5 Insights from KodeGo and Kalibrr’s Personal Branding Webinar

Ever heard of the term “personal branding?” This term seems to be floating around social media, especially on career pages and forums, but what does it even mean?

Personal branding is an intentional way for you to create an image for yourself that people remember. In a highly competitive society, your personal brand will serve as your unique selling proposition, the thing that separates you from the next person. Your personal brand will tell others that you’re not just like anyone else — you’re a unique individual that can do something new. In simple terms, your personal brand is basically an answer to the question “who are you?”

Defining your personal brand is not an easy task and companies like KodeGo and Kalibrr recognize that. As such, they took it upon themselves to hold a webinar last July 21, 2022, regarding the need for personal branding, especially in the job-seeking process.

The speakers for this event are highly esteemed professionals in their respective fields. The first is Franco Aligaen, Kalibrr Technology Ventures’ own Global Marketing Lead. The webinar was also attended by Natasha Dawn Bautista, currently the Head of Growth and Programs in 917Ventures, a firm that ideates, launches, and accelerates Philippine businesses which have the potential to grow. Both Natasha and Franco shared their perspectives on personal branding, especially on how demonstrating this will help job-seekers in their future interviews.

In case you missed the webinar, here are FIVE insights on how to create and use your personal brand to advance your career!

#1: In starting your personal brand, know your why.

Like all things, developing your brand starts with knowing your why and your purpose. This will serve as your guide in making key decisions in your career. Whenever you’re having difficulty figuring out your next career move, your why will direct you to the position you need to be in. As such, the creation of your personal brand will immediately follow.

Franco shared how finding your why relates to finding specific problems in your community that you want to solve. By familiarizing yourself with the needs of your community, you are actively participating in your search for your purpose.

Adding on to Franco’s points, Natasha recalled her own experience in finding her why. In her tenure at Grab, she was moved by the stories of the Grab drivers finding success in their work. That’s when she knew that her purpose was to help create businesses with a strong passion for helping communities. Until today, her career is the manifestation of her why.

#2: Include something interesting in your CV.

Have you ever gotten stuck crafting your resumé because you have nothing to write about? If you’re a fresh graduate or a college student looking to land their first job, this is definitely not an uncommon experience. But don’t worry — it’s not the end of the world. There are still multiple ways for you to get hired by making sure that your resumé is built with intent!

READ: How to write resume for Fresh Graduates, even with no experience.

According to Franco and Natasha — both of whom are seasoned recruiters — including your passions, organizations, and side hustles in your resumé are a big game-changer. This is because these activities — no matter how small they are to you — are what make your story unique! Certainly, not everyone will have the same passions as you do, so it’s important to mention these to stand out amongst your competition.

In your interview, you could also explain how these projects taught you several skills that make you fit the role. For example, during the summer your primary activity is to buy-and-sell cars. You can explain to your interviewer how this business of yours taught you how to communicate better with potential customers and how this honed skill can help you become a more productive employee in the company.

Remember that no experience is useless. Everything is a chance for you to learn and to move forward.

#3: You don’t have to go to college to get hired.

Not everyone has the opportunity to pursue higher education, so the hesitations of those without a college degree in applying to jobs are valid and are something that should be addressed by recruiters. In most cases, these hesitations stem from people’s fear of getting rejected by the companies and jobs that they apply to.

The good news is that recruiters are now seeing the job market differently. They realize that a candidate with a college degree is not necessarily a candidate with the right skill set. This is because hard skills can be honed outside of school through self-study or institutions like KodeGo.

With that, if you’re a job-seeker with no college degree, don’t be discouraged to try! Don’t be the person to trap yourself in a box.

If you’re afraid to be rejected, know that rejection is redirection. When we get rejected, not everything is a loss. In most cases, we gain something out of these rejections may it be through learning about our own mistakes or realizing that certain career fields are not for us.

#4: Being loud does not result to being heard.

It’s completely normal to be reserved in interviews, especially when you’re an introvert. After all, not everyone was born to be a social butterfly! That’s why it’s completely common and normal for shy folks to overthink their performance in job interviews.

However, even in this normalcy, don’t let your shyness hinder you from seeking out the career opportunities that you want. Being shy does not mean that you’re not going to be understood by your recruiter; in the same way, being loud does not mean that your message is going to come across. The basis of the recruiter’s decision to hire you or not is your ability to be an effective communicator and not because of your shy or loud personality.

What’s important in interviews is to show your own true self aka your personal brand. Don’t betray your own personality by pretending to be someone else.

If you’re a bit reserved, again, that’s totally fine! Just make sure that you can express yourself effectively so that the recruiter will have an idea of what you can bring to the table.

One way for you to become an effective communicator is through practice. Start talking to yourself in front of the mirror and rehearse the answers to common interview questions or you can ask your friends to help you out by simulating the interview experience. You could also apply to different companies that are not necessarily the firms you want to work for and interview with them so you could practice your communication skills. By the time you actually land an interview for the job you really want, you’re already well-prepared.

#5: Your brand should be consistent.

From a recruiter’s point of view, the interview consists of three parts: what’s read, what’s seen, and what’s heard. With these three parts, make sure to be consistent with your brand. Your authentic and genuine self should reflect on all three aspects to make your interviewer understand your reasons behind wanting that specific job.

What’s read is essentially your resumé or CV. As mentioned earlier, make sure how you construct this document reflects your true experience. Aside from that, employers actually conduct Google searches on candidates. They check your social media accounts and blogs (if you have any) to get a picture of your personal brand.

On the other hand, what’s seen refers to your facial expressions and body language during the interview process. It depends on the interviewer, but in video interviews, most of them would appreciate you turning on your camera. If so, you should also wear proper professional attire.

Lastly, what’s heard is how you actually answer interview questions. Again, your personal brand is who you are. Thus, it’s important that your personality shines through your answers.

With this, make sure that how you present yourself in these three parts are all connected — meaning, that they have a theme. For example, you’re a creative person. Ensure that this creative aspect of your personality is reflected in all of these three parts such as crafting a well-thought-out story for your resumé and being enthusiastic about your previous creative projects! This is because your recruiters will think twice about your authenticity when you say you’re creative but you’re not showing that.

Personal branding is a lifelong process. Your story is always evolving so your brand will follow that. In landing your next job, showcase your personal branding to your interviewer and watch how it will change your life!

Find your next career opportunity with Kalibrr, where jobs find you!

Kalibrr is a recruitment technology company that aims to transform how candidates find jobs and how companies hire talent. Placing the candidate experience at the center of everything it does, we continue to attract the best talent from all over, with more than 5.5 million professionals and counting. Kalibrr ultimately connects these talents to companies in search of their next generation of leaders.

The only end-to-end recruitment solutions provider in Southeast Asia, Kalibrr is headquartered in Makati, Philippines, with offices in San Francisco, California, and Jakarta, Indonesia. Established in 2012, it has served over 18,000 clients and is backed by some of the world’s most powerful start-up incubators and venture capitalists. These include Y Combinator, Omidyar Network, Patamar Capital, Wavemaker Partners, and Kickstart Ventures.

For more tips on acing job interviews, follow Kalibrr on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Tiktok.