Personal Branding Assignment PDF

Preview

Summary

Download Personal Branding Assignment PDF

Description

Personal Branding Assignment: Part A

Step 1 Who am I? The first step in any branding exercise is to identify the unique attributes of a product, service or company. In personal branding, the first step is to ask yourself, "Who am I?" This might sound like a simple question, but I'm willing to bet it's one not easily answered. Most people define themselves by what they do because they can't answer who they are. As Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "Most people go to their graves with their music still inside them." The reason? They never take the time to understand what their music is. To find the answer to "Who am I?" you need to identify your core values, beliefs held, passions that drive you and talents you possess. Your personal brand should be a reflection of who you truly are. This is important because your personal brand is not just a thin coat of veneer, applied only to present a more highly polished appearance. Exercise: Purpose/Passion What drives you? What do you love to do when you get out of bed in the morning? Growing up in an Asian household has prompted me to become a very goal-orientated individual, I motivate myself by reminding myself of what I want to achieve in the short term and the long-term. In the past I would always motivate myself through filial responsibility. However, this past year I discovered my passion for data and information technology, and I utilized this drive to develop good habits, for the start of the day I try to focus on relaxation where I have a quick prayer and then I track my objectives for the day, week, and month. Furthermore, I was able to keep myself engaged by finding something that I wanted to do rather than what others wanted me to do. Which is why I was able to discover my purpose of finding fulfilling work both professionally and emotionally. Exercise: Principles and Personal Values What are your principles? What do you believe in? What values do you live your life by? My principles stem from my childhood, culture and experiences. I try to live my life to my fullest potential so I will be able to look back in the future and think “you’ve done everything you could have”. Furthermore, although a career is very important, I have developed strong attachments to family and friends and maintaining those relationships. Moreover, whenever faced with a moral conflict I tend to ask myself what my family and friends would think of my actions.

Exercise: Perspective/Philosophy Ask others “What are my attributes? What talents (hidden or otherwise) do you see in me?” What values do you see me live my life by? Think back to times when friends or colleagues have introduced you to other people? What words did they use to describe you? Start listening to the adjectives people use to describe you. Do you notice a pattern? Are some words used more frequently than others? Are you surprised (either positively or negatively) by some of the adjectives? Take some time to think about why that is.

Throughout, the majority of my life there are two ways that people used to describe me Energetic and cheerful or hardworking and quiet. After some reflection I found this to be especially intriguing as the individuals who knew me just as an energetic and cheerful guy are just friends whom I am not particularly close with. This portrays the different personality traits that people convey when they want to make a lasting impression on someone. I unconsciously, tend to be more outspoken and less serious when it comes to developing personal relationships. However, it was interesting to note that people who have known me for a long time have called me hardworking and quiet, at first, I didn’t like this description as I think of myself as an outgoing individual and don’t like to be known as quiet. However, I realized that they understand both sides of me. Although, I can be cheerful and energetic, during professional moments I motivate myself to get down to business and only speak of things that are absolutely required.

Exercise: Personal SWOT Analysis You will likely find it useful to conduct a personal situation analysis or SWOT. Remember to assess both your internal strengths (e.g. strong communicator, proven leadership ability) and weaknesses, as well as the opportunities and threats in your external environment. (e.g. a North America-wide recession would represent a threat since companies in many industries will not hire during an economic downturn.)

Personal SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Weaknesses

Leadership abilities: As I have been involved with high-level hockey and clubs, I have developed the ability to read different people and maintain group harmony.

Tunnel Vision: As I tend to focus on one task too intensely, I tend to become blind to my surroundings and forget about other obligations.

Customer service skills: As I have been working as a server/manager for 3 years I have had plenty of time to develop these skills and become very comfortable with speaking.

Overbearing: As I am very passionate and energetic, when it comes to group projects and other group members want to “relax” my motivation can demoralize the group.

Critical thinking skills: Through numerous case competitions and workshops I have developed strong critical thinking skills to develop strong solutions or recommendations.

Easily distracted: As I am an avid learner as soon as I see something interesting, I tend to forget about my current tasks and research into what interests me.

Desire to learn: I am an individual who looks into what skills I could possibly learn whether they be transferrable or technical to give me an edge. Furthermore, I have a desire to learn countless skills to open up my options for a career path.

Opportunities

Threats

With the current trend of occupations involving data and technology there are a larger amount of job openings in the IT data sector, and it is required for companies to adopt these trends to stay relevant.

Due to COVID-19, companies in general have had a lot of layoffs and that is not a good indicator for a student who is going to graduate soon into this current job market.

Furthermore, another opportunity could be that there will be a lot of retirees within the next 10 years which leaves openings for a growth in job opportunities. Moreover, the potential for the Pfizer vaccine being successful could help the economy

Another threat could be that I focus on doing too many things at once, I could possibly burn out or end up as average in everything with having no real specialty to give me an edge.

return the normal.

