Building Your Personal Brand
Philip Goodwin,
OSU Career Services
Associate Director
Building Your Personal Brand
Philip Goodwin,
OSU Career Services
Associate Director
What is Personal Brand?
• The practice of people marketing themselves
and their careers as brands
• The ongoing process of establishing a
prescribed image or impression in the mind of
others about an individual, group, or
organization
• The process by which individuals differentiate
themselves from others
Online Reputation Management
1. Discover It
2. Clean It
3. Build It
4. Manage It
Discover It
Discover It
Discover It
Discover It – The Reality
• Famous namesakes taking up all of front page Google search
(deceased people, artists, actors, singers, church, bodybuilder)
• Alcohol/partying
• Pic of nose picking
• Profanity and ethnic slurs
• Inappropriate photos
– Scantily clad (bedroom shot, bikinis)
– Comments on photos
– Selfies, selfies, selfies (and selfies in the car)
• Radical views/political references
• Food, food, food
• Complaints (restaurant, current job, etc.)
• Not enough privacy settings – I could see timeline, photos, etc.
Clean It
• What employers DON’T want to see
– Partying (excessive or pattern of them)
– Swearing and derogatory comments
– Consistent negativity
– Complaints about current/past employers
– Inconsistencies with what has been communicated in resume or
interview
– Inappropriate handles/emails (@hotmama, idaman@yahoo, etc.)
– Distasteful pics (bikinis, loads of selfies, etc.)
– Extreme views on current events or politics
– Spelling/grammar errors
– Illegal or offensive material
– Criticism of others
Clean It
• Delete or remove
undesirables where
possible
• Remove tags
• Request others to do the
same
• Restrict through privacy
settings
Clean It
Online Reputation Management Services
• BrandYourself.com
• Reputation.com
• Gadook
• Profiled.com
• Webimax
• Socially Clean
Build It
• What employers want to see
– Updated information
– Relevant connections
– Business-style, professional LinkedIn with a quality,
professional photo
– Information backing up resume and interview
– Image the company would be proud of
– Positive, effective communication
– Hobbies, interests, values that line up with the person
you say you are
– Maturity/professional image
– Honesty/truthfulness was a common theme
What do you want your magazine
cover to look like?
Manage It
• Continuously monitor privacy settings
• Block/unfollow connections with undesirables
• Easiest strategy is if you have any questions
about a post, blog, or pic – don’t do it
• Keep all sites updated
• Periodically perform research
• It doesn’t end once you have the job!
• Be careful – always think about online safety
“Can I just send you a text?”
OMG I your
company. Can I
have a job?
My name is not
Omg. Who is
this?
Purposeful
Be
You
Show
Up
Build Trust
and
Relationships
Lead
Help
Others