Landing your dream IT job online using personal branding: Ten hacks

Gary Vee, the US serial entrepreneur, internet futurist, and marketing guru has  prophetically said: “Your personal brand is your reputation, and your reputation in perpetuity is the foundation of your career.”

A bold and absolutely vital statement which Free-Work readers -- and actually any job board user should take note of and action in their own way, writes personal branding expert Matt Craven, founder of The CV & Interview Advisors.

Below and exclusively for Free-Work users, I’ve listed 10 insights from my CV and interviewing advice team and I, on how tech job board users (whether contract or perm) can harness personal branding to land their dream job.

What Gary said…

Interestingly, I read an article the other day where the author asserted that personal brand and reputation are two separate things.

Now, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

But mine is that your reputation and brand are squarely and firmly the same thing, and both affect your career and success.

This is particularly the case for independent tech contractors, needing to drum up business off their own backs.

But it shouldn’t be lost on technologists applying for full-time roles either.

That’s because the UK tech industry can be surprisingly small, with line manager ‘X’ at employer ‘Y’ often personally knowing ‘Z’ -- your next line manager at your next full-time employer.

How does the world see you? That’s your personal brand right there

Looking again at Gary Vee’s statement (“Your personal brand is your reputation, and your reputation in perpetuity is the foundation of your career”), it seems I have Gary on my side on this one, if you’re a techie doubting my recommendations!

Whoever you are applying for work and if it’s via a job board, to condition yourself to embrace personal branding, it’s easier to grasp the concept if you think of your entire external persona as your personal brand.

In short, how the world sees you.

Here’s my promised top 10 insights on tech job board users harnessing personal branding to land a dream IT job.

1. Your cake is your personal brand, with eight key ingredients

Think of your personal brand as a ‘cake’ -- with the ingredients being the elements that form your brand.

The recipe for your personal brand-cake contains eight key ingredients:your online presence,

1. your professional network,

2. your industry reputation,

3. your written and spoken content,

4. your visible accomplishments,

5. your appearance/style,

6. your personality and beliefs,

7. your professional values and expertise.

How people in your professional ecosystem see these eight helps them form a picture of you in their mind. This is your personal brand. Like a recipe for a cake, neglect any of these ingredients at your peril!

2. Combat unconscious bias

Here, I need to add that your personal brand is not immune to unconscious bias or even conscious bias.

So at key stages, by which I mean when you’re about to leverage your brand in the job application process, even potentially on an interview or Zoom call if you’re shortlisted, think about other people’s preconceptions and use this to your advantage.

For example, if I ever go to buy a high-value item such as a car or kitchen, I always don a pair of trousers, smart shoes, a shirt, and sometimes glasses.

I find I get treated differently, perhaps as a more serious buyer, than if I turn up in gym kit.

This is an example of proactively shaping your personal brand to manipulate the preconceptions of your audience.

Don’t shy away from this need to combat unconscious bias; it can make all the difference.

3. Who is your personal brand’s audience? It’s got 10 key members

So, who exactly is the audience which your personal brand is on show to?

I would suggest it is everyone in your professional ecosystem. So that is likely to be:

1.  existing clients,

2. potential clients,

3. prospective employers,

4. former/current colleagues who are staff/team members,

5.  project/industry stakeholders,

6.  your tech peers, such as suppliers, department heads,

7.  employer-side or client-side investors, shareholders,

8.  agencies and recruitment decision-makers,

9.  LinkedIn connections (who you may not know but view your posts)

10. probably other individuals too.

In short, everyone you interact with on a professional basis is an audience member of your personal brand.

But in terms of landing a dream IT job using your personal brand, it’s the top three of these that really matter (and often number 8 too).

So what will shape their view of you? Chiefly:

4. Your LinkedIn profile and CV

We mentioned all the ingredients that are baked into your personal branding ‘cake.’

But there will be certain things that shape your personal brand more than others. Everything we’ve already said applies, but because of the way hiring works, your LinkedIn profile and persona on the business networking site is crucial.

Contract or perm, your CV is equally crucial.

And a close third, is the way you come across in interviews and meetings with prospective employers.

