Village Pro helps graduates build their personal brands

Village Pro is a unique, year-long programme for young professionals that is hosted by Student Village in association with Absa. It aims to support young talent as they strive to be their best in the South African workplace. The programme, which focuses on soft skills such as personal branding, networking, presentation skills and personal resilience, was launched earlier this year to address feedback from South African employers that while their top talent has the necessary degrees, many of them are not ready to tackle operational challenges in the workplace.

This week's event, entitled “You as your personal brand”, assisted graduates in developing their own individual brands - a key component for young men and women as they build their own success stories. It was the third Village Pro event held to date this year.

“Every graduate here tonight is talented, and all have an important role to play in the workplace as they build their careers. Village Pro, a new initiative from Student Village, will be there to help them every step of the way. It's all about working on those invaluable soft skills that turn potential into performance,” said Marc Kornberger of Student Village. “The Village Pro team, along with our corporate sponsor - Absa - is fully committed to offering each and every graduate the opportunity to transform themselves into well-rounded, successful young professionals.”

Guest speakers at the event included Angie Burton, general manager: brand and sponsorships at Absa. She covered how debt could and would negatively impact a graduate's personal brand, pointing out that young people who could not manage their debt exposure would probably not gain much credibility in the workplace. Also speaking was Gordon Cook, the co-founder of Vega: The Brand Communications School, who showed delegates how to begin defining their personal brands.

The video screened at the event featured Gordon Patterson, managing director at Starcom. He stressed the need for graduates to deliver a consistently good performance at work. “You're only as good as the last thing you did,” he said.

Joining them in the panel discussion on personal branding was Charisse Drobis, deputy director: international programmes at Wits Business School. Drobis emphasised the importance of finding a mentor at work, to both bounce new ideas off and share concerns with.