I am finding the prospect of our second assignment for this course very scary as I’m not a huge fan of introspection or self-promotion so the idea of analyzing my strengths to create a personal brand to sell myself is daunting. I know I’m not alone in this however. I’ve had conversations with female colleagues in the past about this reluctance to “toot our own horn” in the context of prize winning and why we have had so few women laureates over the years.
For background – my organization is the Killam Trusts, a private philanthropic trust that was founded in 1965 to advance higher education in the country. For in-depth information on the Killam Trusts and the Killam awards please visit our website). In brief, five Canadian universities received Killam funds along with the Canada Council for the Arts. At the universities funding is primarily given to post secondary students; doctoral scholars and pdfs, with some faculty awards and Chairs as well. The Canada Council administers two sets of awards – the Killam Research Fellowships, which allow for up to two years’ release time to work on a particular project and the Killam Prizes, awarded for lifetime achievement in one of five categories. Each Killam Prize is worth $100,000 and since 1981 128 prizes have been given out. Of those winners only 13 laureates have been women. That’s a low 10%! Part of the reason for this low number is the fact that women are not being nominated in large numbers.
When we ask the question why women are not being nominated the answer is often because they are not promoting themselves well enough. In her article on the topic Bonnie Marcus states that “self-promotion was referred to by the participants in the study as awkward and not always helpful for their advancement. Because of their reluctance to promote themselves, women are viewed in the workplace as lacking self-confidence.” In fact a scholarly article published by Psychology of Women Quarterly states that women who self-promote can face social and econom
ic penalties for self-promotion. The fear of backlash interferes with self-promotion success for women but this same process was not evident for the self-promoting man. The blog wherewomenwork offered some key suggestions for self promotion:
1. Talk outomes: be clear about what you achieved and why it was important
2. Be matter-of-fact: don’t use irrelevant emotional adjectives (e.g. enormous, exciting, etc)
3. Make it relevant: Put your achievements in the context relevant to your audience
4. Draw future application: Make it obvious how you can build on your skills and achievements
5. Individualize: Combine your strengths to provide a unique and competitive picture
With those five tips in mind, following is my self-promotional list of accomplishments that I will use in support of our 2nd assignment:
When I began working with Killam I had the only registered proofreading company in Halifax (a company that I still have today). I’ve since developed a career with the Killam Trusts that has been focused on the post-secondary educational environment in Canada. My previous experience working in a university environment, my tri-lingualism (English, French and conversational Spanish), combined with proven administrative skills were considered great assets. In the 10 years since I’ve had the position I’ve learned event management and promotion and recently finished a Masters degree in Information Management (one the first cohort to graduate in Canada with the MIM degree from Dalhousie University). I am further developing my skills with the certificate in social media program from Algonquin college in an effort to bring the Trusts into the 20th century. The reasoning behind my choice of study has been definitely Killam focused. As the sole employee I needed to develop knowledge and skills to ensure the Trusts’ ability to continue as a well-known entity for years to come. I am entrusted with ensuring the documentation for this perpetual trust is not only appropriately categorized and maintained, but that it is retrievable and searchable for future reference. I’ve taken on the role of archivist, information manager, company spokesperson, and now social media expert. Building on over 15 years experience in the educational sector I am uniquely qualified to . . . do what? This is where I’m stumped . . .what am I uniquely qualified to do?
Going through this blog post I was thinking the purpose of self-promotion or branding was to potentially lead to different employment opportunities but that isn’t always the case. What are some other reasons you’d want to develop a personal brand? How do you self-promote? Do you have tips on how to align previous education and current experience into a personal specialty? I would love your insight! 
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 