How to Brand Yourself and Be Prepared to Get the Best Internship
With so many students looking for their first job experience getting an awesome internship can be a real challenge. Although an internship does not require as much experience as a job does, in order to get something that really matters you have to start preparing yourself and take care of your online presence from the early stages.
Why should you have a really interesting online presence? Very easy to answer. Because your online presence will basically allow companies the chance to make a first impression about you, and it's important that your CV, mostly if the skills and the experience you will highlight in your resume won’t be correlated with the things that you show on your LinkedIn, Facebook or other social profiles.
But let's find the proper ways you can construct a really outstanding online profile!
1. Identify your basic skills
Every one of us has something special and in order to find your thing you should start with the basics. Make a list of your unique skills, training, and education and align these skills with the type of position that you are looking for. That will surely help you easily find a position. The first step you will have to make before matching your skills with your career goals and find out which kind of image you want to create.
2. Try to create a consistent online presence
In general, it is better to stay public and set the restrictions from your social profiles. For employers, that will suggest a candidate that has nothing to hide and a transparent profile. Also, try to be present on as many social pages as possible. Sometimes less is better than a lot but inconsistent. Another important thing is to have a coherent online presence. For that you need to transmit the same reflection of yourself on every social page that you manage. For example, if you say on your LinkedIn profile or in your resume that you are a responsible, hard-working person and your Facebook page is full of party posts and funny things, the recruiting staff will not take for granted what you've posted in your resume.
3. Always make use of your limited bio space on every social network
Even if a recruiter doesn't have a lot of time, for sure they will check at least your bio on the social networks. Those spaces are really important and they mostly define your brand; it's basically you in a few words or phrases. Moreover, a bio is actually more conversational and can be used to provide more information about you than any standard resume could.
4. Integrate your social network profiles and keep it all together
As we have mentioned before, consistency is a very important factor you should take care of when constructing your online presence. Use the same name and make sure you highlight the same experience and passions on every profile that you have. Once you’ve done that, link all your social networks together.
5. Update your profiles regularly and share parts of your work and passions on it
A profile without content and interaction will not serve you at all; on the contrary. Try to post interesting things on a regular basis and attract as many followers as you can from the areas that you are interested in. In order to make yourself a name, you have to carefully choose a specific area of interest and go with it. Be open, be positive, be present, and, most of all, be visible and interesting for your specific audience.
6. Keep it clean and try not disturbing too many people
Grammar or spelling mistakes, controversial posts about religion or social problems might not be a good idea when you're trying to build yourself a personal brand. Also, pay attention to every photo your friends are tagging you in; if it's not about the image that you want to reflect on your social network just keep it down and make it private.
7. Check what Google tells you from time to time
Google is like a real encyclopedia for recruiters, so take it seriously. You have to be there, and you have to look great in there. From time to time, start searching for your name and see how Google reflects you. If you're not pleased, work harder on your social pages and blog.
So, what did you make lately for developing your personal brand?
If you’re interested in doing an internship abroad, don’t hesitate to take a look at our offers, make an account on trainingexperience.org, and start applying on your favorites. We are here for your questions and we can help you find the perfect internship without any cost involved. Find out more details here and read more of our articles.