Conveying your personal brand in interviews can have numerous benefits for your chances of landing a certain job and for your career in general.
Namely, a well-defined personal brand emphasizes a candidate’s expertise, values, and experience while showing their sense of identity, authenticity, and passion for their job.
Personal brand interview questions are pretty clear and straightforward. However, if you see an opportunity to mention your brand without being directly asked about it, seize it.
In this article, we’ll offer some guidelines on branding yourself for a job and offer the best personal branding examples to help you go the extra mile in your job search.
Key Takeaways
- In addition to knowing how to answer “What is your brand?” knowing how to elegantly showcase your personal brand in interviews without being asked about it can help you present yourself as personable, knowledgeable, and experienced.
- A personal brand is a peak of your professional experience and expertise—it promotes your values and professional goals, distinguishing you from others.
- Building a personal brand requires defining your values, identifying a company whose values align with yours, connecting with other professionals in your industry, and creating and sharing content promoting your brand.
- Showing your personal brand in interviews can emphasize your expertise and experience while letting your identity and authenticity shine through.
- Speaking of your personal brand in interviews requires preparation, such as researching the company, gathering important documentation, and presenting your brand through personable stories.
What is a Personal Brand and How to Build it?
Your personal brand promotes your values and career goals. It’s about shaping how people see you, including prospective and current employers.
“Shaping” is the key word here, as people often equate personal brands with social media influencers. However, a personal brand is a much broader term, and we’ll explore it in the context of the workplace.
So, what is a personal brand at work? It’s the peak of your expertise, professional skills, experience, and values that set you apart from others. It gives you visibility inside and outside your workplace, making you a desirable employee, consultant, and coworker.
Given the benefits of personal branding, it is no surprise that building a personal brand takes time. So, we’ll break it down into several stages and create a step-by-step guide to personal branding.
Defining Your Brand
Defining your personal brand is the first step in the process. You can start by asking yourself these questions:
- What talents and skills am I most proud of?
- What projects and tasks energize me?
- Which parts of my industry interest me?
- How can I develop the skills I have and acquire the ones I don’t yet have?
- What do people I admire have in common
The point of these questions is to help you figure out what makes you unique, what motivates you, and what contributions you can make in your field of expertise and, by extension, the company you’re interviewing for.
Aligning Your Values with the Company’s Goals
Aligning your values with the company’s goals means identifying the projects or initiatives of the company you’re interviewing for and which ones align with your brand.
Then, you can highlight the skills you have for the job and share stories about your brand that match the company’s mission.
Connecting with Prominent People from the Industry
Connecting with industry leaders can give your personal brand more visibility and, therefore, a wider target audience. Additionally, professional networking can give you more credibility as a potential employee.
Finally, collaborating with other professionals from your industry can boost your resume and enrich your skillset, both of which can be highly valuable when presenting your personal brand in interviews.
Creating and Sharing Content
The final stage in personal branding is creating and sharing content, and it should be continuous. Building your personal brand is a process that’s never truly finished. You can grow your brand and expand your influence by constantly engaging with your audience and coming up with new ideas.
A good way to start is by reposting news and articles that align with your brand’s mission on social media platforms. However, don’t simply share them; instead, add your perspective to them. Over time, as you get comfortable with sharing your ideas, you can identify the format in which you want to present them, such as written text or video.
The Importance of Showing Your Personal Brand in Interviews
Showing your personal brand in interviews is important for setting yourself apart from other job applicants. Recruiters meet many people during the hiring process, so it’s not surprising that they remember some more than others.
Leaving a lasting impression on them can, thus, help raise your chances of getting hired. Speaking about your personal brand by emphasizing the skills you have that the company can benefit from and drawing a parallel between your values and the organization’s mission can make you more memorable in recruiters’ minds.
Even if the competition for the job isn’t strong, promoting your personal brand in interviews can convince recruiters you’re the most suitable for the job, which can give you an excellent head start in the company.
How to Show Personal Brand in an Interview
Showing your personal brand in an interview requires in-depth preparation. It starts with practicing your responses at a mock interview and ends with you letting your personality shine through them as you present your personal brand to the recruiter.
Let’s go through the process of showing your personal brand in interviews and break it down into stages.
#1. Create a Story About Your Education & Experience
You should practice the art of storytelling in interviews and create a compelling story about your education and experience to tell the recruiter.
Instead of listing numbers and figures, recount your academic and professional experience that led to the development of your brand. Your story should be concise but engaging nonetheless. Think of it as an answer to a situational interview question and use the STAR method to structure it:
- Situation: Describe the situation to give context to your story.
- Task: Explain the task and responsibilities you had.
- Action: Describe the actions you took to address a particular situation.
- Result: Conclude with the positive results of your actions.
#2. Emphasize Your Skills, Strengths, and Expertise
Whatever skills you have that meet the company’s requirements, emphasize them in your answers, along with your strengths and areas of expertise.
Whether they’re general, like problem-solving skills, or specific, like proficiency in a foreign language or computer program, talk about them in the context of the company’s mission.
The same goes for your strengths. Highlight any traits that have helped your professional advancement. These may be resilience, determination, creativity, or curiosity.
