by Guest Author, Miles Oliver
With the rise of artificial intelligence, we are seeing a shift in the way people work and how they amplify their personal brand. Companies are increasingly seeking those with advanced technological skills, which means having some knowledge of using AI tools is essential.
Additionally, as the job market becomes more competitive, job seekers should seek to use AI to enhance their personal brand and tell their story, which can help them stand out and increase their chances of landing their dream job.
Why Personal Branding is a Must in Today’s Job Market
Landing a good job today is about more than simply having all the right hard skills. It’s also about having the right image that attracts employers to you.
With more convenient access to education and online learning, it’s easy for just about anyone to gain the hard skills needed for a certain job — like knowing how to code if you want to work in web development. As such, if you really want to stand out next to the hundreds of other applicants with the same skills as you, you’ll need to stand out in your branding, which you can achieve by improving your self-image.
Employers don’t just want someone with the right skills, they also want someone who is confident in themselves and what they are capable of. This shows them that you will do more for them than simply producing quality work. It tells them that you are worth investing in because you are more likely to succeed in your career and achieve professional growth, which benefits you and them as a business.
To sell yourself to an employer, however, you’ll need more than confidence. You’ve got to genuinely create your personal brand similar to how any business would market themselves to a customer.
Who are you? What is your story? What is it about you that makes you stand out? These are things you’ll want to consider as you start crafting your “branding materials,” such as your business cards, your resume, your LinkedIn profile, your email signatures, and even your own website.
The idea is to tell a story that lets potential employers know who they’ll be working with and why they should choose you over someone else. Again, this works similarly to how a brand would market a product so customers know what they are buying and why they should buy this particular product versus a competing brand’s product.
Leveraging AI to Tell Your Story
Just about every industry and job market is being impacted today by AI. Companies now demand AI skills from job seekers, leverage innovative AI technologies to optimize workplace operations, and use AI to enhance customer experiences. No matter what job you are seeking, you would greatly benefit from learning a little or even a lot about how AI tools work.
AI is also making it easier and more convenient for job seekers to develop their personal brands, so much so that AI is reshaping how people present themselves. This is seen predominantly through AI-powered content creation.
If you want to stand out as a job seeker, it’s imperative today that you have some form of content that you can share that tells your story. While this used to be more time-consuming, which meant not as many people put in the effort to do so, AI-powered content tools have made it more convenient.
Now you can leverage AI for your personal brand messaging before applying to jobs, increasing your chance of landing those jobs. AI tools can help you generate just about anything — from website content and blog posts to social media posts and even hyper-personalized messaging for your emails and business cards.
Implications of AI to Consider
While there are many benefits to utilizing AI it also comes with its downsides. From a job market perspective, some companies could end up abusing the power of AI by using it to displace workers. We could eventually see regulations that prevent this from happening, but until then, it is possible that, as a job seeker, you could witness some companies preferring to use AI over hiring more workers.
This is something to be mindful of as you apply for jobs. To avoid ending up at a company that could end up prioritizing AI over their employees, don’t be afraid to ask questions before or during the interview process about the company’s ethical policies surrounding the use of AI.
Additionally, when you are using AI to develop your personal brand messaging, you’ll want to make sure that AI doesn’t threaten your authenticity. Using AI to help you generate content for your personal brand is okay, but you should still put your own personal touch on your messaging as opposed to having AI generate everything for you.
Overuse of AI leads to content feeling generic and impersonal, which could end up having the opposite of the desired effect on potential employers. In other words, if you over-rely on AI to create everything for you, employers might not find anything special or unique about your personal brand that would make them want to hire you over someone else.
Wrapping Up
When creating your personal brand, ensure you are balancing AI-generated content with your own human input. AI should be used as a tool to assist you in improving your self-image and personal brand, but it should not be used to replace your own voice entirely.
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About the author: Miles Oliver is a freelance contributor whose writing focuses on professional development. You can reach him at moliverpages@gmail.com
