Personal Brand Assignment

TAMUC and the College of Business have several resources that will help you with this assignment.  

Step 1: To get started, you will take a brief online assessment called Personality Pathways, which helps you understand yourself as a product.  This assessment is shortened version of the Myers-Briggs personality inventory that classifies individuals into one of sixteen personality profiles. Personality Pathways 

https://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html

Profiles consist of 4 letters, such as ISFP or ENTJ.  Save these letters that describe you.  For more information on your profile, I will upload a Myers-Briggs Test Overview this weekend.  When you find your profile, print it and circle the descriptions that you think fit you the best.

Step 2:  Using the Myers-Briggs profile as a starting point, the next step is to fill in additional characteristics about yourself, including things you have learned (courses specific to your major, for example), skills you can do (learned from work, volunteering, internships, etc.), and work environments you know something about.   

Below is a sample of the table you will include.  Tell me something about personality in the first box.  List courses or areas of knowledge that are relevant to your target job in the second column.  List thing you know how to do (from jobs, internships or other experiences) in the third column.  This could include fluency in a second language, provable tasks you have accomplished, skills learned from campus activities, such as keeping books for a fraternity as treasurer or organizing a fund-raising activity for a club.  Finally, you might know something about how an industry works because you have a family business you grew up helping, or internship or summer jobs.  Even if you plan to work in a different business, knowledge of these industries can be helpful to potential employers. 

Personal Characteristics

Content Knowledge

Process Knowledge and Skills

Industry Knowledge

ENFJ  (Extroverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging)

Marketing Major

Operate cash register, customer service skills

Family grocery store

Exceptional people skills

Retail Management

Open and Close restaurant; schedule shifts

Fast food restaurant (summer job)

Organizational abilities

Certified in Excel, SAP

Conduct inventory, order merchandise

Boutique (internship)

Creative and imaginative

Step 3:  The next step is to begin researching a career field that you want to pursue.  If you are a traditional student with limited work experience, you should be looking for entry-level jobs.  You will apply the steps in CH 7 as you (1) segment the market of potential employers by industry, geographic location or specific skills needed), (2) select a target position/industry/location/size company that you want to work for and then (3) try to position yourself to fit the job.  Find a specific job description via a job search website and see how you match up to what they are looking for.  Indeed.com is one website where you might find an appropriate job description.  You may also find descriptions on the College of Business Career Services website.  
Step 4:  When you research possible salaries, be sure you look for average STARTING salaries in the field, not just at average salaries.  You will also want to look at potential salaries and benefits as you move up in the field, but realize that it may take 10 to 15 years to reach the average.  Information on opportunities and salaries can be found using YouScience, the new career software that the Career Services office is using at TAMUC.
Note:  If you are not a traditional student, and you have substantial work experience, you probably see the value in reexamining your goals and researching your next opportunity.  You also have likely survived layoffs in your company and realize the benefits of keeping your resume up to date, and continuing to add value through education, in-company training, and learning new skills.  Pitch your target market accordingly, or consider what might interest you if you wanted to move in a different career direction.

Step 5:  Layout of assignment

Leo A. Lion, Jr.

Personal Brand Assignment Sample Layout

Target Market

Write a couple of paragraphs narrowing your potential employer using appropriate segmentation variables.  These variables might be geographic (looking for a job in a specific city, state, region) or demographic (size company, industry, etc.).  Explain the type of job you think you would be a fit for you after graduation. 

Find a job description similar to what you want to do after graduation to see how you compare with the qualifications they are seeking.  Include a copy of the job description or include a web link.  Go to 

www.jobscan.co

 and see what percentage match you find comparing your resume with the job description.  Report the match percentage.

Product

Describe your qualifications and what you can offer a company.  This will include personality characteristics (from the Myers Briggs test), knowledge learned from your university education (such as courses in your major), work skills and any industries you know something about (through work or internships or family businesses).  At the end of your description, insert a table like the one in the assignment.  Think of this table as a menu of attributes or benefits that you can use to customize a resume when you apply for a job.  To create the table, lick on insert, then select table, then highlight the four boxes across and 5 or 6 boxes down.

Personal Characteristics
Content Knowledge
Process Knowledge and Skills
Industry Knowledge

Price

Research the typical starting salary for jobs you would qualify for in your target market.  If you are just entering the field, look for average entry-level jobs.  If you have a lot of professional experience already, research mid-level jobs.  Also see what additional benefits would be included.

Place

Where will you find your job?  Will you use online job search sites, campus career services, or professional organizations in your field?  Networking? 

Promotion

Summarize how you would add value to your prospective company in a sentence or two.  Then attach your revised resume at the end of your document.  Be sure you avoid the common mistakes found in the document under Week 7.  Resume inserted here at the end of the document.  (Copy and paste at the end of the document)

Step 6:  After you have revised your resume to include skills, knowledge and other things that differentiate you from the competition, and after you have removed any mistakes that students often make, you might want someone to screen your resume and offer advice to improve it.  You can do this by following the directions below using Handshake. This is not required, but encouraged.  You will get high quality feedback and it’s free.

Students should log into Handshake:

1)      

www.hirealion.com

2)      Click on Students

3)      Each student has a profile- they just don’t know it. It looks like a resume.

4)      Click on Documents Top Right (2nd and middle tab)

5)      Upload document (resume)