Draft your personal brand

Due Feb 2, 2020 by 11:59pm
Points 4
Submitting a file upload

Mark-Anderson-www.andertoons.com-personal-brand.jpg

Mark Anderson (www.andertoons.com Links to an external site.)

Both at the beginning and at the end of the semester you will present a 90-second "personal brand" speech to your discussion section. This assignment will help you to begin thinking about this presentation by drafting the outlines of your personal brand as an introduction to your professor and teaching assistant.

Read this first

Tom Peters, "The Brand Called You,"Fast Company (1997). Download Tom Peters, "The Brand Called You,"Fast Company (1997).
Original business press article which ushered in the personal branding craze.

Complete these steps

Write it. First write a brief (about 250-word) description of yourself, in order to help your professor and TA get to know you a little better. Stick with the basics: First introduce yourself by name and explain where you are currently in college and what you're studying. Then say a little bit about your recent past -- for example, where you went to high school and what subjects you liked best, or some things you've done in the last few years that you're particularly proud of. Finish by telling us what you think you might like to do in the future -- such as what you want to major in, other things you hope to accomplish here at UW, or what you would like to do for work after college.
Review it. Guess what? By writing out this brief introduction, you've just created the beginnings of a "personal brand" description. Now go back and read what you wrote. Remember that your professor and TA will be reading dozens of these brief introductions. Make sure there is something in yours that is unique and memorable so it will be easier to get to know you quickly.
Turn it in. Once you are finished editing your statement, upload the document to Canvas (as a PDF or Word file). Please bring a printed copy to your next discussion section as well.
Prepare to perform it. In your next discussion section you will present your personal brand for the class -- see if you can talk through the highlights in about 90 seconds as if you are introducing yourself to a potential employer at a job fair!

Please note: Your TA will make a digital recording of your speech and upload it to Canvas for you (and only you) to review. This is the best way to learn from your performance!

Once all students have presented, we'll discuss the exercise and think about ways to improve at the end of the semester, where you'll present your personal brand once again, after it has evolved as a result of all of your reflective career exercises during the semester.

Notes on this assignment

One way to compose your initial personal brand is to use the "present-past-future" method as described on the career advice site The Muse Links to an external site.: "First you start with the present—where you are right now. Then, segue into the past—a little bit about the experiences you’ve had and the skills you gained at the previous position. Finally, finish with the future—why you are really excited for this particular opportunity."
How does your initial personal brand reinforce and extend what is already present on your resume and your LinkedIn site?
Is your initial personal brand more about who you are right now, or who you want to become as your career progresses?
Now that you've written it out, how do you think you'd like to see your personal brand statement change over the course of the semester?

Examples

(If Professor Downey had known about personal brand statements when he was an undergraduate, maybe this is what he would have written ...)

Hi there, my name is Greg Downey and I am a sophomore at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, studying computer science in the College of Engineering. I grew up in northern Illinois where I participated in drama and forensics during high school, as well as starting an underground student newspaper, which helped me develop confidence in communicating to audiences to inform and entertain. I've had part-time job experiences in retail (working in a discount shoe store) and in education (serving on the help desk at the undergraduate computer lab). This past summer I worked full-time for a defense contracting firm in Rockford, Illinois -- I spent half the summer helping to review and document computer programs in Job Control Language or JCL, and half of the summer working on the factory floor tending an automated parts-delivery robot. That experience really showed me the range of different jobs that are necessary to manufacture high-tech equipment. Here at the university I've combined my computer science courses with classes in psychology and political science, because I am very interested in the social implications of artificial intelligence. I hope to get a job with a leading technology firm in Silicon Valley, like Apple or Hewlett-Packard, when I graduate.