write them in the box below. Now that you’ve got three goals, take a few minutes to consider how realistic they are given any current constraints, e.g. location, financial needs, family commitments, etc. Can you tweak them to fit in with what you need? If necessary, re-write them in the box below: Life coach and hypnotherapist Bennie Louw (n.d.) explains his ‘Quick List method’ as follows: What we have found is that when you only have 30 seconds to write your three most important goals, your answers will be as accurate as if you had 30 minutes or three hours. Your subconscious mind seems to go into a form of “hyper-drive” and your three most important goals will pop out of your head and onto the paper, often to the surprise of the person doing the exercise. Your goals might be short, medium or long-term ones and this will obviously impact on the time it might take you to achieve them. In Week 8, you’ll revisit these goals and plan the actions you will need to undertake to achieve them. This is only a brief overview of what can be a detailed goal-setting process. Many people seek support when setting career goals, perhaps from a careers adviser or career coach. A useful place to start is the career planning section of the OU’s Careers and Employability website. The goals that you came up with in Activity 5 will be useful to keep in mind as you work through the rest of the course. The final stage in defining your personal brand is to bring it all together. It can be useful to begin by thinking of it as a story. This will allow you to start with a more detailed narrative, which you can edit to meet your needs later on.

Figure 7 Find your story An old-fashioned typewriter has been used to type ‘What’s your story?’ on to a piece of paper. You can see the hammers and the ribbon in the picture.

You might present your story in different ways to your target audience, and you’ll look at that in more detail in Weeks 6 and 7, but the main task at this point is to pull together your key elements. Activity 6 My story Allow about 30 minutes Think about what you’ve learned so far about your values, strengths, personality, goals, etc. and aim to summarise the key points next to each heading in the box below. Try to think about how they are relevant to your future career ideas and plans: career goals values strengths personality knowledge/experience If you’re struggling to get started, here’s an example: Career goals: Within 5 years, I want to be a successful freelance writer with clients across a range of organisations. If I can use my writing to influence change and innovation, that would be the cherry on the cake. Values: My key values are concern for others, creativity and independence. In my ideal role I would be supporting or developing other people, either as a leader or as a service provider. I value my independence, so working in an environment where I can be autonomous is important to me. I enjoy setting my own timetable each day and using my creativity to solve problems and come up with innovative ideas. My ideal workplace would encourage and celebrate innovation. I have strong family values, so work needs to fit around my commitment to my children. Strengths: My two biggest strengths are 1) my ability to interact with people, communicating authentically and effectively at all levels, and 2) my written communication skills. I love writing and editing copy to ensure that is conveys appropriate messages accurately and effectively. Ideally, I would be writing content that can help and support people to be the best that they can be. Personality: I’m kind, thoughtful, empathetic and warm. I have a good sense of humour. I often use these characteristics to bring people together and motivate them. I am also curious and enjoy learning new facts or skills and sharing those with others. Knowledge and experience: I have over 20 years of experience in the higher education sector and during that time, have accrued significant knowledge about the student experience, with a particular interest in careers and employability. When you’re happy with the key elements of your story, choose someone from the list you made in Activity 1 and share it with them. This may feel like a daunting task, but it will be easier to hear constructive feedback from people you know, like and trust than from an employer you were really keen to work for. 1) career goals
2) values
3) strengths
4) personality
5) knowledge/experience This won’t necessarily be the final version, as you might make further changes after you’ve received more feedback. But you’ve made a great start. Don’t forget, once you’ve collected some useful feedback from your contacts, this is not something you need to present to others again – this is not your ‘elevator pitch’. This is a narrative that you can draw on when you’re planning your consistent messages about who you are and what you have to offer. In the course you will be referring back to your personal brand story so make sure you hit save under the box. There is the option ‘Download your answers for the documents on this course’ on the left hand side of every page. This will produce a PDF document of all of your answers to the activities for you to refer back to as needed. If you want to explore the different elements of your personal brand in more detail, there are also many useful books available to help you. Go to the Further reading section to view a selection. It’s now time to take the Week 4 badge quiz. It’s similar to previous quizzes, but this time, instead of answering five questions there will be 15. Week 4 compulsory badge quiz Remember, this quiz counts towards your badge. If you’re not successful the first time, you can attempt the quiz again in 24 hours. Open the quiz in a new tab or window and come back here when you’ve finished. By this point, you should be starting to feel more confident about the various elements of your personal brand. You might have considered some of them for the first time and need some additional support to finalise your story, or you might have used this week’s various activities to hone and finish it. You should now be able to: recognise the key elements of your personal brand articulate your values, strengths and personality traits more clearly describe your career goals. Next week, you’ll view things from the employer’s perspective – considering what they are looking for in a personal brand and what they might be looking for in the future. You are now halfway through the course. The Open University would really appreciate your feedback and suggestions for future improvement in our optional end-of-course survey, which you will also have an opportunity to complete at the end of Week 8. Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others. You can now go to Week 5. Week 5 Promoting my brand to employers Welcome to Week 5 of the course. Last week you identified and summarised the key elements of your own personal brand, starting to consider what you might present to employers. This week, you’ll shift to focus on the employer perspective – exploring what they want to know about you and your brand, and how that might change in the future. Watch this video that introduces the week: Video 1 Introduction to Week 5 By the end of this week, you will be able to: identify your target audience describe what employers are looking for understand the importance of maintaining your personal brand. You’ll start by considering who your target audience should be. In Week 2 you looked at the importance of correctly identifying your target audience. Now you’re ready to have a go yourself.

Figure 1 Spread the word A smiling woman in red sunglasses shouts into a megaphone against a plain blue background.

Remember the key points of the two-stage process: Identifying your audience Researching your audience When you think about the career goals you want to achieve, they will probably fall into one of three broad categories, each with a potentially different target audience. Enhancing your current situation, either by gaining some new responsibilities or achieving an internal promotion – in this case, your target audience might be peers and colleagues, senior managers, members of the Human Resources team in your organisation, etc. Changing your emphasis, perhaps by doing the same job for a different employer, or using your skills in a different context within your current organisation – here, your target audience might be individuals you’ve identified in other departments or companies, or it might be representatives from a relevant professional body or recruitment consultancy, etc. Doing something new, either because you’re starting your career and everything is new, or because you want a complete change and a new challenge. Initially, your target audience might include people already doing the role you aspire to. They can help you research the role, who the main employers are, what they look for, etc. When you’re considering how to research the various organisations or individuals, you can take a three-pronged approach: Online – company websites or social media feeds can be a useful way to gain an insight into what’s going on within an organisation. You might even pick up on some key names of individuals who regularly post and seem to share your views or experience. Professional bodies and other trade organisations or publications often have websites that include a news page to keep you up-to-date with changes within an industry. On paper – while most printed material will also be available online, there might be some internal newsletters or more obscure trade publications that provide a useful insight. In person – try to go along to industry-related events, e.g. conferences, breakfast meetings, networking evenings, etc. You can often find out about these events through following employers or professional bodies on social media, or taking out student membership of relevant organisations. This will provide an excellent opportunity to find out the things that might not appear on corporate websites or in print, and to meet people who might be able to help you achieve your goals. You’ll also be raising your profile with those people, which makes targeting them with more direct questions about potential employment easier. Activity 1 My audience Allow about 5 minutes The first stage is to identify who your target audience is. Think about the career goals that you identified in Week 4. Who will help you achieve those goals? Employers, colleagues, peers, etc.? List your target audiences in the box below. The second stage is to research your target audience. Choose one of the targets you’ve just thought of and research them and their organisation further. Make a note of key findings here. Once you have a clearer idea of the groups you plan to target, you can start to consider exactly what you want from them, e.g. information, insight, a job, etc., and plan how you are going to share your personal brand with them in a way that encourages them to engage with you. Some of this research will start to tell you what your future employers are looking for. The next section will provide an overview of some of their current preferences. The job market is constantly changing, so keeping on top of the latest trends and topics can be very useful if you’re trying to promote yourself to employers and want to be a step ahead of your competitors. Of course, all employers will be looking for different things, based on the culture of their organisation, the work they do, the industry they represent, etc., but below are some issues that are common to many.

Figure 2 Looking carefully Two men and one woman in business suits are standing on boxes and using telescopes to look out across a barren landscape.

