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What Is Your Professional Identity?

Your Professional Identity

Your professional identity encompasses your unique blend of skills, values, interests, and the distinct way you present yourself to the world.

Your professional identity is not just your education or the experiences on your resume – it is the story you tell yourself and others about who you are as an early career professional.

Another term for this concept is personal brand – it is essentially the impression you leave on people when they interact with you.  Another way of thinking about it is that your professional identity or personal brand is what people think of or say about you when you’re not in the room.

Examples of positive impressions you can leave on others:

  • Recognized for a specific skill
  • Known as an expert in your field
  • Knowledgeable about a particular topic
  • Identified as an excellent communicator of science (or other topics)
  • Known as an innovator for a particular method or technique
  • A leader of an organization, a lab, a start-up, etc.
  • Known as someone great to work with

Try and Reflect: The ‘Ideal Candidate’ Lens

Think of a role you might want, like a ‘Summer Research Assistant’.  What elements would be part of the professional identity (or personal brand) of an ideal candidate.  

Drag and drop the following list of attributes under the correct heading.  This will help you see which of your own qualities to emphasize when building your personal brand.

Reflect: Based on the above activity, what are 2-3 qualities of an ‘Ideal Candidate’ that you possess?

Watch: What is Personal Brand?

For a science student, a strong, authentic personal brand is critical. In a competitive landscape, it helps you stand out. It builds trust and establishes you as a credible, knowledgeable person in your field. Think of well-known public scientists like Dr. Theresa Tam, Neil DeGrasse Tyson or Bill Nye the Science Guy; their strong personal brands of being knowledgeable and trustworthy give them a platform to share their expertise and have an impact by connecting to audiences through various forms of media.

Defining Your Professional Identity

A strong personal brand or professional identity is an authentic one, built from the inside out. Before you can communicate who you are to others, you need to be clear on it yourself.

This process starts with understanding three core pillars:

Pillar Guiding Question Note
1. Your Skills and Strengths What are you good at? This includes both technical skills learned in your courses and labs (e.g., Python, PCR, or statistical analysis) and professional competencies (e.g., problem-solving, communication).
2. Your Passion and Interests What do you genuinely enjoy?

What topics do you find yourself reading about in your spare time?

What are your career interests or problems you’d like to solve?

 Your interests fuel your work and make your brand compelling.
3. Your Values What principles are most important to you in a work or academic setting?

Do you value collaboration, innovation, stability, or community impact?

 Aligning your path with your values is key to long-term fulfillment.
Try It: Personal Brand Brainstorm

Quick Chapter Recap

  • Your personal brand is ‘what people think about you when you’re not in the room’
  • Be intentional about the impression you create in the minds of other people in person and online
  • Reflect on your interests, skills, passions, goals and values to define your professional identity

 

Need more support with building your professional identity?

Meet with a Science Career Advisor
Book a 30-minute appointment with the Science Careers & Experience Centre (BSB 127) in advance through OSCARplus.

Design your future with SCIENCE 2DL3
Enrol in SCIENCE 2DL3: Design Your Science Career— an interactive career development course designed to help undergraduate students take charge of their future with creativity and confidence.

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Science Careers & Experience Guidebook Copyright © by McMaster University, Science Careers & Experience Centre is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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