In today’s digital world, the pressure to create and maintain a personal brand online can feel overwhelming. Many professionals struggle with a crisis of confidence when it comes to sharing themselves, their skills and their ideas online.
Thinking of yourself as a personal brand, unique to everyone else is an important mind-shift. You personal brand is how you show up both online and offline, it’s your individual perspective on your work, it is what you are known for.
Setting yourself and who you are apart in the job search or simply for career advancement is critical to your success.
Personal Branding for Career Advancement
- Take ownership of your brand in 2025 or someone else will.
If you don’t you can send the wrong message that you’re not relevant. A non-brand can say there is nothing special or valuable about me versus someone who puts themselves out publicly, has a great LinkedIn profile and is confident with their unique set of skills. - You are unique and need to covey your unique value proposition – don’t be the best kept secret or let others make assumptions about who you are and the value you deliver. Show your skills through a story demonstrating how you used the skills a recruiter is looking for.
- Recruiters will look at your LinkedIn profile BUT they will also look at your LinkedIn feed to see what you are posting and what kind of professional you are. In today’s AI world, this authenticates you as a human being who has the skills they are searching for based on what you are posting and who you engage with.
Your career profile starts here: https://linkedinforbusiness.net/career-linkedin-profile/
Understand and Master Your Skills to land your next job
Take charge of your career with an intrapreneurial mindset. Intrapreneurship is all about applying the same skills and mindset of an entrepreneur, but within an existing organization. Just like entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs have a knack for spotting opportunities, solving problems, and driving change, all while working as part of a team.
AI is disrupting the workforce
Don’t feel powerless – no experience is wasted at the same time, AI is here to stay and it’s time to get onboard and learn some AI skills.
According to a recent study by LinkedIn in the 2025 Skills on The Rise Report, AI Literacy is at the top of the fastest growing skills. “AI rapidly transforms industries, companies are increasingly looking for professionals with the ability to understand and utilize tools harnessing that technology for business purposes.”
Start by assessing your current skills
Write down current skills and research skills for new roles, here are 3 prompts to get you started:
- Skills that come naturally to you
- What people notice about you (get input from a colleague)
- Skills that are necessary to thrive in a specific industry – identify gaps you may have.
I would also like to suggest that you write down what excites you? Just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean you want to do that work.
TIP: We all have valuable soft skills, those people skills where you show rapport, empathy, adaptability, critical thinking, emotional intelligence and flexibility to name a few. Demonstrate how you used those skills in writing a cover letter or in an interview where you relate a story where those skills made a difference.
Learning new skills for job search & career development
What do you need to stay relevant & bridge any gaps in future roles?
Leverage existing skills by stacking one on top of the other then ask what are the complimentary skills I can learn?
A good place to start is with the end in mind. What are specific skills a job is asking for and start with the most relevant skills needed for the specific job.
What skills do you need for a specific job?
If you’re exploring a career move into another industry, a great way to learn what skills are needed in addition to any job ads is:
- Have conversations with people that do what you want to do
- Follow news articles of people who do what you want to do
- Reach out & have conversations with people who have a role you’re interested in & have a conversation. Ask what their day to day looks like and see if you have a skills gap and what you may need to develop.
- Search for skills in the jobs tab on LinkedIn to see jobs that require that skill, look at job descriptions, reach out.
Where to learn new job skills
A great place to get micro learning skills is on the LinkedIn Learning platform. This is LinkedIn’s online educational platform with thousands of trainings. LinkedIn Learning is available with all paid subscriptions and can setup a learning plan based on your goals and provides the most ideal courses and places them in My Career Journey within your profile.
How to keep skills sharp when not using in current job? Find activities outside of work to utilize your skills, that could even include volunteering.
How to show off high-value skills
Lead with the 2-3 of your most high-value skills in your LinkedIn profile About section where you share a career story utilizing your skills. Remember, facts sell, stories sell.
Include examples that position the skills. These can also be your transferable skills.
Incorporate your story in a cover letter as well.
TIP: Transferable skills –focus on where you want to go, identify those skills and show how the skills you have are relatable to the skills the job is asking for. Articulate the value you bring!
LinkedIn Skills on the Rise 2025: The 15 fastest-growing skills in the US
- AI Literacy
- Conflict Mitigation
- Adaptability
- Process Optimization
- Innovative Thinking
- Public Speaking
- Solution-Based Selling
- Customer Engagement & Support
- Stakeholder Management
- Large Language Model (LLM) Development & Application
- Budget & Resource Management
- Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy
- Regulatory Compliance
- Growth Strategy
- Risk Assessment
For deeper explanation of each skill you can read the entire report here:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/linkedin-skills-rise-2025-15-fastest-growing-us-linkedin-news-hy0le/
Should you upgrade to LinkedIn Career Premium
The short answer is YES because you have so much more to work with.
Check all the features of LinkedIn Premium Career here:
https://premium.linkedin.com/career-features
3 WAYS I CAN HELP MOVE YOU CLOSER TO GETTING THAT NEXT JOB:
LinkedIn Professional Profile Update + Resume (optional add on)
1-hour private coaching call
Review your resume & cover letter – (ensure it aligns with your LinkedIn profile)
