Crafting a student brand: Personal branding tips for job seekers

Understand your unique selling proposition (USP)

Personal brands, just like business brands, start by defining the USP. This will help you identify what makes you stand out from the competition. By defining it and highlighting it, it’ll be easier to sell your brand to your audience. 

If you want to dedicate yourself to crafting your student brand but lack the time, don’t forget that you can easily seek help with writing nursing papers and get the expert assistance to do your schoolwork for you. This will leave you plenty of time to focus on your career and ensure that you have a strong academic standing while building a professional image.

Now, Ask yourself these questions:

• What sets you apart from your competitors?
• Which elements of you as an individual that go beyond your professional qualifications can bring value? 
• What are your values and your professional goals? 

When you’ve answered them and defined your USP, you can integrate it to develop your personal student brand. Your LinkedIn, Portfolio, Cover Letters, and other platforms should emphasize your USP. By being consistent with your USP, you are showing professionalism.

Manage your online presence

Your online presence is a big deal in today’s world and successful personal branding. Take care of your carbon footprint and curate your online presence through the various professional platforms that you use. Use professional headshots for photos, make sure to stand out when writing a headline, be concise with your summary, etc. 

Be consistent when managing your online presence through the various platforms that you use. Just like your USP, all other details should be consistent and clear with the message you want to convey about yourself. What you post on social media should also be aligned with your branding. 

Strategic networking is vital

You can network online by connecting with other professionals, and you can network offline by attending conferences or by requesting interviews with professionals for information. To network successfully, you have to decide where you’ll go and who you want to meet. You also have to engage with others rather than just seeking help. 

Students can take advantage of campus organizations and networking opportunities provided by their college/university to network more efficiently as well. 

Create a strong elevator pitch

Have you ever heard of an elevator pitch? Did you know that it’s crucial for catching an employer’s attention? One of the best ways to market yourself efficiently in your personal student brand is to make a compelling elevator pitch. An elevator pitch is simply an intro that summarizes what you do and what you seek in a job. 

It’s crucial because it’s the first impression, and first impressions have to be impactful. Be concise and clear with your statement. You can include your name, your current employment status, your USP, and your career aspirations. Be brief but engaging.

Highlight your skills and achievements

Of course, you’ll need to back up your claims by highlighting what you can do and what you’ve accomplished so far. So, demonstrating your skills and achievements in your student brand is a must. Demonstrate your skills by highlighting your experiences and quantifying in measurable data what you’ve done. 

Employers love tangible proof and hate vague information. Be specific when writing this part of your brand. Go for hard numbers and specific details instead of skimming the surface. Use references and certificates, and show results. 

Use feedback and improve

To stay attractive to potential employers and new opportunities, students should seek and use feedback to improve their student brand. Feedback is a great resource and can always be used to improve your branding. Professors, tutors, peers, and colleagues can all be resources for constructive feedback.

Plus, you should always keep learning about the industry you want to break into so you’re in with the new trends. An up-to-date candidate is always more attractive than an outdated one. Competition is tough, so you’ll have to be consistently learning to stand out. 

Create a portfolio

Outside of your LinkedIn profile and various other professional social media profiles, you should also create a portfolio. It serves as a one-stop place where you can demonstrate your work samples, accomplishments, skills, and what you can offer to your employees.

A majority of competitive professionals have website portfolios, so you’re already at a huge disadvantage if you don’t take the time to make one.  

Don’t fret. You don’t need to develop a website from scratch. There are many no-code websites like Webflow, Squarespace, and Duda. They have ready-to-use website templates and elements that you just drag and drop to make your page efficiently. Creating a portfolio is a common thing for most professionals, so you’ll find a template easily.

While this might be the last tip on our list, you cannot overlook this step. When you make a good portfolio and curate it accordingly, you already have a great chance of standing out. You can look at other professionals’ portfolios for inspiration when making yours. 

Conclusion

Creating a student brand can be a lengthy task, but it’s worth it for your potential prospects. If you want to stand out from the rest, you’ll have to do your best to create a strong personal brand. You can do it. We believe in you!