Strengths This is a topic that has gained traction with employers in recent years. Utilising the strengths of their employees is a win-win situation – staff who use their strengths experience greater job satisfaction and are more committed to the company, and organisations benefit from their higher levels of engagement. As you’ve already spent some time identifying your strengths in Week 4, you are in a stronger position to promote them to potential employers. When you can align your strengths with those prioritised by an employer, you know that you’ll be a good fit for their organisation. TargetJobs (n.d.) explains another reason why recruiters of new graduates are particularly interested in strengths: It is also argued that strengths-based interviews and assessments provide graduates from all socio-economic backgrounds with an equal opportunity to succeed. The answers to the questions don’t require you to have multiple examples from extracurricular activities or internships – examples that might be easier for students from more advantaged backgrounds to obtain. They go on to list some typical strengths-based interview questions, including: What motivates you? What would your perfect day look like? How do you judge success? If a colleague was struggling to make a complex decision, what would you do to help? Given a choice, would you prefer to be giving a presentation or double-checking data? Key skills There are many reports that look at the skills employers need. Some are sector specific, and others are more generic. For example: Following a recent survey of 2000 business leaders, LinkedIn Learning (Petrone, 2018) presented the following top four soft skills they’d like to see their employees learn:LeadershipCommunicationCollaborationTime managementIf any of these are your strengths, promote them clearly in your personal brand. The CBI/Pearson Education and Skills Survey (2017, p. 13) reports that over a third of employers surveyed were dissatisfied with the self-management skills and resilience of their graduate recruits, as well as their lack of business and customer awareness, and international cultural awareness. If these are strengths for you, highlight them in your personal brand. It is important to note, that while using your strengths is a key element of achieving greater job satisfaction, your other skills – gained through previous learning and experience − also play a crucial role in your daily life at work. Even if something doesn’t fill you with energy and enthusiasm, that doesn’t mean you can’t be good at it. The point is that choosing a role that allows you to feel highly engaged for some of the time, motivates you to deal with the less interesting stuff. Work style As the workplace becomes more flexible, the standard 9-5 day in the office is changing. For example, with the explosion of digital communication, an increasing number of organisations are encouraging their staff to work remotely. Another facet is the ‘gig economy’, where workers get paid for the ‘gigs’ they do. More of us are working for ourselves and companies are starting to realise the advantages of bringing in freelancers to work with permanent employees for key projects. This way, they can benefit from your expertise without paying into your pension or giving you annual leave etc., but you can also benefit from the variety and flexibility this gives you in your career. Also, a short-term contract gives the employer an opportunity to assess and be impressed by your skills and experience, and can potentially lead to longer term employment, if that’s what you are looking for. If flexibility appeals to you, be sure to research their attitude towards it when you conduct your target audience research. Some employers will be more flexible than others. Activity 2 Analyse an organisation Allow about 25 minutes Find an organisation that you would be interested in working for. Look at their website or social media pages and try to analyse what they are looking for from their employees. For example: What is their vision or mission? What are their values? What are the skills/strengths they prioritise when recruiting? (You could look at their current job adverts and associated job descriptions to identify common themes.) What issues are they are facing at the moment? (Social media feeds can be useful for that type of commentary.) Make some notes in the box below: Now think about the personal brand story you put together in Week 4, Activity 6, where you highlighted your values, strengths and personality traits. Are there any parallels? This is a good way to assess whether your brand aligns with that of the organisation you are reviewing. It will rarely be a perfect match, but if there are several similarities − for example they list your strengths as skills they are looking for or you can see your values reflected in what they say − it could be worth adding them to your target audience list. When you know what sector or industry you want to work in, focus your attention there. Professional bodies and trade journals will often commission relevant research, such as about sector skills shortages, that will inform your own engagement with employers in those areas. If you have a strength that fills a skills gap in your sector, highlighting that will make you an even more attractive candidate. As stated at the beginning of this section, the job market is in a constant state of flux, so it will be important to keep up with how things continue to develop in the future. Read on to find out more. As we look to the future for reassurance that robots are not going to take all our jobs, we increasingly encounter the opinions of professional ‘futurists’. These are individuals from a range of professions, with experience in strategy and planning, who focus their attention on future trends, forecasting and change.

Figure 3 Is this the future? A row of android-like robots with human features and wearing headsets sit in front of computer screens in a futuristic-looking room.

Watch this short video by professional services company EY, explaining ‘The Future of Work’ and the skills that will be needed. Video 2 The future of work - adapting your skills and ‘selves’ to succeed So, how might that information impact on your personal brand? Adaptability is a key theme in this and many other articles or video clips that cover the future of work. Kokemuller (n.d.) explains that ‘companies need employees who are open to new ideas, flexible enough to work through challenging issues, and generally able to cope when things don’t go as planned.’ He goes on to suggest that adaptable people can: come up with alternative solutions when their first suggestion is rejected cope when unexpected new projects are given to them deal with changes to their role remain calm and confident when facing a dilemma. Activity 3 How adaptable am I? Allow about 10 minutes Answer this typical application form question about adaptability in the box below. Describe a situation when you had to change the way you worked because of changing circumstances. How did you adapt? If you’re unsure of how to structure your answer, use the STAR model, i.e. situation, task, action, result. Your emphasis should be on the action you took. To find out more about using the STAR model, visit this OU Careers and Employability webpage: Job interviews: an overview: Using the STAR technique in a job interview. Sample answer: Situation: My employer introduced a new IT system at very short notice, which fundamentally changed my daily activities. Task: I was tasked with training my team to ensure that they could work with it efficiently. Action: Despite my initial reservations, I quickly researched the system and identified colleagues within my sector who were already using it. I was reassured by my conversations with them that it would lead to significant improvements for us. I invited one of my contacts to come and talk to the team, which was very well received, and I took a small group to visit their premises to see exactly how the system worked for them. I involved myself closely with the team who came to install the system, ensuring that I had a good overview of how it worked and knew who to contact if I had any problems. Result: There were a few hiccups along the way, but the system was installed on time and my team were enthusiastic about using it. By the time it was up and running, we all felt confident about the key elements of the system and how it would fit in with our work. While this may not be one of your strengths, you can develop your adaptability. Becoming more adaptable to change is largely about mindset. For example, Boss (2014) talks about the importance of redefining your motivation. He explains: For instance, if personal growth is a primary motivator then try to see adaptability through the lens of self-improvement; if relationships are a key driver for you, then think about how rich and meaningful your relations with others will be after you adapt. How you frame the problem through your mind’s eye is what determines your reaction, so if you redefine how you see the problem then you can set yourself up for success. Being ready and willing to adapt is half the battle. The future of the world of work is a significant issue that many organisations have a strong and vested interest in. To keep up with how the world of work is changing, there are several useful sources of information in the Further reading section at the end of the week. Professional services company PwC takes personal branding seriously. It runs online courses and sessions for students, and has created this short video: Video 3 Aspire to lead: career advice - develop your own personal brand While employers won’t always refer to it as your ‘personal brand’ they are keen to gain a clear impression about you and your abilities quickly. If you can make yourself standout from all the other people they are assessing in a short space of time, they will be impressed. A clear, targeted personal brand will demonstrate to them that you have spent time considering their needs and how you can align with and support them, and they will be grateful that they don’t have to waste time trying to figure you out! Social media Personal branding is often linked to social media, and employers regularly look at our social media presence as part of their evaluation. Jobvite’s 2016 Recruiter Nation Report surveyed 1600 human resources professionals across several industries and presented the following data about their use of different social media platforms to evaluate candidates when hiring: Table 1 Use of different social media platforms

LinkedIn	87%
Facebook	43%
Twitter	22%
Blogs	11%
Instagram	8%
YouTube	6%
Snapchat	3%

Clearly, when you start to raise your profile with colleagues, peers and potential employers, it makes sense to consider your digital footprint, i.e. the information about you that exists because of your online activity. Next week, you’ll look at how to tidy your digital footprint before starting to raise your profile. Personal branding for existing employees Employers aren’t just interested in assessing the personal brand of job applicants, they are increasingly focused on helping existing employees to develop theirs. Homayun (2016) shares eight tips for enhancing your brand in the workplace. If your employer is supportive, they might be able to facilitate some of these ideas: Network over lunch – invite a colleague to join you for lunch and find out what they do Help others – look for opportunities to offer your help, perhaps over coffee with a colleague Write a thank you note to someone who you appreciate, e.g. an office assistant Start a book club – select industry-specific or general business books that will appeal to all Ask intelligent questions – do some homework before meetings and showcase your understanding Get involved in a new project – aim to contribute outside your normal working hours Be charismatic – think about your body language Be noticed for the right reasons – don’t be late to meetings or work on your laptop throughout when you get there. Activity 4 Being noticed for the wrong reasons Allow about 5 minutes Think about someone at work who has a work-related habit that annoys or frustrates you. It might be that they are constantly playing with their phone during meetings or focus on only one topic that they repeatedly bring up regardless of relevance. Consider how that affects your opinion of them. Do others share your frustration? We have all had colleagues who are nice people and good at their jobs, but who become annoying or irritating in certain contexts. It doesn’t always mean that we can’t have a productive working relationship with them, but it does affect our opinion of them and our desire to work with them more than we have to. If they knew that a particular attitude or approach they were using was damaging their personal brand, maybe they would change it. Do you have any annoying habits that might impact on how your personal brand is perceived? So, you’ve considered how employers might value and promote personal branding, but what happens when that personal brand isn’t as positive as you might like?

Figure 4 Bad news ‘You’re Fired’ is written on a blackboard with a spikey speech bubble around it. It appears to be coming from a small white and red megaphone held by a hand in the bottom right hand corner.

They won’t always fire you, but you can get into a lot of trouble for communicating the wrong messages as part of your personal brand. Activity 5 What did Sally do wrong? Allow about 5 minutes Sally recently used Twitter to share this short message: ‘Hooray! I’ve been offered a job at Bob’s Diner. Now to decide if the money is worth smelling of stale chip fat every day…’ In the box below, explain why you think this message was a bad idea. Sally has just shared a negative view about her new employer. This could be bad for Bob’s business and indicates a lack of commitment on her part. If future employers saw this when checking her social media, they would wonder if she might say negative things about them too, and this could reduce her chances of getting an interview. You might think this is too obvious as an example, but it is based on a real-life situation. That tweet was seen by another employee of the company and he shared it with his boss, who immediately retracted the job offer. The internet is full of examples of people who used Twitter or Facebook in the wrong way and suffered the consequences. Kevin’s complaints. Kevin was an intern who was sick of doing all the menial jobs in the printing company he was working at. He tweeted that his job was ‘boring’ and was fired the next day. Susie’s Instagram habit. Susie loved Instagram. She would share photos of anything and everything! One day she shared an Instagram picture of her desk to show everyone how messy it was. Unfortunately, there was an open document on her desk that contained confidential company information. Her disciplinary hearing took place the following month. Jennifer’s drinking. Jennifer was a teacher in a strongly religious state in the US. She attended a family barbeque one weekend and posted a picture on Facebook of herself appearing to drink directly from a bottle of wine. The headteacher asked her to resign. Martin’s misdemeanour. Martin phoned in sick one morning. Later that day, he posted a picture on Facebook, of himself partying by a swimming pool. He tagged a friend who was at work. Unknown to him, that friend was Facebook friends with his boss. He lost a day’s pay and his boss was less sympathetic about future illnesses. Some of these examples may seem a little extreme, but they illustrate the point that our personal brand isn’t just a tool to get us a job that we love, it is something we need to maintain and be aware of all the time. Remember the importance of consistent messages? Don’t be tempted to deviate from those if there’s a chance your employer might see them. In Week 6, you’ll find out more about how to promote your personal brand online and how to clean up your online profile if you need to. Now that you’ve completed Week 5, you can take a short quiz to help you to reflect on what you’ve learned. Week 5 practice quiz Open the quiz in a new window or tab (by holding ctrl [or cmd on a Mac] when you click the link), then return here when you have done it. By now, you should have a clearer sense of your chosen target audience and an awareness of what employers are looking for. You have also considered employers’ views about personal branding and how the wrong messages can backfire. You should now be able to: identify your target audience describe what employers are looking for understand the importance of maintaining your personal brand. This week, you have started to explore the use of your personal brand online, and next week you’ll continue to look at that in more detail. You can now go to Week 6. Week 6: Promoting my brand online Welcome to Week 6 of the course. Last week you considered how the needs of employers, both now and in the future, might impact on your personal brand. This week, you’ll focus on how to promote your brand online. You’ll look at social media and the platforms you could consider joining if you haven’t already, e.g. LinkedIn. Most commentators advise that you focus your attention on one platform to start with, as maintaining a profile across several networks takes a lot of time. Watch this video that introduces the week: Video 1 Introduction to Week 6 (please note this video has no spoken audio) Promoting my brand online This week, you’ll start by investigating your current online brand and you’ll look at how to tidy up your digital footprint if you need to. You’ll focus on promoting your personal brand through popular social media platforms, including LinkedIn and Facebook, and you’ll explore how you can raise the profile of your online brand at work. You’ll also look briefly at how your online profile can boost your business if you’re self-employed. Week 6, let’s get started!

