How to Develop a Strong Personal Brand
You, Inc. – Your Personal Brand You may not realize it, but you have your own personal brand. You’ve either actively taken steps to create your own brand or unknowingly developed an impression of yourself regarding how people see you. This snapshot displays a specific or array of characteristics and behaviors. Your brand is used to uniquely individualize and depict yourself in a certain way and is used as a tool to help promote yourself. A successful brand should seamlessly solidify an idea in peoples’ minds on how they view a person, business, product or service. For example, Coca Cola is a product that everyone knows due to the effectiveness of Coca Cola branding. Through numerous marketing and advertising tactics (branding), it has become one of the most popular soda drinks in the world. In conjunction with its inception, Coca Cola created their brand to promote and sell their product. The brand was designed to give the public a perception of Coca Cola products in a multitude of different ways. Coca Cola’s logo, commercials, website, and endorsement campaigns are integrated parts of their overall brand that successfully invoke a positive perception to increase sales. When applying the concept to yourself, you need to understand the purpose of developing a strong personal brand. The main purpose is to shine a spotlight on what you want to promote whether that be to impress an interviewer for a new job, become friends with a stranger at a party, or persuade your future in-laws that you’re a terrific match for their son/daughter. So How do I Create a Strong, Positive Personal Brand? First you need to have a goal in mind related to what you are ultimately trying to accomplish. Maybe you want people to appreciate you as being funny, or kind hearted, or evoke fear because you want to be known as a “tough guy”. It doesn’t have to be one specific attribute, but it needs to promote and advertise those characteristics in social settings to generate specific feelings and perceptions about who you are. Brands work most effortlessly when they are genuine and true to yourself. You may be able to fake being something you’re not for a period of time, but once people have the opportunity to really know you they’ll be able to peel back the layers and expose those deception. Authenticity is key. It is ultimately counterproductive to try to be something you’re not. In relation to selling your brand be aware that one of the most effective tools is having other credible people promote you. If someone else will readily vouch for you, the product (you) becomes more meaningful and believable. Sure you can tell your boss you’re hard-working, but if he/she hears it from a co-worker or customer it is more likely to make a strong, lasting impression. Lastly you’ll want to continuously display what you want people to see. If you exhibit one side of yourself in a certain way one day, and then show a contradictory side on the next, you become an enigma and people can’t pinpoint or believe in your brand. There shouldn’t be any confusion about what you’re trying to showcase in yourself, the more consistent you are the more likely people will view you that way and define you and your brand accordingly. That’s what will help make it a strong, successful brand.
Top Five Job Search Myths
Avoid These Job Search Myths when Creating an Effective Job Search Strategy Job searches can be an intimidating undertaking, especially in today’s perceived shrinking market. Unfortunately, though, there is a lot of misinformation creating a defeatist attitude before job hunters ever submit their first resume. We are going to debunk some of the more damaging myths that prevent many job seekers from developing a proper job search strategy. Myth #1: All Jobs are Located on Job Search Engines Yes, there are a significant amount of jobs available online, but these jobs are also available to everyone with a computer. Furthermore, many of these jobs are only posted AFTER internal resources have been exhausted. Translation: there are more jobs with much less competition available through your current network. Don’t be afraid to reach out to current and old business contacts to see what is available. Myth #2: You Only Need One Resume One of the problems many job seekers make when using job search engines is having a single resume to use to apply to any and all jobs. Do you realize companies have scanners that actually look for keywords related to the posting? So, what happens when your resume does not meet these basic criteria? Into the shredder you go! While you can have a basic resume as a starting point, it must be customized for every position. Take the time to customize the highlights of your experience as they relate to the job listing. You will be surprised how many companies in the same industry and for like positions emphasis different points of experience as their specific requirements. Myth #3: Job Searches Only Take a Couple of Months Today, this could not be further from the truth. With so many people out of work, it has become an employer’s market. While there are obviously people that find a job relatively quick, more and more people are finding it can take as long as a year to find employment. However, many of these people are not pursuing opportunities aggressively. By going all out right from the start, you can set yourself apart and hopefully land a job much quicker than today’s average. Myth #4: I Need to Put My Entire Work History on My Resume Think about this… What does an entry level job you did 30 years ago have to do with the executive position you are applying for today? Resumes should be one page and cover roughly the last ten or so years of employment. If need be, you can touch on prior experience and then use that as a way to impress during your live interview. Your resume needs to be to the point and dazzle the employer with your achievements so you can get in the door, not bore them to death with irrelevant experience. Myth #5: I’m Too Old for a New Career That may have been true at one point, but not today. In this economy, employers can wait for the “perfect” employee that is truly passionate versus on that is merely there to pick up a check. If you want to transition to a new field, do it in one that you are passionate about and let that show during your interview. If you were the business owner, would you want someone fresh out of college with zero experience or a proven winner that is excited about starting a new chapter in his or her life? It is your passion that can and will set you apart.
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