Exercise: Unique Attributes (Who Am I ?) Using the list of words below, think about which ones you would use that best describe yourself. Be careful not to choose words that describe how you would like to be seen, but those that reflect who you are right now. Keep the list short - choose the top 5 words only. The list is not intended to be comprehensive. Rather it should help you kickstart your thinking process. Please feel free to add adjectives to this list that best describe you. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Dependable Energetic Loyal Happy Adaptable

Step 2 Who is my target market? Exercise: Industry and People If you haven’t done much research on what kinds of opportunities or potential employers are out there (in Vancouver or overseas), this is an opportunity to get serious about it. To start off, you may want to think of several industries that you are interested in. You then search through resources from our career services and the library, webs or even chat with your personal contacts to find out more about these industries in the present and more importantly in the future. Covid-19 has taught us to consider us to consider an industry’s long-term viability. To get some sense of an industry’s future, look at the trends of socio-cultural, technological, economic, and political-regulatory (STEP) environments and how they may impact the industry you are looking at. For example, is there any new technology or innovation, which will affect how the industry goes about their businesses and/or recruiting talents? Is the technology-enabled outsourcing trend creating less jobs in corporations but more as specialized consultants? Would the industry put a premium on people who have some cross-cultural experiences in today’s global economy? In fact, you should do some research on what salary and compensation package individual industries/companies can offer. This will be very helpful when you try to integrate your internal and external analysis, e.g., if you personally prefer non-monetary “price” (e.g., happiness, life satisfaction) than monetary compensation, you’ll know which industries would most fit you. i) List 3 industries you would like to work in. Explain why.

Telus, Telecommunications: I believe that Telus is a great company that aligns with my environmental values as they are promoting a green future. Furthermore, they are taking a great step by investing and accepting a lot of new technologies into practice. I believe that with this company I can gain professional exposure to how technology is applied to business situations. Furthermore, after doing a PESTEL analysis of the company I found out that they actually are a company that priorities with sustainability with the “bring-it back” program which aligns with my personal values of environmental responsibility. SAP, enterprise software: SAP provides cloud-based solutions and countless other products for businesses to use. I believe that during COVID-19 the company took amazing steps on handling the process. They utilized their software capabilities to create user friendly services that would help deliver value from businesses to consumers while maintaining all of the governments COVID regulations. Furthermore, they are constantly investing in a variety of software programs to help steer the world into the right path by integrating machine learning and big data into their products. They also offer very competitive salaries in Vancouver. Methanex, supplier and distributor: I chose this company because I have a friend who works with hem and they offer amazing employee development programs. The company offered great worklife balance, compensation and funded her professional development by paying for courses and certificates for her. Furthermore, they are moving towards implementing new technologies to hasten the operations and logistics part of their supply chain which is a good indicator of a company with a vision. ii) Just about anyone can help you with your job search if they know what you are looking for. To help you find your dream job, you should ask yourself, “Who do I need to communicate your brand to?” Career counsellors, parents, relatives, neighbours? Industry insiders? HR professionals? When you list names, be sure to note why they are important and what type of information you need to give them. Family: My mother and brother have been working in the professional industry for years and they possess experience I don’t have and could help with my application process and challenge me to think critically. Career Counsellors: These individuals want me to succeed and will give me any industry knowledge or methods to nail interviews which is why I need to be transparent in the information I give them. For example, I must give them information about my work experience, skills, certificates, GPA. SFU Alumni/Friends currently working: These are individuals who have walked similar paths with me and have current working knowledge of the professional industry. With these individuals I need to let them know my career goals and what I am working towards so they can give me applicable information. Industry professionals from my personal network: These individuals I need to develop a network with to develop relationships for possible internal recommendations or tips for interviewing. I

need to let these people know my hobbies and how I would fit with the work culture as well as my resume.

Step 3 What do I stand for? Exercise: Positioning Positioning is an important step in the process. Ask yourself what qualities and characteristics make you different from others? How do they do this? Why does it matter? This last question is the litmus test for positioning and differentiating you. Remember, positioning means being known for some THING, not 100 things. The challenge is to describe yourself in a few words. Tip: Refer back to the Unique Attributes exercises earlier to jog your memory on how others see you. Use this information along with your own to determine how you might position yourself in a way that differentiates you from others. The way I would position myself is reinforcing my desire to learn. Although, many individuals have this competency the way I will differentiate myself is illustrating my knowledge. For example, in an interview I will mention how I have created my own website and utilized self -taught coding languages and SQL to draw information from real life databases from Kaggle. Afterwards, I would utilize tableau to visualize my data and make it comprehensible for the daily consumer. I would mention that my reasoning behind this project was due to my desire to learn new skills and actually apply them to a project which I could feel content with. Exercise: Personal Marketing Mix Just as you’d develop a marketing mix for a product or service, you should think about what you have to offer prospective employers, what your skills and abilities are worth, where you would like to work and how to best promote yourself. Two elements of your personal marketing mix – produce and promotion - are addressed in other areas of this appendix. However, you should dedicate some time thinking about price (i.e. your salary expectations) and place (your desired geographical work location) here. • Product–your value (use the information you developed in Step1, “Who Am I?”)