By the end of this week, you will be able to: identify any issues with your current online brand recognise how to promote your brand online describe how you might use various social media platforms to promote your brand. You’ll start the week by considering your current online brand. When considering how you want to represent your brand online, a useful place to start is by assessing what is currently out there. For example, you may have images on your Facebook page that are less than professional! Would you want a potential employer or professional contact to see them?

Figure 1 My online brand A smart phone rests on a blue wooden surface, displaying a range of apps and social media icons, including Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram.

Note: If you feel a little uncertain at this point and want to take a step back and develop your skills and confidence about life online, the OpenLearn course Digital literacy: succeeding in a digital world is a great starting point. Activity 1 Google it! Allow about 10 minutes A good starting point is to Google yourself and see what comes up. That is what an employer or networking contact will often do. Do that now. Enter your name into the search box and see what comes up. Make sure you also check ‘Images’ as that is where photos might appear. In the box below, make a note of anything that surprises you or that you want to delete or make private. Did you find anything that surprised you? Sometimes we can be tagged in other people’s photos unexpectedly. If unwanted content did come up, it might be good idea to try other search engines too, e.g. Bing. It is important to realise that when you post something on a social media platform, what you are actually doing is publishing it, and it can’t always be retracted. Grothaus (2018) offers the following tips for tidying up your digital footprint: Make your social media accounts private Review your timelines – remove any photos or comments that could cast you in a negative light Control tagging – tags with your name can often come up in Google searches. You can either untag yourself, ask friends to untag you or investigate how the platform allows you to disable other people from tagging you in the first place Find and close any old social media accounts – if you’ve forgotten what they are, Google your name to see what comes up or try a service like Deseat.me which aims to help you find all your forgotten online accounts. If you can’t delete everything, Majeed (2016) suggests frequently posting more positive material to drive out any negative results. She also suggests Google Alerts (https://www.google.co.uk/alerts) as a handy tool for telling you whenever you are mentioned online. If you want to find out more about this topic, the OpenLearn course Digital Literacy: Succeeding in a Digital World has some useful content, including the following video about how to improve your digital footprint: Video 2 Ten top tips to improve your digital footprint Once you understand how important your digital footprint is, you can start to think about how you might improve the way in which you come across online. So let's see how you can do this. One of the first things you can do is to delete or deactivate all those online accounts that you don't use anymore. Doing this will mean that you won't need to worry about them, they can't be scammed, and it will leave you time to concentrate on the accounts that are most useful to you. There are tools available online that can help you do this. For the accounts you choose to keep, think about who has access to them and filter out people you don't really know or no longer keep in contact with. For example, Facebook tends to be more personal, so you may only want family and friends to have access to the information you put there. However, if you use LinkedIn, you will want to connect with a professional network and be considered for jobs. If you want to be noticed, your settings should allow greater public access. However, the information you provide is likely to be professional rather than personal. Now is the time to delete all those photographs that don't show you in a good light. Also, delete any posts that you're not proud of. Social network sites will provide you with information on how to do this. Sites like LinkedIn are great for showcasing your skills and knowledge. If you want to get noticed, you'll need to ensure that you build up your profile to include your achievements, skills, qualifications, and knowledge. Consider your profile as your online CV. Employers or employment agencies frequently search LinkedIn for people with specific skills. When you think about the words you use on your profile, think about the words for which employers might search in order to find people with your skills. There are a number of ways you can connect with others in your profession or field of interest. Twitter is a good place to find connections. Being active on Twitter will make it more likely that people will notice you. Stick to professional content and think about what your tweets are saying about you in a professional sense. Blogs are also a great way of showcasing your knowledge. Think about starting your own professional blog, or find expert blogs that will keep you up to date. Adding your own comments will enable you to be part of the wider discussion. Discussion forums are also good places to meet professionals in your field. They are great places to learn from others and share good practice.

Once you’ve cleaned up your existing brand, you can go on to start promoting your new one. Think back to what you wrote about in your personal brand story in Week 4, Activity 6. Keep that content in mind throughout this week. If you have printed the PDF document of all your answers to the activities – refer to that. If you haven’t and would like to, choose the option to ‘Download your answers for the documents on this course’ on the left hand side of this page and this will produce the PDF. LinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It has more than 562 million users in over 200 countries and territories worldwide. The stated LinkedIn vision is to ‘Create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.’ Social media isn’t for everyone, but of all the platforms discussed this week, LinkedIn is the one that professionals should seriously consider engaging with.

Figure 2 Using LinkedIn A laptop is sitting on table. It is open and shows the signing in page of LinkedIn.

There are many ways to use LinkedIn to both develop and promote your personal brand. Nations (2018) recommends the following for beginners: Get back in touch with old colleagues Use your profile as your CV or resume Find and apply for jobs Find and connect with new professionals Participate in relevant groups Blog about what you know. Activity 2 My LinkedIn profile Allow about 10 minutes A key element of your LinkedIn profile is the summary section. This appears at the top of your profile and is the first thing people will read about you. Do you already have a LinkedIn profile? If yes, use this exercise to update your summary section. If no, consider setting one up and then using this activity to fill in your summary section when you are ready. A LinkedIn summary is usually no more than two or three paragraphs long and is an opportunity to grab people’s attention and encourage them to read on. Treat it like a personal profile on a CV. Refer back to your personal brand story for ideas of what to include. Compose your summary in the box below. If you need some ideas, Frost (n.d.) has some suggestions for different templates: The mission-based summary – opens with a broad description of what you do, then gets more and more specific The personality summary – begins with an anecdote that demonstrates one or two key personality traits The short and sweet summary – shares current role, previous positions and skills, useful for technical or conservative industries The blended summary – blending the personality- and mission-based approaches to create something light, fun and professional The accomplishments summary – tells potential employers why you deserve the job. Frost’s blog also includes examples of each and shares some useful ideas and suggestions. One of the most valuable opportunities for building your personal brand on LinkedIn is to join relevant groups and regularly contribute to the conversations that take place. LinkedIn Help (n.d.) advises, ‘You can find groups to join by using the search feature at the top of your homepage or viewing groups you’ve already joined. You can also create a new group focused on a specific topic or industry.’ LinkedIn is probably the most obvious platform for professionals, but there are others that can be equally valuable when raising your profile. Find out more about them in the next sections. Facebook is a social networking website and service where users can post comments, share photographs and links to news or other interesting content on the Web, play games, chat live, and stream live video (Nations, 2018). It currently has over 2 billion active users worldwide. After LinkedIn, it is the second most likely platform to be used by recruiters when evaluating your brand.

Figure 3 Using Facebook A hand holds a smartphone with the Facebook log in page open on the screen.

Facebook has traditionally been focused on connecting family and friends and allowing them to share content, images, etc. Increasingly, it is used as a tool by professionals to promote what they do, building communities of like-minded individuals to share content with and advertise services to. As with LinkedIn, this means that Facebook offers lots of groups you can join and contribute to. This is another excellent way to build and promote your personal brand. You could even start a group yourself. The key to success when using any social media platform to raise awareness of your brand, is to post comments, ideas and content regularly. This can be time consuming and our dedication to it can slip when our lives are busy. So, if you’re going to use social media, make sure you have time to commit to the process. Caution: Don’t forget what you learned in Week 5 about the potentially negative impact of saying the wrong things. If you’re voicing opinions on controversial subjects, such as politics or religion, think carefully about whether that is something that will align with the personal brand you want to promote. Activity 3 What could I post about? Allow about 20 minutes Even if you don’t plan to use Facebook, creating ideas for posts is a useful exercise. These ideas could also be used for blogs, work-place discussions with like-minded individuals, etc. 1. Pick a theme. Choose something that you know about, enjoy, or have strong feelings about. It doesn’t have to be work-related, it could relate to a hobby or interest. The point of this exercise is to experience the process of generating ideas. If you find it useful, you can repeat it in the context of your career ambitions later. Write your theme here: 2. Now come up with a list of different ways you could talk about that theme. For example, if you chose a hobby, like knitting or crochet, as your theme you could: pick a special day that’s coming up, e.g. Mother’s Day, Christmas etc., and talk about ideas for relevant designs offer advice about a tricky technique talk about what you most enjoy about the hobby address an issue that you know other knitters feel strongly about. Write your ideas here. Keep going until you run out of ideas. 3. Finally, look back through those ideas and reflect on how they align with your personal brand. For example, there might be links to your values, strengths, experience, etc. List any connections here: While you might not want to post or blog or even talk about your hobbies as a way to promote your personal brand, you can see how sharing something about yourself can be used to give others a sense of what you stand for and have to offer. It can be a daunting task to share personal views/thoughts, etc. in this type of forum, especially as we are all aware of the negative feedback we might receive. Choosing the right groups and finding the right, ‘authentic’ voice is an important part of the process. However, what you share doesn’t have to be personal. You might choose to curate the content of other experts or organisations – pulling it together and posting it so that others can be informed and inspired without having to search for the content themselves. In the next section, you’ll look at some of the other online platforms that you can use to promote your brand.

Figure 4 Lots of ways to get online Seven people sit in a row, each using different devices – tablets, laptops and phones. We see them from the neck down.

