In August 2010, I was so ready to hit the marketplace with the skills and values I had gained at MMUST and FOCUS Kenya. Back then, most jobs were advertised in newspapers, though a few online platforms were just coming up. Visiting a cyber café was like what refreshing your email inbox feels like today, hoping that the organisation you’ve been dreaming of joining has finally responded to your application. The only difference was that back then, you sometimes had to queue in the café, waiting for a free computer.
Brand Misalignment and Interviews
My first interview came through a referral from a friend at one of the leading banks in Kenya. Although I had never imagined working for a bank, I needed a job for survival.
The interview started well, especially when they began with the classic “Tell us about yourself.” Having graduated with a degree in Physics and Mathematics Education from Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, I handled that part with the confidence of a trained teacher. I could see the panel nodding and smiling until we got technical.
They asked me to describe some of the accounts offered by the bank. I told the panel that the accounts had escaped my mind. I wasn’t lying. Everything had just escaped my mind. Slowly, I could see their happy faces growing dull. One of them asked, “So, if you go out to do sales and a potential customer asks you to highlight something about an account, will you tell them they’ve escaped your mind?”
I replied, “By then, I’ll have mastered them. I haven’t been working for the bank to know its products yet.”
I left so sure I had lost the job because, even if I were the panelist, I wouldn’t have hired myself. I am yet to hear from them ☺.
Another friend recommended me for a teaching job in a new school that was opening near my home county. Again, all was well until they asked about some books and the syllabus. The only time I had interacted with the syllabus materials was three years earlier, during my teaching practice at Kakamega High School.
One of the panelists kindly advised me to look for jobs in para-church organisations such as the National Council of Churches of Kenya. She was sincere, and I totally agreed with her. She said my CV was very strong on para-church experience but had little to show for teaching. It was true. And that is the space I have been in since then, except for a few teaching experiences in colleges and a stint as a principal in one of the colleges that never paid me a coin.
Few Job Opportunities
For sure, job opportunities are continually becoming fewer, but when that one opportunity surfaces, how prepared are you to stand out, get recruiters to notice you, and possibly shortlist you? It has a lot to do with networking, who knows you, and a bit of personal branding.
What is Personal Branding?
Since networking is not built in a day, and whom you know sometimes has a lot to do with who your grandfather was, personal branding, which is within your power, is simply the process of creating and managing a unique and consistent image and reputation. It’s how you present yourself, both online and offline, to stand out and make a strong, positive impression.
Your brand is built around three things:
- Identity: Who you are. Your skills, values, strengths, and weaknesses.
- Image: How you want people to see you. The things you do to make your identity visible.
- Reputation: What people actually think of you based on your actions, words, and consistency.
You have control over your identity and image, and that’s what ultimately shapes your reputation. When your identity and image don’t align, you risk a reputational catastrophe. That’s where paying attention to personal branding helps you stand out while staying true to yourself and to others.
Building your brand, however, is not a one-day event; it’s an ongoing process. Some of the things you could do include:
- Sharing quality content that reflects your values.
- Networking strategically. Connect with mentors, peers, and professionals who build you up.
- Listening to feedback. If several people point out the same weakness, pay attention.
- Staying consistent. Whether in speech, dress, or online presence, let people meet the same you everywhere.
Digital Footprints and the New Marketplace
When you pursue personal branding online, you also subject yourself to a “crowd of witnesses,” and therefore both employers and your audience are checking your digital footprints.
Your digital presence is your shadow online. It should align with who you are offline. Your brand isn’t a mask you wear online and remove during interviews. The same values you display in your posts should echo in your CV, your emails, your tone, and your walk into that interview room. The same integrity, humility, and enthusiasm should be true both online and offline.
Your social media pages need to align with the brand you are trying to build. Your profile photo should look like you are serious about life. Your headline should capture what you do or aspire to do, and your summary should sound relatable.
When your faith, work ethic, and online activity point in the same direction, recruiters and peers will see consistency, and that’s what builds trust. If your LinkedIn says “servant leader,” but your groupmates remember you for showing up late and delegating everything, there’s a mismatch that no profile optimisation can fix.
Conclusion
My early interviews taught me that your CV, dress code, and online profile must all sing the same song about who you are. So, as you step into the job market, much as you chase opportunities, attract them as well. Let your skills, values, and presence speak before you do. Because sometimes, it’s not the smartest person who gets noticed first but the most consistent.
Nevertheless, if you are a job seeker and you have done what is humanly possible, yet the opportunity has not shown up, do not give up. The good thing is that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favour to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all.
Your time will come, no matter how long it takes. Take heart and do what is within your capacity.
You can read about first impression on https://attestedmedia.com/how-long-can-your-first-impression-last-you/