My name is Niels Reib and I’m a Career Branding Specialist.

For the past couple of years, I’ve blogged, spoken and directed workshops about career branding and why it’s a great way to develop a network of likeminded individuals for future career opportunities.

In the following series of articles, I’ll give you proven Career Branding tools and strategies, so you can set yourself up to get a great start into the career you want and deserve.

Niels Reib is a guest blogger on Graduateland

What does Career Branding mean?

Think of companies like Coca-Cola, Apple or Ferrari: What they all have in common is that their names are more than just names. They are a brand - associated with certain traits and values that make them so unique that their name stands out over other companies that may be selling similar products.

The idea of successful Career Branding is to apply those same principles to your very own career path by identifying and highlighting your specific skills and strengths that make you unique in the workforce.  

Through authentic Career Branding you will take complete ownership of your personal career brand and attract more and better career opportunities.

The methods and tools I’ll share with you here on Graduateland will help you to:

Why Career Branding can make a difference for students

I’m pretty sure you can’t wait until you’re done with school and you can go out and work with the things you’ve spent years studying and apply it in the “real world” but you might be sitting there thinking: ‘I’m still just a student and not even close to being done, why should I think about Career Branding and what use will it do for me now?’

If that’s what is going through your head, let me assure you that there are ways to take action in order to get ahead in the career game if you invest some time now, even though you’re still studying. If you choose to do so, you’ll be miles ahead of your peers and competition when you finish your studies, because you will be able to attract people to your professional network - which will give you a better chance of landing a job when you’re done.

Throughout the last 7 to 9 years, there has been a major shift in how many companies hire new employees. They’ve become much more selective when they hire and do so on short-term contracts on a much larger scale than we’ve seen before.

According to the latest hiring trends, you’re more likely to be hired on a two-year contract, instead of an “open-ended” contract, like your parents might have. Today companies are looking to hire new employees in the most cost-efficient way they can.

“I believe that part-time jobs will continue to increase as businesses

look for flexibility in managing costs and overall uncertainty.”

Joe Stanhope, Chief Marketing Officer at hireology.com

So, what does that mean for you, as a future employee?

It’s simple, the employee’s mindset has to change more to the likes of a freelancer. Job security is something our parents might have had, but that’s not so much the case anymore in the competitive world market of today. You’ll need to be on your toes and on the lookout for new opportunities as much as possible in order to position yourself and attract future opportunities. You’ve most likely already heard a lot about the importance of having a strong network, and that’s the way more and more companies are getting new employees to fill their open positions.

That’s why Career Branding is such a great way to start attracting new connections and opportunities.

I’m really looking forward to sharing the Career Branding tools and methods with you, so you can get the career you want and deserve.

 

Read on: Part 1 - Set your GPS for career success