There are many other social media platforms that you might consider using. Here’s a taste of the most popular. Twitter Twitter is an online news and social networking site where people communicate in short messages called tweets, which must be 280 characters or less. It has 330 million active users. Gil (2018) explains: ‘The great majority of tweeters do this microblogging as a recreational thing, a chance to shout out to the world and revel in how many people choose to read your stuff. But there is a growing number of Twitter users who send out some really useful content. And that’s the real value of Twitter: it provides a stream of quick updates from friends, family, scholars, news journalists, and experts.’ In terms of personal brand promotion, you can use it to share your news and views. You can also gain useful insights through following others in your industry and can ‘retweet’ their messages, adding comments of your own. Twitter etiquette suggests that you should follow people who follow you (unless you’re a public figure with a massive audience), so this can work well if you’re trying to get noticed by key people in your field. Again, it is important to tweet regularly to maintain your profile. Instagram Instagram is a social networking app for sharing photos and videos. It has 800 million users. From a professional perspective, sharing images works well if you are in a creative industry or have a visual brand to promote. It also allows you to share what you do in a visual way. The most popular Instagram users often mix images of their personal and professional lives, for example combining pictures of their working day alongside holiday shots or cakes they’ve made. To use Instagram to promote your personal brand, you need to think again about your personal brand story. Can you encapsulate that visually? Would that be a useful approach? Blogging Watch this short video to find out more about what blogging is. Video 3 What is a blog? When approaching your blog from a professional rather than personal perspective, Johnson (2018) suggests there are four reasons to blog: To increase your audience – invite them to connect To connect more deeply with prospective clients – sharing the real you To position yourself as an expert – show what you know To reach more people with your message – invite guest bloggers and you’ll reach their audience too. When you start blogging, you’ll need to make sure it reaches your target audience. To do that, you can refer or link to your blog posts in email, on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. or you could invite people you admire to write guest posts for your blog. Activity 4 Choose a platform Allow about 20 minutes Review the online platforms that have been discussed this week, i.e. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and blogging. Consider the way that others use them professionally and talk to colleagues, friends or family to find out what they use and why. Choose the one that you are most likely to use to promote your personal brand and make a note of the platform and your reasons in the box below: Depending on your circumstances, you may decide that promoting your personal brand online is not a priority now. But, as the digital world continues to grow and extend its influence over our professional lives, you may need to reconsider in the future. Now that you’ve explored some of the options available to you for boosting your online profile, you’ll finish this week focusing on how to boost that profile in your current workplace. You’ve explored a variety of different online tools and it is clear to see how they might be used to raise your profile in the wider world. But what will work best if you want to raise your online profile in your current workplace?

Figure 5 Boosting your brand ‘Boost your brand’ is written using old printing blocks for each letter. A full coffee mug sits next to the lettering

While at work, your personal brand will often be communicated through your face-to-face interactions with colleagues and managers. You’ll look at communicating your brand effectively in person in Week 7, but building an online profile with colleagues can also be a useful way to share elements of your brand that they might not see in your day-to-day interactions. For example, starting a blog that discusses topics that are close to you and your colleagues’ hearts will raise your profile and give you an opportunity to share your thoughts and views in a different way. If any of your colleagues already have a blog, or write for a departmental blog, you could share your ideas for posts, offer to guest blog or simply comment on the posts you read. This would be a good way to slowly build your voice without the responsibility of running the blog yourself! If your department produces an online newsletter you could offer to write short articles for that. Even sending a thought-provoking email to key people suggesting improvements to a particular project or asking key questions can be a useful way to raise your profile and show others you are committed and engaged. You’ll probably find that many of your colleagues are already on LinkedIn. If you connect with them, that will give you access to their connections, some of whom might be interesting contacts for you. When inviting people you don’t know to connect with you on LinkedIn, it is always better to ask a mutual connection to make an introduction. People are more likely to accept your invitation if the connection comes via someone they know. Once you’re connected, you can comment on their posts or message them directly to introduce yourself. For the same reason, you shouldn’t accept invitations from everyone who invites you to link with them – they may just want access to your contact list. Also, your network will be more useful to you if the connections are relevant and can add some value to your professional life. Self employment If you’re self-employed, then raising your profile online has a double advantage. People find out more about you and get to understand your personal brand, but you can also leverage that awareness to develop and sell your products or services. Once you have an engaged target audience, you can devise your ‘call to action’ – inviting them to buy your products or expertise. An example of someone who has carefully crafted their Facebook presence to do just that is copywriter Gayle Johnson from Red Tree Writing. Watch this short video to see how she has successfully built a community of potential clients. Video 4 Gayle Johnson - Profile Gayle Johnson For me, I decided that I would rather do one platform well rather than spread myself thinly over several platforms. And for me, I chose Facebook. So I spend a lot of time in the Facebook environment. I have a Facebook page that I set up. And it felt so daunting, I have to say, setting it up. I felt like I was exposing myself to the world. And then I launched this thing and not very much happened. I thought OK, I could take a few risks here. So I use that Facebook page to really start conversations, interestingly. It's not primarily a selling tool for me. The selling happens, but first of all, it's about building a relationship and it's about building connections. So on that Facebook page, I share little snippets of what I'm doing. I share little snippets of behind the scenes at my work, some good news about my clients. And every so often I will throw in an offer or an invitation to work with me, but that's not primarily how I use that page. It's more about letting people into my world, I suppose. And it goes back again to this belief I have that people are people, so by using social media to just be yourself and get allow people to see a little glimpse of what you're like and what you might be like working with, I think it helps them build trust in you. It helps them get to know you. And they can make the decision to buy from you if they need to. And that certainly worked for me. But then I found what's been even more powerful is setting up a group. So I have a Facebook group now which isn't huge but it is pretty active. And that really has built a sense of community around what I do. So the people in there, they share their kind of issues and tips to do with my work, which is about writing. They ask me questions. They share what's going on in their day. And they've kind of built up networks and friendships with each other too as a result of that. And that, I have to say, is probably where I get most of my business from. And again, I don't spend a lot of time advertising in there. Every so often, when I have events running. Or if I have an offer, I will make that clear to people. But mostly, it's about building that community. So when people think they need someone who does what I do, I'm the first person that comes to mind. And they know me, and they must like me because they're still in the group, and they trust that I can do what I say I'm going to do because I kind of throw in bits of evidence. I throw in successes from my other clients, that sort of thing. And that's how work seems to have grown very organically really.

Activity 5 Engaging your target audience Allow about 10 minutes Consider the platform you identified in Activity 4. Is there anything you can take from Gayle’s experience that will help you to develop your approach further? Even though she is speaking from a small business perspective in the video, what she says about relationship building is applicable in a variety of contexts. Think about who you might want to build a relationship with in order to enhance your career. Note your ideas in the box below. Rather than using social media as a tool to simply sell what you have to offer, Gayle talks about starting a conversation and building relationships. These connections can grow into opportunities or provide you with evidence that will demonstrate your commitment to, or knowledge and expertise in, a particular subject. When you start to think about the content you want to share, Gayle has this advice: Video 5 Gayle Johnson - Profile Advice Gayle Johnson I would say choose one or two platforms and go for those. Don't worry. I get very overwhelmed thinking about all the things I could be doing on social media. And I would say to anybody, do a few things well rather than try and keep lots of balls in the air and juggle them all. I would then say, as much as possible, let people into your world. And that world can be- you don't have to overshare, that world can be curated. I don't think there's a conflict between showing people the bits that are relevant to them with being authentic. I think there's a way to do both. Your audience doesn't need to know everything about you. They just need to know the bits that are going to help them build a connection with you. So think about how you can be human online. Don't use it as purely a selling machine because honestly I think the sales will happen organically if it's a business that you're building. And I would also say don't be afraid to share your opinions and share your expertise. So I've said be very human, and I share pictures of my cats all the time, but I would also say do share tips, share questions, invite people to interact with you. Social media really works best as a conversation. So if you can use your page or your Twitter feed or whatever it is you're going for to invite people to interact, that builds a much stronger link than if you're constantly putting out adverts for your latest product or service.

Now that you’ve completed Week 6, you can take a short quiz to help you to reflect on what you’ve learned. Week 6 practice quiz Open the quiz in a new window or tab (by holding ctrl [or cmd on a Mac] when you click the link), then return here when you have done it. Now you’ve reached the end of this week, you should have a greater awareness of the ways you might boost your personal brand online, such as through social media or blogging. You’ve also considered ways to use those tools to raise your profile in your current workplace. You should now be able to: identify any issues with your current online brand recognise how to promote your brand online describe how you might use various social media platforms to promote your brand. Next week, you’ll look at promoting your personal brand in person and on paper. You can now go to Week 7. Week 7: Promoting my brand in writing and in person Welcome to Week 7 of the course. Last week you focused on promoting your brand online, via popular social media platforms including LinkedIn and Facebook. This week, you’ll explore how to promote your brand in writing and in person. These interactions occur all the time in the workplace, and you’ll learn how to be ready to respond when they do. Watch this video that introduces the week: Video 1 Introduction to Week 7 By the end of this week, you will be able to: emphasise your personal brand during the job application process demonstrate your personal brand in day-to-day interactions recognise opportunities to promote your personal brand in writing and in person. You’ll start this week by looking at how to promote your personal brand during the job application process. Note: the emphasis here is on how to convey your personal brand effectively in your applications, not on the actual process of filling them in. There are many online resources available to help you fill out an application form or write a CV effectively. Visit the Open University Careers and Employability page on CVs, application forms and interviews to find out more. Application forms Most application forms require some form of personal statement, outlining how you meet the requirements for the job. The usual process is to go through the job description and person specification for the role and ensure that you address their key requirements as you write your statement. If you find it difficult to focus on your personal brand as you write, start by responding to the role requirements first – detailing your relevant experience, etc. as you normally would. After you’ve finished the first draft, read through to check for the prominence of your personal brand and look for opportunities to reinforce it throughout. For example, the job requires attention to detail and you also want to emphasise your person-centred values. Rather than simply stating that you have good attention to detail and giving some evidence of that, you might say instead: I pay close attention to detail because I want to ensure that individuals can engage with the service I provide as quickly and easily as possible. They can then focus their attention on the things that are important to them and their work. For example, I recently produced a well-received user manual for our email system. Thus, you have emphasised your personal strength – concern for others. You’ve also explained the benefit to the employer of this behaviour, i.e. saving colleagues’ time, and you have given an example that they can explore further in your interview. The aim is to make yourself standout from other candidates enough to be invited for interview. Competency-based questions Some application forms ask a series of competency-based questions focusing on the key skills the organisation is looking for. In Week 5, Activity 3, you answered a question about adaptability. This is a typical example. The format is slightly different to that of a personal statement, but the same principle applies. Try to ensure that your personal brand is reflected in each answer. Strengths-based questions If the questions on an application are strengths based, they will focus on what you enjoy doing rather than what you can do, e.g. ‘Describe an occasion when you achieved something you were really proud of’. This is a perfect opportunity to share your personal brand. Refer back to the work you did on identifying your strengths in Week 4 and make sure to include some of them in your answer. Remember to also keep in mind the strengths the employer is looking for, so you can make your answer as relevant to them as possible.

