Image: Cusomag

Faizel Patel – 06/12/2020

(Twitter: @FaizelPatel143)

The deputy-managing director at Hill+Knowlton Strategies South Africa says young people should create a personal brand to stand out from the crowd and be noticed

Lerato Songelwa was speaking to Radio Islam on Sunday about opportunities the younger generation can create for themselves if they market themselves properly.

Hundreds of thousands of matriculants are writing there final exams, hoping that their results will be enough to ensure a place at university or other institutions of higher learning.

For those who have to join the job market next year, there are difficulties ahead as we saw thousands of small and medium sized businesses closing down, accompanied by millions of job losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Songelwa says personal branding is important to be successful in a very competitive market.

“Your person brand is your calling card, it is what people know of you or what you want people to know about you. On top of having to deal with a global pandemic, as South Africans we are still very much dealing with unemployment in this country. So the importance of this process of personal branding then allows us not become part of the wallpaper, it allows us then to then look for the things that make us stand out from the crowd.’

Songelwa says you have to separate yourself from the competition and be more appealing to potential employers and it is much easier to achieve this if you create a personal brand for yourself.

Songelwa shared some very important steps to building a personal brand including what is a personal brand, what is your vision, what are your core values, what is your purpose and wow does social media contribute to your personal brand.

Listen to the interview with Lerato Songelwa