6 tools to help boost your personal brand

Your personal brand isn’t just a buzz phrase. It’s the unique combination of skills, experience, passion and personality that makes you exactly the right fit for your dream job. Building a personal brand means going beyond simply regurgitating your resume across multiple platforms, says Gianna Scorsone, vice president of marketing and sales operations at IT staffing and recruiting firm Mondo.

“Developing a personal brand is all about standing out — you’re not going to do that if you’re just posting your resume in a bunch of different places. That’s a tactical approach that only highlights what you can do, not who you are and what your value is to an organization. You need to provide layers of different, personalized information to show that you’re results-oriented, that you can deliver ROI and that you have passion and drive that will be invaluable to a potential employer,” says Scorsone. Thankfully, creating and showcasing your personal brand is easier than ever.

When working with job seekers, Scorsone says she finds herself recommending specific tools that will help her clients move beyond the tactical and into the strategic when polishing their personal brand. Here, she shares those six tools that can help job seekers land that perfect role.

1. GitHub

GitHub is an online software version control tool, at its heart, but it’s really so much more, says Scorsone. It’s also a social coding platform that can serve as an online code portfolio for developers to showcase their work and highlight their talents, she says, and developers can include links to their portfolio within job applications or on their personal websites.

2. Behance

Behance is a platform for creative professionals, including graphic designers, and UX/UI developers. You can manage and maintain a portfolio and share your work publicly with recruiters and hiring managers to showcase your skills.

3. LinkedIn

The old standby is still a great way to successfully promote your professional brand, but make sure you’re constantly optimizing the content you add to your profile, keep it clean and free from clutter and only include your best or most relevant work experience, Scorsone says. “One of the most common mistakes I see on LinkedIn is candidates just reposting their resume. You have to go beyond that to create a brand, build a network and engage with those connections on the platform,” she says.

[ Related story: How to crack the coding challenge ]

4. JibberJobber

JibberJobber is an excellent resource to help keep track of those important network connections and note how they’ve helped you, Scorsone says. “Using this tool to organize your top professional contacts allows you to easily tap these individuals for testimonials or references that can then be added to your website or LinkedIn profile,” she says.

[ Related story: Do you need a digital brand manager? ]

5. Squarespace

Squarespace lets job seekers create their own website, which is a great way to improve your professional brand and create a platform solely dedicated to showcasing your experience, says Scorsone. “Squarespace is designed to help you build an online portfolio and it’s really great even for folks who don’t have technical ability; it removes the stress of having to create a website from scratch with user-friendly templates,” she says.

6. Dunked

Dunked is an online platform where business professionals can create and host an online portfolio for a small monthly fee, Scorsone says. However, it’s definitely geared toward professionals with visual and artistic experience, so it’s the perfect platform for developers, designers and/or engineers, she says.