Figure 1 Filling out an application form We see a person’s hand holding a pen, poised to begin filling out an application form.

CVs or resumes The personal profile or personal objective, which comes at the top of your CV, can be easily adapted to incorporate your personal brand. It should give the employer a clear introduction to your CV, grabbing their attention and encouraging them to read on. The mistake that many people make with their personal profile is to write something vague and generic. It needs to be unique to you and contain some concrete facts to back up what you are saying. It also needs to be consistent with the content of the rest of your CV. Activity 1 A personal profile for my CV Allow about 10 minutes Here is an example of a typical personal profile: I’m a dedicated team player with retail experience. I have successfully managed a small concession in a large department store and have demonstrated my ability to make a profit. I am an excellent motivator and can work effectively with a wide range of customers and colleagues. How could personal brand be made clearer in that profile? What facts could be included? Write your suggestions in the box below. The following example, which incorporates both personal brand and concrete facts to back up what is being said, would give a much stronger introduction to a CV: I have three years of retail experience, mainly in women’s clothing. In my current Concession Manager role, I enjoy using my creativity and strong communication skills to inspire both colleagues and customers with my ideas and suggestions. This has resulted in a 20% profit increase in only four months. An employer might draw the following conclusions: This person isn’t just saying that they are a good communicator, they have evidence to back that up. This is someone at the beginning of their retail career, but already with a record of increasing profits – very interesting! This individual has thought about their strengths, cares about colleagues and customers and is good at coming up with ideas. I want to know more about those ideas, so I’ll look further down the CV to read more about the Concession Manager role. Your personal brand can be reflected throughout your CV. For example, you can highlight key strengths throughout your employment history and perhaps demonstrate your values by discussing your voluntary work, etc. The key to writing an effective CV is tailoring it to each employer you send it to. Aligning your personal brand with their company values or the strengths you know they look for in their employees should put you ahead of much of your competition. If you support this approach with evidence that demonstrates when you have used these values, strengths, etc., you’ll be ticking a lot of the employers’ boxes. In the next section, you’ll look at promoting your brand in writing during some of the more regular interactions we have in the workplace each day. Email The most difficult thing to get across effectively in an email is tone. How many times have you read an email and felt slightly disgruntled by the sender’s attitude? But they might not have intended to come across like that. Staying true to your personal brand might help you to avoid that situation yourself. Holloway (2017) recommends that you start your emails with something that will build rapport. For example, you might start with ‘Hope all’s well in the accounts department on this horrible rainy day. I’m not looking forward to cycling home!’ or ‘Thanks for your message last week, I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to reply − a series of small crises has kept me away from email for a few days.’ There’s an opportunity for them to refer to your comment in their reply (‘I got wet on my way home too!’), which starts to build that rapport between you. There are various ways to communicate your personal brand via email: By being authentic in your tone and language By drawing attention to shared experience or shared values By asking the recipient if they have time for a coffee so you can discuss the issue (that gives you an opportunity to also demonstrate your brand in person) By always responding to emails quickly and efficiently, e.g. by sending a holding email if it is likely to take you some time to respond fully. The recipient is more likely to pay attention to the tone and content of your messages if they are not furious about the amount of time it has taken you to reply!

Figure 2 You’ve got mail A woman sits on the floor with her laptop open. Lots of colourful, cartoon envelopes are hovering in the air around her.

Business reports and papers Meetings inevitably involve paperwork, and sometimes you might be the author. For example, you might be writing a report or update on a particular project, a bid for funding, or a proposal to change something. Your readers will form opinions about you based on what they read. Although the topic might be unrelated to your personal brand, there are ways in which you can get those consistent messages about aspects of your brand across. Consider what you want the reader to think about you as they read it, e.g. He really knows what he’s talking about Some serious research has gone into this document She seems to have consulted widely He cares about the people this will impact on She isn’t afraid of change He has some creative ideas Her team are clearly behind her, etc. Business cards Some commentators predicted that social media would kill off the business card, but it hasn’t happened yet. For many it remains a useful tool because: It stops you from getting lost in someone’s phone contact list It serves as a useful reminder of your brand whenever someone comes across it in their wallet, bag, desk drawer, etc. It means that you don’t have to waste time spelling out your email address as they type it into their phone – just exchange cards and do the follow up later. Many of us are restricted by the business card design of the organisation we work for, but if you were able to design your own business card, how would you convey your personal brand? Think back to Week 3, Activity 3, when you thought about what colour your brand would be. This could be the time to use that colour. If you can encapsulate your personal brand in a statement, that could also be included. BrandYourself (2017) describes the following examples as your ‘catchphrase’ about your specific experience: I help people create new opportunities in their businesses and careers I am a personal trainer, specialising in weight training and mobility I give authors visibility on untapped promotional platforms where they can share their work I spark new product ideas for large companies that have stagnant product cycles. Although the author doesn’t include job role or title, you can see from these examples how a focus on what you can do for others might strengthen your offering. Activity 2 My personal brand statement Allow about 10 minutes Try to encapsulate your personal brand in a sentence suitable for a business card and write it in the box below. Even if you don’t plan to produce your own business cards, being able to summarise your brand in a sentence could be a useful opener to discussions about what you do and why someone should be interested. It might become the first line of your elevator pitch. You’ll look at elevator pitches in more detail in Week 8. Now you’ve looked at some of the ways you might promote your brand in writing, you’ll move on to consider how you might do it in person. There are many contexts in which face to face interaction with people will allow you to promote your personal brand. The key thing to remember is that first impressions count and they are formed even before we start to speak. Business Image Specialist, Jane Chapman explains why the way we present ourselves is so important to our personal brand. Video 2 Jayne Chapman - First Impressions Jayne Chapman So why do first impressions matter? Well, research will tell us that first impressions are made within a few seconds. Sometimes actually some researchers will say milliseconds. But basically what they are getting at is that when you look at somebody, when you meet them for the first time, we make an impression. They make an impression upon us. And it's about that kind of thing. Now the issue is whether you're making a positive or a negative first impression. And my advice would always be you want to make a positive one. If you make a positive one, then you're helping build the relationship with the people that you're meeting. It helps them receive what you have to say. You're doing yourself some favours. It's a bit like-- when you meet someone, if you make a good and a favourable first impression, it's like you're one step forward in the relationship before you've even opened your mouth. If you make a negative first impression, it's like you're one step back in the relationship before you've opened your mouth Now you can make up that bit of ground, but the thing is, why should you make it difficult for yourself? Actually it's much easier to think about, am I going to make a good, positive impression? Am I going to get my image working for me, or am I going to ignore it and it could be something that works against me? The reality is as soon as I started-- actually before I even said anything, you will have all made an impression about me. Now I would hope that we don't judge people on the basis of impressions, and certainly the longer we spend with someone, we get to know what the real them is like inside. But the truth is, first impressions happen. They matter. So think about it.

While you may not think that how we look is as important as the things we do and say, it does play a key part in how our words and behaviours are received by others. Getting your image right can make it easier to put your personal brand across quickly and effectively. Jane uses the 3 A’s as a good rule of thumb, that is, your image should be authentic, appropriate and attractive. Watch this short video to find out more. Video 3 Jayne Chapman - Three As Jayne Chapman OK. So some key things to consider when you're thinking about your image in a career context. An easy way to remember it- three A's- authentic, appropriate, attractive. Authentic. That's all about what you see is what you get. So your image needs to reflect what you're like as a person- your personal values, your brand values. Give me some clues as to what it is that you might do. What you don't want is that you walk into a room, or people see you, and then when you open your mouth and you tell them what you do, it's a bit of a shock. Or you tell them who you are, and they think, hm, it just doesn't quite sit together. We need to get that thing where what we look like on the outside is a good reflection of who we are on the inside. The next thing is about being appropriate. So authenticity is very much about dressing for who you are and being comfortable in that. Being appropriate is very much about dressing for other people. It's about thinking about what are they expecting from me? Let's work with their expectations. Let's think about their context, so that actually the way I dress is going to help them receive me, is going to help build relationships. It's just going to make things a bit easier. A good example of that might be if I'm a tree surgeon. And I'm not a tree surgeon. But if I was, typically my work wear would be a hard hat, outdoor gear. I go and see customers, they're going to be expecting me to dress in that kind of way. If I turn up in a business suit, they might be thinking, mm, I'm not sure what sort of tree surgeon they're going to be. If I'm wanting to see somebody for legal advice- I go and see a solicitor- I'm not expecting to walk into an office and be met by somebody wearing outdoor gear, or dressed like a surfer. I'm expecting to see somebody who fits my idea of, what does a solicitor look like? So that's about the whole thing about being appropriate. Think about the context. And then the third area is about attractive. So we've got authentic, appropriate, attractive. Now attractive is not about sexual attraction. What I'm meaning is we like to be with people who look pleasing, who look well, who have a smile on their face, who have lovely, you know, open body language. So, yes, being attractive is about clothes. It's about thinking about colours that make us look healthy and well, and clothes that fit us well. You know, that don't swamp us or are too tight. It's about, you know, the little finishing touches that put our personal signature on things. But also it's about our body language. It's about a smile. It's about establishing eye contact. It's about having open body language. So three I use to think about, to get your image right.

