"Branding Yourself"

On Wed., Apr. 3^rd Plymouth State University Professor Terri Dautcher hosted a workshop titled Branding Yourself. The workshop is meant to help the seniors that plan to graduate in May get a leg-up on the competition in the competitive job market. The point of the workshop is to give students advice on how to figure out how to make themselves stand out amongst their competition on the job world.

Dautcher is an experienced professor at the university and is mostly known for teaching Marketing. When asked if she's done the Branding Yourself workshop before Dautcher said, "Yes, I've taught it a number of times, both as part of a class and as a stand-alone workshop." Dautcher is the kind of professor that stresses how important it is to get yourself out there, making her a good candidate to run the Brand Yourself workshop. She spoke about how students understand the concept of branding themselves, but do not necessarily take action. "I find that some students have a general sense of the concept of personal  branding, but have not developed and implemented a plan to fulfill their personal brand promise."

Dautcher spent the workshop helping students realize that they need to turn themselves into a brand. She explained that your brand is an extension of yourself. Essentially, your brand is what represents you as a person. One Plymouth State senior said, "I never thought of myself as a brand. The reason I came to this workshop was to find out what that meant and now I think I have a better understanding of what it means to get your name out there when applying for jobs." The idea of treating yourself like a brand is to make sure that you not only get your name out there while sticking out from the competition, but making sure you're reaching out to the right people.

Dautcher had three main points in her workshop. They were: to help people understand what it means to create a personal brand, to encourage people to be clear about their personal brand, and to explain how to make your brand plan 'come to life'. Senior Shannon Morin, a business administration major said, "I'm glad I went. I thought I already knew how to make myself stand out when I go to apply for jobs, but I never thought of myself as an actual brand. After walking away from this workshop I have started to treat myself more like a brand and plan to figure out how I am going to get myself out there."

Overall, the workshop was a helpful resource for the members of the graduating class. When asked if she had any advice for the seniors, Dautcher said, "There are plenty of good jobs available, but every senior has to prepare to compete for those jobs.  You must learn how to compete, and then practice your game.  Take advantage of every opportunity to learn how to be a strong competitor for jobs!  Attend as many career development workshops as possible." The world is your consumer, so make sure to get yourself and your brand out there.