Finally, pinpoint your area of expertise—a candidate who specializes in the company’s subject of interest is more likely to get hired than one who has a general knowledge of the industry.
#3. Talk About Your Work Ethics and Style
Talking about your work ethics and style is a great way to portray yourself as professional and reliable. Moreover, drawing a parallel between the company’s culture and your working style may convince the recruiter that you’re the perfect fit for the team.
Finally, the point of presenting your personal brand in interviews is to share your values, professional goals, and authenticity, which means you need to be personable to be memorable.
Talking about your working ethic and style is a way to create a bond with recruiters and for them to remember you as a driven, professional, and collaborative individual who would easily fit in with other team members.
#4. Share an Interesting Fact about Yourself
Sharing an interesting fact about yourself can cement the good impression you’ve left on the recruiter up to this point. This can be something they haven’t seen in your resume or on your LinkedIn profile. For example, if you have an interesting hobby or you’re passionate about a certain cause, share it with the recruiter.
The point is to portray yourself in a certain way—as ambitious, creative, thirsty for knowledge, or curious. All of these traits belong to a desirable employee, one who’s knowledgeable as well as pleasant to be around.
#5. Be Authentic
To round out your presentation of your personal brand in interviews, you need to be authentic. Let your personality shine through, as your brand should reflect who you are, both as a professional and as a person.
Hiring managers are used to people tweaking their behavior and concealing their true colors to appear as desirable candidates. That conformity has made them forgettable, which is why authenticity is a breath of fresh air in the business world.
Moreover, your authentic self may have the perfect soft skills for the job and thus be the perfect fit with the company’s culture.
3 Examples of Personal Brands in an Interview
Now that we’ve covered the theory of personal branding, let’s put the knowledge into practice and see some “What is your personal brand?” example answers.
#1. Personal Branding Marketing Example
“After high school graduation, I earned an associate’s degree in marketing while working as a content writer and marketing assistant. That job has been a great learning opportunity for me, especially because I got to explore different areas of marketing in practice after learning about them in theory.
When I identified my areas of interest, I started building my brand while simultaneously expanding my knowledge of marketing. As a result, I developed a platform for professionals in the field of content marketing based on community and education.”
#2. Personal Branding Healthcare Example
“My volunteering experience at a local hospital inspired me to get a bachelor’s and then a master’s degree in science in nursing. I’m experienced as a registered nurse and I’m a certified nursing assistant.
Most of my work experience is in pediatric units, which I’ve found to be a great place for personal and professional growth. I was a good fit for those positions, too, mostly thanks to my patience, dedication, and resourcefulness.
An interesting fact is that I found my area of interest while volunteering at a health clinic in Thailand for children from impoverished families before entering my master’s program.”
#3. Personal Branding Sales Example
“In my first job as a salesperson at a consumer electronics store, I gained a lot of valuable skills and experience in interacting with both the customers and the management personnel.
As a top salesperson for several months in a row, I was promoted to team leader of my department. My new responsibilities helped me develop my leadership skills and expand my knowledge of the intricacies of consumer electronics.
Additionally, my proficiency in both English and Spanish and my French background helped me cover a broader pool of customers.”
3 Pro Tips for Highlighting Personal Branding in Interviews
Finally, let’s explore some pro tips for showing off your personal brand in interviews. From practicing your answers beforehand to minding your body language during an interview, branding yourself is a marathon, not a sprint.
#1. Prepare for the Interview
The key to a successful job interview is preparation. Set aside some time before the interview to research the company and its values and goals. That way, you can craft your answers to showcase the right skills and emphasize the link between the organization’s mission and your personal values and working style.
You can start your research on the company’s website and move on to its LinkedIn profile, where you can learn more about hiring managers and the organization itself in more detail. Consequently, you’ll be able to come across as more personable and memorable to the interviewer.
#2. Bring the Relevant Documents
To complete and conclude your verbal presentation, bring all the relevant documents with you, such as business cards, a cover letter, and references. You can organize them in a folder so that you can easily hand them to the interviewer.
Additionally, you can bring a copy of your resume for the company’s records. Make sure all your documents are updated, readable, and visually appealing since their point is to corroborate your experience and expertise.
#3. Mind Your Body Language
During the interview, you should be mindful of your body language. For example, fidgeting means nervousness, while crossed arms make you seem unapproachable. In contrast, a smile and good posture portray you as a confident and pleasant person.
You should practice your body language in addition to your answers before the interview. The truth is that nonverbal communication skills are just as important as verbal ones. They complement your words and round out the image of yourself you want your prospective employer to have.
Final Thoughts
Showcasing your personal brand in interviews can positively influence your career in several ways. First, it helps you set yourself apart from the competition and come across as unique and memorable.
Secondly, it allows you to emphasize your skills, expertise, and experience, which can make you the perfect fit for the job. Lastly, if you’re truly your authentic self, it can portray you as more personable.
This is our final and most important piece of advice: when speaking about your personal brand, do your best to draw a parallel between it and the company’s mission, as that can go a long way in helping you look like a perfect candidate.