As Jane suggests – smiling, making eye contact and maintaining an open posture conveys a positive impression to the people you are talking to. These elements are collectively known as non-verbal communication. Heathfield (2018) describes a number of different workplace cues that can help you to connect non-verbally with your chosen audience. They include: Facial expression– e.g. emotions such as happiness or boredom are easily conveyed facially. Body language – e.g. folded arms might suggest you feel insecure and defensive. Posture – e.g. a slouched posture conveys a lack of interest in the conversation whereas sitting rigidly on the edge of your seat might indicate nerves/anxiety. Eye contact – e.g. appropriate eye contact suggests a confident communicator, while staring fixedly at someone might be thought of as aggressive or confrontational. Gestures – e.g. can convey enthusiasm or passion for your topic, but they can become distracting if overused. Touch – e.g. a strong handshake is perceived much more positively than a limp one. Activity 3 First impressions Allow about 10 minutes Think of someone who you formed a negative first impression of that turned out to be wrong when you got to know them better. Answer the following questions: What did you base that first impression on? Clothes, body language, eye contact etc. What made you change your impression later? What can you learn from that experience in order to avoid it happening to you? Make notes in the box below. If you can’t think of anyone, use this example: When Sarah started a new job, she was introduced to Malcolm, the person she would be sharing an office with. When she first met him, he was more smartly dressed than her and didn’t smile or say very much. He said hello but didn’t get up from his desk or shake her hand. She immediately assumed he didn’t like her and that he felt superior to her. She thought he was rude and patronising. After several months of working together, she had discovered that Malcolm had a dry sense of humour and showed his respect for others by listening carefully to what they had to say. He was knowledgeable and kind, but shy and introspective. He didn’t say very much, but was excellent at his job and she found that she really enjoyed working with him. On the day she arrived, it turned out he had just received some bad news about the funding for one of his projects. Sarah’s first impression was based mainly on body language, gestures and facial expressions. In this case – the lack of expression or any formal greeting. As it turned out, Malcolm had a good reason for feeling miserable that day, and his shyness meant he was unable to express that clearly to a stranger. If he had stood up, shaken her hand, smiled and explained that something negative had just happened, perhaps indicating that he would be happy to talk to her later – that would have created a much more positive impression. Thinking about how you come across to others, either when the interaction is planned or in the heat of the moment, can help you to convey your personal brand more effectively. When you attend a conference, a meeting, or an event organised by your professional body or trade association, some form of networking is usually expected. As well as being there to hear the latest information on a particular theme, such events present an excellent opportunity to get to know others in your profession. Not everyone finds networking easy, in fact many of us find the prospect of talking to strangers daunting. And when you add in the need to ensure consistent messages about our personal brand – we might try to avoid it altogether! The following short video from GoThinkBig.co.uk takes a light-hearted approach to how not to do it! Video 4 from GoThinkBig.co.uk Try to think of networking as a conversation with an interesting person. Don’t worry about finding specific opportunities to tell them about your brand, as that might feel awkward and come across as fake. Having a few pre-prepared opening lines can help with your confidence. Activity 4 Opening lines Allow about 10 minutes Come up with three opening lines that you would feel comfortable using when approaching someone at a networking event. List them here: You might try: ‘I don’t know anyone here; do you mind if I join you?’ ‘What a great speaker, I was really inspired by what she had to say, especially when she spoke about x’ ‘How long have you worked for this organisation?’ ‘This is my first time, have you attended this event before?’ If they say yes, ask ‘Any advice for a first timer?’ ‘I see you work for X, I’ve often wondered what it would be like working for them. What do you enjoy about it?’ ‘I just noticed your phone/book/laptop − would you recommend it?’ ‘What brings you to this event?’ Unexpected opportunities to share your brand Opportunities to share your personal brand might arise several times a day in the workplace, e.g. in the canteen queue, at the bus stop, during the coffee break in a meeting − even in the staff toilets! By behaving consistently each time you encounter someone, you’ll be building your personal brand even if you’re unaware of it. Start by being friendly and helpful or by listening and being sympathetic when they moan about what happened to them that morning. If they are in your target audience, or can facilitate your access to your target audience, you can use this as the beginning of a relationship. Consider following up with an email: ‘It was lovely chatting to you in the lunch queue today. I’d love to find out more about what you do and see if there’s any way my department can support you more efficiently. Could we meet for a coffee?’ These chance interactions might allow you to demonstrate your values or strengths, or simply to build rapport with someone. You can share your brand in more detail as you get to know each other better. Another face-to-face experience that many people find difficult is the interview. This is clearly an opportunity to promote your personal brand to an interested audience and you’ll consider that in more detail in the next section. An interview is an obvious place to share your personal brand − after all, that’s what you’re there for. You also have the advantage of knowing that the interviewers want to hear what you have to say.

Figure 3 Starting with a smile? A smiling young woman shakes hands across a desk with a man in glasses.

Interview preparation and technique is covered in depth by many excellent resources. Visit the Open University Careers and Employability page on CVs, application forms and interviews to find out more. In this section, you’ll focus on how to present your personal brand in an interview. There are three key things that an interviewer is trying to ascertain during an interview: Can you do the job – have you got the right strengths, knowledge, experience? Will you do the job – are you motivated, enthusiastic, engaged? Will you fit in – do your values and personality traits align with the culture of the organisation? So, even though you are nervous, it’s important to show the ‘real’ you, particularly in relation to the last point – determining cultural fit. Jane Chapman, Partner at True Colours Image Consultancy, has the following advice for presenting your brand visually in an interview: Video 5 Jayne Chapman - Top Tips Jayne Chapman Here's a few top tips for presenting your brand well in an interview or networking situation. The first thing I'd say is think about it in advance. Don't just pull your outfit- pull what you wear together at the last minute. Think a bit about what your body language needs to be like. So, you know, you put all this preparation into your CV, into the talk you're going to give, the answers you're going to give, but think about how you're going to look, how you're going to come across. The second thing I'd say is think about the dress code. Everywhere has a dress code. It might be written, might be informal, but there is one. So you need to find out. That way you know you're being appropriate for the context that you're going into. So sometimes you can actually find a written dress code. Sometimes it's a question of ringing up. People are friendly. You know, you ask questions, they'll answer them. Sometimes folks find out by just watching outside an office or where it is they want to work, and just sort of seeing what sort of things are the people here tend to wear? For an interview, another tip would be often to go smarter. Sometimes you hear that phrase that say, you know, to dress for the job you want. And, actually, there's a lot of truth in that. It's good to show that you've made an effort, and also to show that you'd fit in. And I think the last tip probably would be about a couple of C's. One is, wear something that you're confident in, because you need to feel confident in these situations. But also you need to feel comfortable. There's no good wearing this incredibly formal, pristine outfit if you're just walking around all the time just feeling like it's just- it's not you. You need to get the balance between being comfortable and confident.

If you get your image right, you’ll feel more confident and the interviewers will spend less time focusing on your appearance and more on listening to what you are saying. Some other top tips include: Tip #1 – Don’t over-rehearse. If you do, you risk coming across as wooden and disengaged, and not authentic. There’s also a strong chance that you’ll give your rehearsed answer instead of answering the actual question. Tip #2 – Be yourself. If you’ve done your homework, you should already know that your values align with the company’s, so being yourself and sharing those values in your answers is much more likely to win them over. Tip #3 – Be consistent in your messages. Treat everyone you meet, from the receptionist to the person who holds the door open as you pass, in the same way. Engage them in conversation, make eye contact, smile. Being honest and coming across as authentic is often linked to our self-confidence, which can be low when we are nervous. Public speaking expert Robert Kermode suggests the following techniques for beating interview nerves (Kermode, 2014): Don’t speak too fast. Nerves tend to make us speed up, so while you’re waiting for your interview, breathe in through your nose very slowly for a count of three. Then breathe out through your nose for a count of three. Repeat this three times. That should take you a total of 18 seconds. In that time you will have significantly lowered your heart rate and when you speak, you’ll find you aren’t rushing. Stop yourself shaking. Simply squeeze your buttocks or your thigh muscles. It’s almost physically impossible to have shaky hands if your buttocks or your thigh muscles are clenched. This technique will help you feel and appear more confident – and most clothes will completely mask your actions. Stop your voice shaking. Open your throat by sticking your tongue out as far as it will go, and try to say the whole of the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme out loud. This will open the back of the throat and you’ll sound more confident and have more authority. Of course, you should do this before the interview – not in front of the panel! Activity 4 Try it out Allow about 5 minutes The next time you have to deal with a stressful situation, try one or more of the techniques outlined above. Note how it made you feel in the box below: Just in case you don’t know it, here are the words to Humpty Dumpty: Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall Humpty Dumpty had a great fall All the king’s horses and all the king’s men Couldn’t put Humpty together again. These techniques can be useful for any stressful situation where you will be talking to others, not just job interviews. For example, you could use them to calm your nerves before giving a presentation or having a difficult conversation with a colleague. Boosting your self confidence prior to an interview allows you to behave more naturally and this will help you to connect more effectively with your interviewers. If your personal brand is clear, they can more easily evaluate what you have to offer. Now that you’ve completed Week 7, you can take a short quiz to help you to reflect on what you’ve learned. Week 7 practice quiz Open the quiz in a new window or tab (by holding ctrl [or cmd on a Mac] when you click the link), then return here when you have done it. This week, you’ve considered how to share your personal brand in writing and in person, both in your day-to-day life and at more stressful times, such as during the job application process. You should now be able to: emphasise your personal brand during the job application process demonstrate your personal brand in day-to-day interactions recognise opportunities to promote your personal brand in writing and in person. Next week, you’ll take some time to reflect on and consolidate what you’ve learned throughout the course. You can now go to Week 8. Week 8: Taking the next steps Welcome to Week 8, the final week of the course. Last week you considered how to promote your brand in writing and in person, looking at elements of the job application process as well as opportunities to get your brand across that might be less obvious. This week, you’ll finish the course by reflecting on everything you’ve learned and developing a plan to put your personal brand into action. Watch this video that introduces the week: Video 1 Introduction to Week 8 By the end of this week, you will be able to: reflect on your learning from the course plan your next steps in developing and promoting your personal brand recognise some possible future steps to develop your brand even further. You’ll start by reflecting on what you’ve learned. Throughout this course, you’ve considered a variety of brand elements and how you might use them to promote yourself effectively to colleagues, peers and employers. By working through each activity, you’ve investigated or re-evaluated your: current brand – how you currently describe yourself and what you do, and how others describe you brand values brand strengths brand personality brand story target audience tactics for promoting your brand − online, in writing and in person.