The value I deliver into a workplace is that I ama dynamic learner that is hardworking and constantly willing to learn. I have developed necessary skills through my internships, clubs, case competitions and self-taught courses. Furthermore, I am an individual who is looking for work beyond the compensation and prioritize a work-life balance, healthy workplace culture and professional development. Price – how much your value is worth (You may need to speak to the Career Services department at your educational institution to determine average starting salaries in jobs, industries, cities and provinces of interest so you don’t price yourself out of the market or undercut your value.) My value once I finish my degree and enter the workforce in Vancouver, B.C. working as a business analyst at Telus would be approximately $50,000 - $70,0000 yearly. Furthermore, in the next 5-10 years I plan to develop myself professionally to a position of a Product manager which can potentially have a median salary of $100,000. Furthermore, with the current economic condition we can expect these wages to be lower as COVID-9 is affecting businesses revenues. • Place – where to deliver your value (Clearly establish what factors are important to you in deciding where you want to live and work, e.g. being in a large city with a vibrant night life, living in a smaller community with a lower cost of living, being close to outdoor activities, easy access to a rich cultural environment, proximity to family and friends, etc.) I plan to work in the Burnaby, Vancouver area due to the higher pay. Furthermore, most organizations in these areas tend to be larger and offer a variety of services to the employees. Also, they are surrounded by amenities and various cultural activities which are very important to my personal life. I have family and friends throughout Vancouver, Burnaby, surrey and Langley, so I would prefer my occupation to be fairly accessible to these locations. I would prefer to live in surrey or Burnaby since the living expenses in Vancouver are extremely high. Furthermore, if I were in this area, activities such as snowboarding, hockey, hiking would be fairly accessible to me. • Promotion – how to communicate your value (work on developing this element through the exercises that follow in Step 4) The way I would communicate my value is by first focusing on the physical. I would show up in professional business attire with well-groomed hair, nails, and use light scents. I would then focus on how I present myself, with good posture and being well-spoken and articulate. I would then promote my value and how I am unique by explaining my experiences in a story like manner. After that, I would maintain professionalism and keep in contact over LinkedIn and send thank you notes.

Step 4 Communication – creating brand magnetism Once you define your brand, you must communicate it. But you need to do more than simply spread the word. You must live your brand.

Sometimes it can be very useful to do a communication audit. Analyse all the ways you communicate with others. What's working? What's not? Are there inconsistencies in your brand? Your clothes, hair and briefcase may communicate a positive message but your messy workspace might make you look unprofessional. People learn with their eyes much more quickly - and with longer lasting impact - than they do with their ears. So the need to be consistent cannot be stressed enough when communicating your personal brand. Like many aspects of marketing, branding is not a one-time effort, but an ongoing process. There are no overnight successes. Good brands take time to develop. You create a successful brand by focusing on who you are and what is unique about you. Then you must reinforce it day in and day out.

Exercise: Portfolio/Performance What have you accomplished personally and professionally in the past? What would a portfolio of your accomplishments look like? (Don’t overlook volunteer activities!) What projects, awards, honours or achievements are you especially proud of? What would you say if asked to blow your own horn? I have participated in numerous case competitions, held varying executive positions for clubs, acted as project lead for events, travelled the world with a music ensemble, played in various countries for hockey, worked in two internships, volunteered at homeless shelters and at the church, received multiple dean and presidential awards at SFU, taught myself coding, tableau, SQL and made a project combining all factors together. Exercise: Presentation/Packaging Imagine you are doing a communication audit for yourself. Evaluate how you present yourself, e.g. personal grooming: clothes, accessories, hair, nails, cosmetics, perfume or aftershave; first appearances: handshake, smile, posture; other: language, voicemail, email, resume, cover letter. Do you present yourself in a way that is consistent with your brand? You may want to solicit feedback from others for this exercise since it’s tough to be completely objective! The way I would present myself is in a professional manner, which is well-groomed, professional attire, light scents, standing tall and being very accepting of others. Some criticisms I would have about my personal audit would be that my cologne could potentially be too strong, my accessories could be distracting, my attire is up to business standards but may be too formal for what I am trying to convey to others. Furthermore, it is important that I speak in a clear

manner as I have a tendency to speak fast and mumble words. Moreover, during conversations through the internet it is important that I remember to read over my writing to illustrate attention to detail as well as sending “thank you” notes....