If You Don’t Advocate Your Career Brand, Who Will?
- Brainz Magazine
- Oct 13
- 4 min read
Written by Jeanette Walton, Career Brand Consultant
Jeanette is spreading the word about the essentiality of career branding for all professionals. As a Career Brand Consultant, she has pioneered a career branding framework, amongst other educational resources, to amplify the use of career branding to cut through and stand out.
In a world where self-promotion often gets mistaken for arrogance, many professionals shy away from showcasing their achievements. Yet, if you don’t advocate for your career brand, who will? Learning to share your story with authenticity and intent isn’t about bragging, it’s about helping others see your value, inspiring them through your journey, and opening doors to new opportunities.
Boasting is speaking “with exaggeration and excessive pride, especially about oneself.” [1]
Let’s face it, there are few of us who like to be around a boaster or bragger for too long. And the highly digitised world we’re now in, particularly on social media, is prime soapbox territory for those who enjoy attention. There’s often so much “on the table” oversharing on social media, from what someone had for dinner to where someone’s dog likes to do their number twos.
Many of us feel disengaged and even annoyed when someone starts bragging or oversharing, possibly because it’s shining a light on our own insecurities or vulnerabilities. Maybe we sense they’re saying, “I’m better than you.” And this can apply in our professional lives as much as in our personal ones. As a career brand consultant, I’ve had multiple clients highlight to me that they’re not that active on LinkedIn because it mostly seems to be a brag fest. They’ve instructed me not to overdo it when I write their new LinkedIn profiles or pages so they’re not perceived that way.
Boasting versus promoting
Yet there is a difference between boasting or bragging and promoting. That difference is primarily based on the intent of the content or communications. The former is often more self-focused, being used to impress others, the latter is more altruistic, letting others know about what you’ve done and what you can do to support, inform, or motivate them.
You could inspire others
I often write about the value of staying true to yourself and to others in posts and promotions. By engaging in alignment with your core values and principles, and by sharing wins with humility, you convey yourself as someone who prioritises authenticity and relatability. You’re not spotlighting what you’ve done to say, “Look at me,” but to provide insights that may positively impact or influence others. For example, when I was recently a finalist in the Australian Small Business Awards, I used the relevant announcements not only to deepen credibility among prospective customers but also to highlight the internal benefits that others could attain from being part of such awards.
You could reassure others
I’m sure we’re all aware of how information-overloaded our day-to-day lives have become. In addition to the 24/7 news cycles that bombard us, it was recently estimated that we can receive up to 10,000 online ads per day. Wow! And then we have the AI factor that’s steadily infiltrating our personal and professional domains, making it harder to know what’s real and what’s robotic. Is it any wonder that human fatigue levels continue to increase? This is where we need to take the time to reassure target audiences through more subtle promotions and announcements, applying an authentic, slowly digestible approach that keeps driving recognition and engagement.
You are your brand advocate
If you don’t use brand promotions to tell target audiences about yourself, it’s highly unlikely you’ll be found, remembered, or further engaged with. And there’s a high probability your cohorts or competitors will reel in those prospective bites instead. Speaking from my own experience, it’s only since I made the concerted effort to regularly post and interact on platforms like LinkedIn that I’ve cultivated career growth and expansion. Two years ago, I never would’ve dreamt I’d be appearing on podcasts, facilitating workshops and networking groups, attending awards nights, or appearing in and writing for leading magazines. It’s from making the “I’m ready to promote myself and risk not appealing to everyone” decision that I’ve had such opportunities.
You can always start small
Making the decision to promote your well-defined career brand doesn’t have to mean continually plastering images and words across all channels and platforms. Sometimes it’s better to start small, giving your self-confidence, self-belief, and nervous system time to catch up. For example, you might first test-run a future-focused LinkedIn headline based on your core professional objectives. Monitor what sort of traction or attention you get from the headline before building out the relevant branding across the rest of your LinkedIn profile.
There’s also value in expanding your digital and social media assets over time, brick by brick. Create a routine of consistently speaking and exemplifying your brand on one or two assets to begin with, and then start building your brand presence across additional digital assets. This slow, strategic approach will enable you to cultivate insightful, engaging, and convincing content. It aligns with my all-time favourite movie quote from Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come.”
Read more from Jeanette Walton
Jeanette Walton, Career Brand Consultant
Jeanette is a Career Brand Consultant who helps professionals worldwide to enhance their career prospects. To address a gap in the market, she designed a career branding framework that helps professionals design and apply their own unique career brand. She also avidly writes articles, newsletters and eBooks, features on podcasts, partners with industry alliances, and delivers educational presentations on the benefits of career branding. In her spare time, Jeanette fosters dogs, visits an aged care resident, and co-facilitates a LinkedIn Local networking group.
Reference:
[1] (dictionary.com, 2012)