Figure 1 Reflecting on learning A woman in a work-place setting refers to the contents of a ring binder and uses a pen to highlight key points.

You’ve also looked at what you want your brand to do for you and the career goals you’d like to achieve. Activity 1 Putting it all together Allow about 40 minutes Review your notes and responses to each activity, then summarise your key learning points in the boxes below. Don’t make these notes too detailed – bullet points will capture the key points. If you have printed out the PDF document of all your answers to the activities, refer to that now. If you haven’t and would like to, choose the option ‘Download your answers for the documents on this course’ on the left-hand side of the page. Week 1 – Where am I starting from? e.g. Describing my brand to a stranger. What do I want my personal brand to do for my career? Week 2 – Understanding marketing principles and practices e.g. What do you do? What colour is my brand? Week 3 – Personal branding explained e.g. How could a personal brand help me at work? Can I be authentic at work? Week 4 – Developing my personal brand e.g. Identifying my values. Describing myself. Week 5 – Promoting my brand to employers e.g. My audience. How adaptable am I? Week 6 – Promoting my brand online e.g. My LinkedIn profile. Choose a platform. Week 7 – Promoting my brand in writing and in person e.g. A personal profile for my CV. Opening lines. Summarising your learning in this way allows you to pull together aspects of your personal brand and highlight the things you want to change/develop. When you view all the different facets collectively, your brand and the actions you need to take should start to become even clearer. In the next section you’ll finalise your brand, checking and developing your responses to key activities from previous weeks. Before beginning your action planning process, here’s a quick look back at the Design Council’s four cornerstones of a good brand from Week 3: The big idea – what lies at the heart of your offer? Values – what do you believe in? Vision – where are you going? Personality – how do you want to come across? A key part of presenting your personal brand is your answer to the question ‘What do you do?’ (or your ‘elevator pitch’), which should encapsulate those four cornerstones in a 30-60 second summary.

Figure 2 Making plans A note is pinned to a cork noticeboard. It reads ‘Preparation today leads to success tomorrow’.

You started to think about this in Activity 1 in Week 2, but that was at an early stage in the course and you were focusing on your current role. In Activity 2 this week, you’ll have the opportunity to rethink and rewrite your answer to ensure that it reflects what you’ve learned about your brand and supports your future career plans. The Elevator pitch There are many ways to approach an elevator pitch. As you saw in Week 2, Simon Sinek’s advice is to start with why. In a competitive market place where many people have the skills and experience to perform well in a given role, why you want to do it, i.e. your personal motivation, can be a useful differentiator. Find the link to Sinek’s ‘Find Your Why’ website in the Further reading section at the end of this week. Holloway (2017, p. 163) suggests that the content of your pitch should answer the following questions: What job do you do?; Who do you help?; What benefits do you deliver?; What do you do to deliver them?; Why is that important?; What’s a great example of when you’ve delivered? Smith (2018) has this advice: Say as little as possible (1-3 things) – include the parts of your story that are relevant to the situation you are in. If they’re interested, they’ll ask for more Decide what you’re looking for and emphasise your most relevant experience Figure out who you’re talking to – tailor your pitch to your audience Emphasise the problem you solve rather than what you do Include numbers and concrete details – this will make the pitch more memorable Turn it into a conversation – for example: Them: ‘What do you do?’
You: ‘Do you get any email newsletters from different brands you’ve purchased something from?’
Them: ‘Yes, I get SO many emails!’
You: ‘I work with brands to write email newsletters that will make you buy something again, and not unsubscribe.’ Activity 2 My elevator pitch Allow about 20 minutes Choose a person or organisation that you’d like to pitch your brand to. Keep in mind their priorities and interests. In the space below, write your elevator pitch to them. It is probably easier to write everything you can think of initially and then edit it down to the crucial points. A bullet-pointed list might be easier to remember than a narrative script. When you’re happy with what you’ve written, practise saying it out loud. This will make it easier to share when an appropriate situation arises. Smith’s blog (2018) includes some useful examples, including this one: Old elevator pitch: ‘I’m a stay-at-home mom, and I’ve recently started doing web design.’ New elevator pitch: ‘I’m a web designer who’s making the internet a more beautiful and positive place! My background in counselling helps me understand what the bloggers and small business owners I work with need. And, thanks to working in administration AND now being a stay-at-home mom, I’m great at coming up with solutions, no matter what you throw at me.’ Now, look back at the brand story you wrote at the end of Week 4. This is the detail that sits behind and supports your elevator pitch. Since you first wrote it, you’ve had a chance to consider the needs of employers and looked more closely at the employers who interest you. You’ve also looked at different ways in which you might communicate your brand. The next activity is your opportunity to edit your story. Activity 3 Editing my story Allow about 15 minutes Copy and paste your personal brand story into the box below. Refer back to Week 4, Activity 6 if you need to. Spend a few minutes re-reading it. Think about the feedback you received on your first draft. Is there anything you want to change in response to that? Considering your learning from the whole course, is there anything else you’d like to refine, add or remove at this point? For example, are there strengths you want to give more emphasis to now you know more about what your target employers are looking for? Is there anything missing from your brand that will be important in achieving your goals? For example, there may be some knowledge or experience that you need to gain? If there is, make obtaining that one of your actions in the next activity. Remember, your personal brand isn’t set in stone forever. Over time, your values and goals will change, you might identify new strengths, or the working environment around you might alter. So don’t be afraid to review and re-invigorate elements of your personal brand if necessary. When you are clear about your personal brand and what you want to say about yourself to current and future employers, you can move on to the action planning stage of your journey. Once you’re happy with your personal brand, the next stage is to come up with some short- to medium-term goals that will help you use it to move your career in the right direction. Start with the aspirations for this course that you outlined in Week 1, and the goals you generated in Week 4, Activity 5. Are there any more you’d like to add? Try to make your goals SMART, i.e.: S = Specific M = Measurable A = Agreed R = Realistic T = Time bound

Figure 3 Goals and wishes The phrase ‘A goal without a plan is just a wish’ is written on the open page of a small notebook. A pen lies on the book.

In your Toolkit, you’ll see a Goal Setting tool, which takes you through the SMART process and helps you to write down and plan your goals. Your goals might be short term, e.g. to join LinkedIn or Facebook so you can communicate your brand that way. Or they may be more significant, such as aiming to change your job within a year. The more complex they are, the more actions they might take to achieve. The scenarios outlined in the tables below show how you can break down each goal into actions. Table 1 Scenario A

Goal	To set up a LinkedIn profile and promote my personal brand by expanding my professional network
Current status:ExperienceKnowledgeSkills	I have never used LinkedInI know what it is and have colleagues who use and recommend itI’m not very confident with digital platforms and need to build my skills
Development/training/knowledge needed to reach my goal	I would like some training on how to use LinkedIn
Action plan	Find out if my workplace offers any LinkedIn trainingAsk a trusted colleague to show me how it worksEnrol in an online course that will take me through the processStart networking with professional colleagues
Outcome	A colleague has demonstrated the platform to me and I’ve enrolled in an online course
Evaluation	I can use this tool to help me raise my professional profile
Next step	I plan to join LinkedIn next week, once I’ve completed my short online course. My target is to have 50 relevant connections by the end of the month

Table 2 Scenario B

Goal	To promote my personal brand and use it to obtain a new job within 1 year
Current status:ExperienceKnowledgeSkills	I haven’t consciously promoted my personal brand before I have a clear brand that I feel confident aboutI have the skills needed to promote my brand
Development/training/knowledge needed to reach my goal	I need to expand my network of potential employers and analyse whether my values/strengths etc. align with their needs
Action plan	Define my target audience of potential employersIdentify the strengths and values of relevance to my target employers and compare them to my ownJoin and participate in suitable social media groups – posting comments/content that reflects my personal brand on a regular basisLook for opportunities to attend relevant conferences and other sector-specific networking eventsReview relevant application processes and start to apply
Outcome	I’ve generated a shortlist of the employers I’m most interested in and I’m booked on to a relevant conference in July. I’ve also joined 2 LinkedIn groups
Evaluation	I’m currently reviewing the comments and content posted by other members of the groups and waiting to receive a list of conference delegates
Next step	Connect with key delegates on LinkedIn and catch up with them at the conference. Post my first comment by the end of this week. Be ready to make applications as relevant opportunities arise

Now it’s your turn! Activity 4 Achieving my goals Allow about 30 minutes Use the template below to set your goals and work through your next steps. If your workplace has a template that is used to support performance review processes, etc., use that if you prefer. You could also use the Goal Setting Tool in your Toolkit to make sure your goals are SMART. Table 3 My scenario

	1	2	3
Goal
Current status:a) Experienceb) Knowledgec) Skills
Development/training/knowledge needed to reach my goal
Action plan
Outcome
Evaluation
Next step

If you have identified more than one goal, prioritise your action plans. Are they sequential or can you do them all at once? Make sure you don’t take on too much alongside your day job – if you don’t achieve all your goals this can be a negative experience. You should now have a set of SMART goals, and an action plan for achieving them. In a complex world, the way we brand ourselves is constantly evolving as new tools and approaches become available. Take your personal branding to the next level with some of the ideas outlined in the next section. The marketing industry is fast paced and innovative, and it is only a matter of time before innovations in product branding are applied to the personal branding process.

Figure 4 Going up a level A hand places a yellow Lego brick on top of a stack of 5 grey ones.

