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Personal Branding for Graduates: Why your business should invest in it

As millennials filter into the workplace, with an already existing and visible online presence, ensuring that your business guides them as graduates in the correct way in presenting themselves and communicating their personal brand has never been more important. Entering the working world can be likened to flying the nest. A graduate requires support, attention, care, and guidance.

Fresh out of university and/or college, graduates are eager to make their mark. With platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook at everyone’s fingertips, job searching, and securing have never been easier. What these platforms have also done, is give us a taste of who these people are, what they stand for, what they believe in, and what they want.

It is important that the people your business invest in, have the type of online presence and persona that you are happy to reflect your business. Whether you like it or not, your graduate employees are out there, making their mark online, professionally, and socially. It is up to you to ensure that their mark is one you are proud of. Just as brands have a voice and an image, so do their people.

One of the ways in which business can assist their graduates in succeeding and positively representing their business is by helping them define their personal brand, positioning them as key contributors and future leaders, that are confident communicators, in alignment with your business’s strategy. Personal brands are an integral part and contributing factor to a business’s reputation.

According to Forbes, branding is seen as one of the most important investments a business can make. Customers are said to perceive personality traits in the same way, for both people, and brands, and investing in your employees’ personal brands, only strengthens your; your employees reflect you. Taking the time to cultivate your graduate’s personal brands results in them being more likely to stay. Your investment allows graduates to feel supported from the beginning, and it provides them with a sense of loyalty. Encouraging your graduates to develop their personal brand helps with career growth. Supporting their personal development and growth also leads to happier, more productive people. The happier they are, the more they feel valued, the more they align with your company culture, the better they are at being a face and voice of your brand.

3 benefits of helping graduate employees with personal branding;

  1. Increased return on investment for social media engagement efforts

Employees that have an established, streamlined personal brand have a much bigger effect with regards to employee advocacy efforts on social media. In having a trusted online reputation, your graduate employees can, over time, be considered thought leaders and trusted experts in their field.

  1. Improved hiring process

A company that has employees with strong personal brands elevates your company’s profile as an employer. Social media allows for employees to engage with potential clients, but also, potential employees. People do their research when it comes to companies and their digital footprint, and ensuring yours is clean, is what can separate you from the rest.

  1. Increased employee retention

A sense of trust is created between employer and employee through the process of personal branding. It takes time and effort to ensure this is done correctly, and both sides need to be as invested. Helping your employees with personal branding helps them grow their careers, and the efforts you spend in doing so through social media increases employee engagement, which has resulted to be a proven factor in employee productivity and retention.

An employee’s personal brand is one of the greatest assets your business can have and should in no way be overlooked in today’s digital environment.

Branding and Marketing YOU is fully invested in assisting businesses in guiding new graduate employees. Graduates need to be equipped to navigate the working world and position themselves uniquely in a new and competitive work environment.

Contact us today for more information on how we can help guide your new graduate employees to enhance their personal brand, and in turn, yours.

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