Part 6/12: Personal Branding
Everything has a brand.
Look around - the water bottle on your desk, the Chipotle down the street, the Nike Swoosh on your shirt. Each carries its own identity. Enzo Ferrari once said “Ask a child to draw a car, and certainly he will draw it red.” Similarly, when Heinz Ketchup asked strangers to draw a bottle of ketchup, everyone instinctively drew their iconic bottle. These aren’t just names, logos, or colors - they carry deeper meanings and messages.
You too have the power to shape how others perceive and remember you. In Edition #6 we’re diving into personal branding.
For you, your brand is your reputation.
Throughout college, countless small touchpoints shape how others perceive you. While this happens naturally and often unconsciously, there’s specific things you can do to brand yourself more uniquely.
Your brand matters because it's what opens doors before you walk through them. When someone mentions your name in a room you're not in, what do they say? Are you the person who asks thoughtful questions, follows through on commitments, or brings fresh perspectives to projects?
These impressions create opportunities. A professor who notices your engagement might recommend you for a position. A classmate might think of you first for an important project. The best part of it all is that college gives you the opportunity to build your brand from scratch.
As a freshman your network starts small. You know your dormmates, maybe even a few faces from your hometown. You have minimal professional experience and you’re probably signing up for every club that hints at your major. Growing your network feels scary and intimidating - but here’s the truth: everyone else is in the same boat. You are not alone.
Every successful person who graduated from your school started exactly where you are. More importantly, they all took steps to change their situation. We get it, putting yourself out there is challenging, but professional experience won’t magically appear overnight.
Opportunities are everywhere… Who do you meet in your classes? Who runs the clubs you’re in? Who do you run into at the library? Every single person around you is a chance to better yourself, learn something new, and strengthen your brand. Approach all of these interactions from a place of curiosity - this mindset will serve you well throughout your life.
Beyond this, just learn on your own. In the previous issue we covered building a media diet… do this early! The more insightful and informed conversations you can have with other people, the more value you add to the brand you’re building.
Fast forward to sophomore year - internship hunting season. Now's your chance to leverage all those unique experiences you've built over the past year to stand out from the crowd. Your first internship is not a lifetime commitment. It’s a chance to take action on what sounds interesting, or maybe find out what you hate. Sophomore year is not the time to lay out the rest of your life, but a valuable chance to explore.
Around this time, you’ll start meeting people - alumni, students, professors - who will overload you with advice. It can be hard to sniff out the good bits - after all, most people are going to tell you to do exactly what they did, or the complete opposite. It’s worth listening to these people because they’ve been in your shoes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should follow their advice blindly. There is no one trail to success and you have to blaze your own.
David Epstein's book "Range" explores why generalists thrive in a specialized world. He opens with a compelling contrast: Tiger Woods, who was putting before he could talk, versus Roger Federer, who explored multiple sports before focusing on tennis. Both became legends in their fields, but chances are you’re not Tiger Woods in this story - we certainly are not!
The process of figuring out college is similarly indirect and often confusing. Like Federer, your strength might come from exploring different interests, joining unexpected clubs, or taking classes outside your major.
So how do you actually cultivate these experiences? Let's explore some practical ways to develop your brand and create meaningful opportunities.
First, let's address the platforms you've probably heard about:
LinkedIn - LinkedIn stands out as the most well-known professional network, so let's focus on what truly matters. Two essential tips: First, be selective with your connections - treat your connections list like a rolodex of trusted professionals you'd genuinely feel comfortable reaching out to. Second, avoid falling into the social media trap. Use it as a professional tool, not an endless scrolling destination. Remember what we said in Edition #5 about having a positive media diet…
Handshake - In its early stages Handshake was an amazing tool, but in recent years has become more like a database of spam and a way for recruiters to hit their quota of reaching out to students. We recommend using it as a great way to start searching, but it should never be the end.
Glassdoor - A great way to get anonymous feedback from internal employees and people who interviewed at a company. It’s a great tool, but again it shouldn’t be the only one in your arsenal. There’s also a paywall that can be quite the problem.
But here's where it gets exciting - the hidden gems that can truly set your professional journey apart:
Upperclassmen - Career specialists at your university are good and so are recruiters, but we’d argue no one is better than the people who just went through the experience a year or two before you. Reach out to some upperclassmen at your university who’ve obtained internships you strive for and learn from them. We promise they’d be willing to help!!
Alumni Networks - Your university's alumni network is a massively underutilized resource. Most schools have databases or platforms where you can connect with alumni in your field of interest who are often more willing to help fellow graduates.
Industry-Specific Job Boards - While general platforms are useful, specialized job boards for your field often have more relevant opportunities and less competition. You may not know exactly what you want to do, but pick something that sounds interesting and give it a shot.
Network Everywhere - We hinted at this above, but every interaction is a chance to strengthen your personal brand. The art of engaging with strangers is a skill that improves with practice, and everyday situations are your training ground. This isn't about being stiffly professional - it's about being genuinely interesting and engaging in authentic conversations. Learn to ask thoughtful, sometimes challenging questions. Not only will this make your conversations more meaningful, but it also helps you develop the confidence to connect with anyone, anywhere.
Practicing what we preach, here’s our upperclassmen advice:
Jon: My first two years I had absolutely zero idea of what I wanted to even explore, let alone do with the rest of my life. Truth-be-told, I wasn’t even looking for an internship and was going to head home for the summer. But, one opportunity came across my plate in a newsletter from a program I participated in. From that one application, I got to spend the summer working in New York City. My key takeaways from that summer: I want to live in NYC post-grad, I love working with startups, and I now have 25+ people from other schools who are all in the same situation. Had I not joined that one organization, or submitted that one application, who knows what I’d have on my resume.
Sam: I often take notes when I’m talking to different people. I think it’s a habit I picked up from my Mom, who is a chronic note-taker. A few months ago, I filled up my first entire notebook of conversations, and proudly walked to the bookstore to purchase a replacement. Once, when talking to a mentor over Zoom, I paused to say “give me one sec, I’m jotting this down.” He was so impressed and articulated something to me that I already knew, but had never truly put thought to - this notebook, a habit I started thoughtlessly, is full of the best career advice from dozens upon dozens of successful people. Each conversation adds a gold nugget of wisdom - together, they build the whole bar. Taking notes, even sometimes on the most minute details, has proven to be one of the best things I’ve done for my brand and development.
If there's one takeaway from this edition, it's this: be unique and pursue experiences that truly interest you, even if they seem unrelated at first. These distinctive experiences will help you stand out and, more importantly, might reveal passions you never knew you had.
As midterms roll around, we want to take some time to dive into another stressful piece of college life. Next week, we’re diving into studying and research.
I especially like the ideas from Range about generalists. My 35+ year career path supports the idea.