5. Your tech industry CV: avoid Chat GPT and its ‘elevate’ spam

We specialise in CVs for tech job applicants so if you want tailored guidance – in full -- following a 1-2-1 review of your CV, please get in touch as a Free-Work user to have this carried out for you free of charge.

But here, in relation to personal branding, I want to make just one point about CVs.

And it’s this:

You wouldn’t pitch up to meet a prospective employer with a home-made business card. Then why would you ever send off an application for a professional opportunity with a home-made CV?!

We also would advise against you applying for your dream IT job via a tech job board or agency with a ChatGPT-created CV.

This is rapidly becoming one of the biggest deal-breakers for tech job-seekers.

In fact, we’re hearing lots of noises from recruiters, clients, hiring managers, and HR teams that AI-created CVs are the bane of their life.

The ChatGPT-enabled CV is also courting a fair amount of ridicule, especially as the tool’s pet word “elevate” appears everywhere, seemingly without the candidate’s knowledge.

So if you’re rejected and get called the ‘elevate candidate’ in the process of being rejected, you now know why!

Just so I’m clear about Artificial Intelligence, my view is that AI and ChatGPT are super useful, just not for writing CVs.

6. Your LinkedIn presence

The CV element is one thing, but getting LinkedIn right requires more than just a LinkedIn version of your CV.

Your LinkedIn profile is particularly important, but other elements of LinkedIn play a key role in your visibility and chances of being contacted about dream opportunities too.

LinkedIn measures people’s online persona through what it calls the Social Selling Index (SSI), which is a metric for measuring users’ effectiveness at establishing their professional brand, finding the right people, engaging with insights, and building relationships on LinkedIn.

These are all things to bring into the personal branding mix.

7. Your visuals

One key personal brand ingredient is “appearance,” which some IT contractor who historically coded in silos would probably like to think no longer matters!

But from what we’re hearing, appearance does matter. So make sure your profile photo is a professional ‘head and shoulders’ shot.

What else does a good LinkedIn profile picture look like? Well, you want to look confident yet approachable.

In addition, it is important to have a proper LinkedIn background image.

So definitely do upload a graphic or jpeg to the area at the top of your profile behind your LinkedIn profile picture. Leaving this free advertising space for your personal brand blank, will seriously hurt the online component of your personal brand.

If your dream job decision-maker checks out your LinkedIn, it’s a ‘fail’ for your personal brand if they are left staring back at LinkedIn’s colour scheme and identity, not yours.

8. Your network

Having social proof is also very productive, so have plenty of recommendations and skills ‘testimonials’ from people in your network on your LinkedIn page.

Then there’s the company you keep i.e. your network.

So connect with the right people and actively embrace networking. Not only will this send positive indicators to the LinkedIn algorithm to propel you higher in the searches, but networking is likely to result in more opportunities coming your way. That’s just how the universe works! And in that enlarged supply of opportunities, it’s much more likely to contain your dream opening.

9. Your content

Now we turn to your LinkedIn activity.

What you write, say, and post has a huge bearing on how people perceive you, so focus on positive content that provokes thoughts, helps, educates, and inspires.

You might want to embrace thought-leadership -- which is really just next-level personal branding.

Thought leadership is writing and talking about your expertise, and it lifts your profile (-- I wanted to say it ‘elevates’ your profile but remember it’s ChatGPT’s pet word, so we’ll stick with ‘lifts’).

One thing we’re noticing -- if you apply online for a role and the prospective employer sees on your LinkedIn page some interesting, intelligent articles, posts, webinars/podcasts, research, or even just your commentary on those media, this micro-thought leadership activity can majorly improve your chances of being hired.

It’s easy personal branding points that can boost your chances of landing your dream job no end!

10.  A hand with your brand?

If these so far nine ways to land a dream IT job using personal branding are all a bit bamboozling, why not reach out to my team here at The CV & Interview Advisors for a free and confidential personal branding review?!

So not (just) a review of your CV, but a deep-dive into the 10 or so key elements which make up your personal brand  -- the one thing your rival for your next job board application might have slickly got down to a fine art. But crucially, have you?

Email us below to take a look at your LinkedIn presence, find your SSI, and even review your CV against 2024 best-practices. We’re at info@cvandinterviewadvisors.co.uk and you can check us out here: https://cvandinterviewadvisors.co.uk