9 steps to building a personal brand

Silence on questions about personal branding

That was the answer of a Humanities student to the question “What is personal branding?”. The question was asked by MSc. Le Thi Lan Anh – Director of the IEDW Education Institute right at the beginning of the talk show. This silence is a warning about the lack of initiative of Humanities students in “enriching” themselves before graduation.

Ms. Lan Anh gave examples of personal branding by Professor Tran Quoc Vuong, or the “king of Vietnamese music” Dam Vinh Hung… Through attractive and easy-to-understand real-life examples, speaker Lan Anh helped students define the concept of personal branding. More importantly, the speaker helped students realize the importance of this “brand” for their future. Especially for students about to graduate.

The speaker affirmed: “The value of an individual helps distinguish that individual from others”. Through that, she called on students to quickly build their personal brand right now to achieve the desired job in the future.

MSc. Lan Anh is currently the Director of the IEDW Education Institute. She is also a former student of the Faculty of Literature of the school.

Interview Game

5 students were invited by Ms. Lan Anh to the stage to participate in a mock job interview. In this interview, Dr. Nguyen Quang Lieu - Head of the Department of Politics and Student Affairs was also invited to participate as a recruiter. The students' job was to find a way to impress these two demanding recruiters right from the first seconds. The students encountered many difficulties in this mock interview. The unexpected and extremely difficult questions from the two recruiters made the students very confused.

This game has brought a closer and more realistic experience to students about the difficulties they will face in the future. From there, it reminds them to quickly equip themselves with knowledge to build their own unique brand.

Through the small game, Ms. Lan Anh also revealed to students some tips when going for an interview such as clothing, standing posture, how to answer the recruiter's questions, attitude when recruiting...

Two judges in the interview game

Build your personal brand in 9 steps

At the end of his talk, the speaker gave a 9-step formula to help students build their personal brand. These are: Positioning yourself – Who are you; how are you perceived by others; your goals – your vision; building your brand; building your “ecosystem”; building relationships; connecting and sharing; listening and following.

While this is not a law of branding, these nine steps can be a path to open up more opportunities for students in the future.

Students attentively listen to the speakers' sharing.

Also at this talk show, Dr. Tran Quang Lieu shared his experience in building his personal brand. The talk show ended with many echoes in the hearts of students. Most importantly, students will have to ask themselves questions about a brand named after themselves.