BUILDING YOUR PERSONAL BRAND
Building your Aspirations & Goals
We have spent a few months discussing personal branding and have identified three parts: your values, your skills, and your aspirations & goals. Your brand shapes how people see who you are today and who you will be in the future. This month, we focus on aspirations & goals, the future you.
Why Knowing Your Aspirations & Goals Matters
Ask yourself: What am I building towards? This question can have many dimensions. It could be your career, family, financial security, personal health, or other activities like traveling. Your choices may change over time. That’s okay, but it’s important to start somewhere.
When you share your aspirations & goals, people can help. For example, suppose you are interested in becoming a pediatric nurse and share that aspiration with teachers, counselors, friends, and family. In that case, some may be able to make introductions to nurses they know or alert you to job opportunities that can help you advance your goal.
Knowing your aspirations & goals can also help you decide what actions to take now. Again, if pediatrics interests you, work or volunteer with children. You’ll test whether you enjoy it and have relevant experience to put on a résumé line for school or job applications.
Lastly, make sure your aspirations & goals align with your values and skills. For example, if you value entrepreneurship, autonomy, and flexibility, working as a pediatric nurse for a large healthcare system might not be your best fit. However, you might be able to achieve your aspiration by being a contract nurse or traveling nurse. Learning as much as possible about a career from others in your network will help you find the right path.
Discover Your Aspirations & Goals
Only a few people know from a young age what they want to do as an adult and then do it. Life is not linear; it takes twists and turns. Figuring out your aspirations & goals takes self-awareness and self-reflection. One suggestion we have is to start journaling. Ask yourself, “Where do I want to be in three, five, ten years?” It’s fine not to have complete answers to those questions. In fact, the longer the time frame, the harder it is to predict where you will want to be. Remember to ask yourself, “Do these aspirations & goals align with my values and skills?” Journaling can help clarify thinking and give you a record of where you were and how far you have come.
Networking is a Way to Develop Your Personal Brand
Our big idea at Youth.Work.Connect. is that professional networking can be immensely valuable in many ways, including learning about your aspirations & goals. Talking to established professionals and asking them about their career journey can give you a wealth of information about what interests you or present ideas you never considered before. As you network, you will learn more about yourself and learn to communicate your values, skills, aspirations & goals—your personal brand.
A Partnership to Prepare Students for the Workplace…
In August, we were pleased to partner with Cristo Rey Research Triangle High School in Durham, NC, to help more than sixty incoming students practice professional networking. Cristo Rey students study four days a week and work one day at local employers: earnings help fund tuition, so day-one workplace skills matter. To set the students up for job success, CRRTHS holds a two-week “boot camp” to prepare them for their jobs. The two-week program is called the Bull City Business Institute (BCBI).
Our portion of the BCBI was to introduce the students to professional networking. Students created a network map, heard a presentation about the importance of networking, and then expanded their network map by speaking with professionals in various careers. Although networking is difficult to grasp when you are about fourteen years old, the students did a great job learning about the topic. Reflecting on what he learned during the workshop, one student shared that he learned “your network is your net worth.” We could not have said it any better.
LET’S STAY CONNECTED
We would appreciate your thoughts on our initiative and welcome opportunities to collaborate. You can reach us at info@youthworkconnect.org and we look forward to staying connected.