Gilbert (2017) focuses on really understanding your audience or community, and using digital marketing techniques and tools to explore their needs and test new ideas. She offers the following advice: Find out where your community is active – consider other places where your audience can be reached, e.g. podcasts. Create a mix of blog posts, infographics, videos, slideshows, etc. to reach as wide an audience as possible. Leverage social groups – connect with your community, e.g. on Facebook, and find out what topics interest them. Use these existing communities to test new ideas, e.g. how-to videos. Go to the Q&A websites, e.g. Quora, and use them to spot new trends and find out what’s important to your community. Track your progress – use the tools available on your social media platforms to count number of interactions, subscribers, clicks, etc. For more details about different analytical tools, Sehl (2018) offers a useful guide to beginners using social media analytics. Find the link to her Hootsuite blog in the Further reading section at the end of the week. Gilbert’s suggestions are particularly relevant if you are trying to build a group of followers, either to market your services to, or to position yourself as an expert in your field. This theme is also picked up by Harr (2018) in her ‘roadmap’ for professionals or experts who want to build their personal brand. Her approach is about maximising visibility, which she categorises in 5 levels: Level 1 – Resident Experts These experts are well respected within their firms (companies/organisations) and by their clients but they have little visibility outside those audiences. Level 2 – Local Heroes These individuals are beginning to become known outside their firms. They are more active in their local business communities, often speaking at business functions and blogging. Level 3 – Rising Stars These experts have developed a regional reputation. They are fairly well known among peers in their area, and they speak and write frequently on their area of expertise. Level 4 – Industry Rock Stars These names are well known across the nation for their niche areas of expertise. Level 5 – Global Superstars The world’s elite experts, Global Superstars have broken out of their niches and become recognised more broadly in their industries. Harr then goes on to outline seven critical tools that you need to include in your personal branding strategy if you want to achieve the higher levels. They are: A book Speaking engagements A website A blog platform Email marketing service Search engine optimisation (SEO) A media kit – with bios, speaking samples and photos. While some of these ideas might feel overambitious at this stage, they may well be assets you want to aim for at some point in the future. Of course, as personal branding evolves and becomes more advanced, employers want to embrace those innovations and change their processes too. Rogers (2018) describes how some employers are ‘ditching old fashioned CVs in favour of highly digital, behaviour-focused strategies for attracting diverse talent.’ She describes various examples of new and innovative recruitment techniques, including: Using artificial intelligence to match graduates to roles within a business. ‘Applicants are asked to film their answers to questions that pop up on their computer screen. The videos are then scanned by algorithms, which analyse the words used, how confidently the sentiment is expressed and how concisely the argument is presented.’ Using ‘escape room’ type activities to test problem solving and creative thinking. Doing away with CVs and instead asking ‘candidates to submit a piece of work around what motivates them as people from a work or personal perspective.’ They can submit their answer ‘in written form, as a video, a voice file or even a link to a blog.’ In the future, it sounds like our opportunities to share our personal brand with employers could become even more interesting! Activity 5 What motivates me? Allow about 15 minutes If a potential employer asked you to write a short piece about what motivates you, what would be your key points? List them in the box below: Do the points you made align well with your personal brand? Did they reflect your values, strengths, career goals, etc. If not – has this activity given you any new ideas to add in to your story/elevator pitch, etc.? It’s now time to take the Week 8 badge quiz. It’s similar to previous quizzes, but this time, instead of answering five questions there will be 15. Week 8 compulsory badge quiz Remember, this quiz counts towards your badge. If you’re not successful the first time, you can attempt the quiz again in 24 hours. Open the quiz in a new tab or window and come back here when you’ve finished. This week you have reflected on and consolidated your learning from the whole course and considered your next steps in promoting your personal brand. You’ve identified some key goals and worked out the actions you need to take to achieve them. Finally, you’ve looked at how you might take your personal branding journey even further in the future. You should now be able to: reflect on your learning from the course plan your next steps in developing and promoting your personal brand recognise some possible future steps to develop your brand even further. Congratulations! You have come to the end of the course. Don’t forget that to finish the course and get your badge you will have needed to complete this week’s quiz. 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(2018) ‘The skills companies need most in 2018 – and the courses to get them’. [Online]. Available at https://learning.linkedin.com/blog/top-skills/the-skills-companies-need-most-in-2018--and-the-courses-to-get-t (Accessed 2 May 2019). Rendell, M. & Brown, J. (2014) ‘The future of work – a journey to 2022’, PwC [Online]. Available at https://www.pwc.co.uk/assets/pdf/future-of-work-report.pdf (Accessed 2 May 2019). Target Jobs (n.d.) ‘Strengths based interviews for jobs and grad schemes’. [Online]. Available at https://targetjobs.co.uk/careers-advice/interview-types/275395-strengths-based-interviews-for-jobs-and-grad-schemes (Accessed 2 May 2019). Frost, A. (n.d.) ‘5 templates that will make writing the perfect LinkedIn summary a breeze’, The Muse. [Online]. Available at https://www.themuse.com/advice/5-templates-thatll-make-writing-the-perfect-linkedin-summary-a-breeze (Accessed 2 May 2019). Gil, P. (2018) ‘What is Twitter and how does it work?’, Lifewire. [Online]. 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[Online]’ Available at http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/bring-more-visibility-to-your-brand-with-the-latest-marketing-trends/ (Accessed 2 May 2019). Harr, E. (2018) ‘Personal Branding Strategy: A Roadmap for Professionals, Experts and Executives’, Hinge Marketing. [Online] Available at https://hingemarketing.com/blog/story/personal-branding-strategy-a-roadmap-for-professionals-experts-and-executives (Accessed 2 May 2019). Holloway, J. (2017) Personal Branding for Brits. 4th Ed. Skipton, North Yorkshire, UK, Spark. Rogers, C. (2018) ‘Brands are ditching CVs to find new ways of discovering diverse talent’, Marketing Week. [Online]. Available at https://www.marketingweek.com/2018/05/11/brands-ditching-cvs-diverse-talent/(Accessed 2 May 2019). Smith, K. (2018) ‘Get an elevator pitch that sounds like you AND gets you the job’, Skill Crush. [Online]. Available at https://skillcrush.com/2015/05/08/elevator-pitch-proud-of/ (Accessed 2 May 2019). Useful resources: Sinek, S. ‘How great leaders inspire action.’ TedTalk [Online]. Available at https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action (Accessed 2 May 2019). Personal Branding for Brits by Jennifer Holloway (2017) includes lots of case studies and exercises, and takes an instructive, humorous and practical approach. Career Distinction: Stand out by building your brand (2007) is co-authored by William Arruda, who has significant experience in the personal branding industry. There are various blogs that also discuss some of the books available, such as: Kistler, P. (2017) ‘Our top 7 best personal branding books’. [Online]. Available at https://brandyourself.com/blog/how-tos/guide-to-personal-branding-top-7-must-read-personal-branding-books/ (Accessed 2 May 2019). Parks, J. (n.d.) ‘12 best marketing books to grow your personal brand’. [Online]. Available at https://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/12-best-marketing-books-grow-your-personal-brand.html (Accessed 2 May 2019). The World Economic Forum project – Preparing for the future of work has a webpage that links to a variety of initiatives and reports. https://www.weforum.org/projects/future-of-work (Accessed 2 May 2019). Experienced consultants at professional services companies such as PwC, often focus on predicting different scenarios for the world of work. The Future of Work – a journey to 2022 (Rendell & Brown, 2014) is a good example. https://www.pwc.co.uk/assets/pdf/future-of-work-report.pdf (Accessed 2 May 2019). For a more in-depth discussion, McKinsey Global Institute produces a regular podcast that you could subscribe to. Called The New World of Work, it explores the future of work with a series of conversations with global business professionals. Lifewire provides a clear introduction to each of the most popular social media platforms: https://www.lifewire.com/social-4102741 (Accessed 2 May 2019). Simon Sinek - https://startwithwhy.com/find-your-why/ (Accessed 2 May 2019). Katie Sehl’s Hootsuite blog ‘Social media analytics: A guide for beginners’ (Accessed 2 May 2019). This free course was written by Liz Smith. It was first published in May 2019. Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence. The material acknowledged below is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this free course: Week 1 Course image: skynesher; iStockphoto.com Figure 1: gustavofrazao; iStockphoto Figure 2: Tero Vesalainen; iStockphoto.com; Figure 3: krystiannawrocki; iStockphoto.com Figure 4: scyther5;iStockphoto.com Figure 5: ismagilov; iStockphoto.com Week 2 Course image: skynesher; iStockphoto.com Figure 1: OfirPeretz; iStockphoto.com Figure 2: Oko_SwanOmurphy; iStockphoto.com Figure 3: rvolkan; iStockphoto.com Figure 4: taken from: https://ideopsychology.files.wordpress.com/ Figure 5: Jirsak; iStockphoto.com Figure 6: patpitchaya; iStockphoto.com Figure 7: EtiAmmos; iStocckphoto Figure 8: monticelllo; iStockphoto.com Figure 9: EdithRum;iStockphoto.com Video 2: TED Talk / Simon Sinek; https://www.ted.com Video 3: TED Talk / Simon Sinek; https://www.ted.com Week 3 Course image: skynesher; iStockphoto.com Figure 1: tumsasedgars; iStockphoto.com Figure 2: Tom Merton;iStockphoto.com Figure 3: USA Gov.,taken from: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/image/image_file/p112013lj-0323.jpg Figure 4: MangoStar_Studio;iStockphoto.com Video 5: Capture Your Flag; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ Week 4 Course image: skynesher; iStockphoto.com Figure 1: anyaberkut; iStockphoto.com Figure 2: SasinParaksa; iStockphoto.com Figure 4: sborisov; iStockphoto.com Figure 5: bowie15; iStockimage.com Figure 6: BrianAJackson; iStockphoto.com Figure 7: Cn0ra; iStockphoto.com Week 5 Course image: skynesher; iStockphoto.com Figure 1: Traimak_Ivan; iStockphoto.com Figure 2: RichVintage; iStockphoto.com Figure 3: PhonlamaiPhoto; iStockphoto.com Figure 4: Bychykhin_Olexandr; iStockphoto.com Week 6 Course image: skynesher; iStockphoto.com Figure 1: bigtunaonline; iStockphoto.com Figure 2: Prykhodov; iStockphoto.com Figure 3: coffeekai; iStockphoto.com Figure 4: Rawpixel; iStockphoto.com Figure 5: marekuliasz; iStockphoto.com Week 7 Course image: skynesher; iStockphoto.com Figure 1: MangoStar_Studio; iStockphoto.com Figure 2: Melpomenem; iStockphoto.com Figure 3: djiledesign; iStockphoto.com Video: How Not to Network; www.gothinkbig.co.uk Week 8 Course image: skynesher; iStockphoto.com Figure 1: DGLimages; iStockphoto.com Figure 2: Sean824; iStockphoto.com Figure 3: Cn0ra; iStockphoto.com Figure 4: Warchi; iStockphoto.com Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. 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