“What is a ‘professional brand’?”

During your job search, you’ll hear the term “professional brand” often. Branding is a marketing term. A product’s brand is literally its name, but it’s also its reputation.

Think about the last time you bought a box of crackers at the grocery store. There are three main reasons why you bought it:

1. You recognized the product’s name
2. You know its reputation
3. You’ve tried it before and liked it

When you are job searching, you are marketing yourself as a product companies want to buy. Your name plus your reputation as a skilled worker is your professional brand.

Just like a company puts resources towards making sure as many consumers as possible know their products’ names and reputations, you want to grow your own brand so as many companies as possible recognize your name and know your reputation as a skilled employee.