Branding
You:
The Personal Branding Edge
By: Seth
Treptow, BGS Communications Director
“You still have to be a quality candidate; you can’t be a slacker or none of this is going to work for you. You have to be good at what you do.”
In
today’s increasingly competitive marketplace, first
impressions are more important than ever. Consumers are
flooded with opportunities and choices, and companies
wishing to remain afloat are dependent upon these first
impressions making an impact.
Companies go to great length and expense informing potential
customers about their product’s style, dependability,
comfort, affordability, effervescence, or a myriad of
other qualities that they want the product to be known
for. Such is the essence of branding – finding the
qualities that set a product apart from the rest and building
an identity around them.
So it also goes with personal branding.
“Personal branding is how we market ourselves to
others. It’s a process,” explained Dan Schwabel,
social media specialist at EMC Corporation and author
of “Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career
Success”.
“When you brand yourself properly, the competition
becomes irrelevant,” he said.
In essence, personal branding highlights those qualities
that separate job seekers from the masses – clearly
demonstrating what it is they do better than the rest.
While the concept is by no means new to the business world,
recent trends have many experts touting its importance
more than ever.
Schwabel points out two main drivers for this growing
personal branding trend: competition and technology. Thanks
to social media tools, he said it is now possible for
individuals to build and strengthen their own brands,
with little or no cost other than time.
Just as a company will highlight specific qualities of
its products, job seekers must do the same when developing
their personal brands. By initiating an organized career
branding strategy – integrating a variety of outlets
such as social networking, blogging and traditional face-to-face
networking – job seekers can make their brands known
to others, building a reputation for who they are and
what they bring to the table.
“It’s really the flavor you bring,”
explained Laura Smith-Proulx, executive director of An
Expert Resume. “Your brand is distinctly different
from that of your colleagues, your competition. You already
have an edge that employers would like to know about.”
Of course, before a job seeker can take advantage of that
edge, he or she must first know what that edge is.
“Put the time and effort into discovering your brand
and how you want to be branded,” said Schwabel.
“If you don’t know who you are, or what you
want to be known for, then it is going to be really hard
for people to get to know you and for you to become the
go-to-person for a specific skill.”
Along with a better understanding of one’s self
must also come a change in mentality regarding the job
search process.
“A lot of what people have seen lately on the job
search is that despite the fact you need to be so proactive,
they are still thinking of a job search as a reactive
kind of strategy,” Smith-Proulx said. “The
employer wants my resume, I must list all my from-and-to
dates, and I must list all these details. Instead of starting
from a strategic standpoint, they are starting tactically
and reactively and saying, ‘I think this is what
employers are looking for.’ Employers are really
looking for a solution.
“In terms of anyone coming into this market right
now, mapping out a strategy for yourself before you start
slinging resumes everywhere is always the way to go.”
So where does that strategizing start?
If you are a fledgling personal brander, Smith-Proulx
said it may be good to start with a period of self-reflection
to thoroughly define who you are and where you want to
go with your career.
For additional assistance in honing your brand, she said
you may want to seek the advice of your peers.
“In terms of how people can tap into their brand
and think of it, a lot of it can be gained by just asking
those around you,” Smith-Proulx said. “What
they think that you really stand for; what your strengths
are; what your main competencies are. Then give those
some thought as to how to draw those out.
“Perhaps a person might be very thorough, meticulous,
efficient – when they get out into the workforce,
they are certainly going to bring those qualities forward,” she said.
Personality traits, while important, are only the start.
A properly crafted brand must also incorporate applicable
experience that backs up the brand.
“Employers need to know not only what kind of personality
they are getting, but also what strengths and competencies
you bring,” she said.
Dan Schwabel
Social Media Specialist, EMC Corporation;
Author of “Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success”
Schwabel recommends approaching any branding effort not
for the job that you have, but for the job that you want.
As such, newcomers to personal branding may need to start
by asking themselves a few questions to uncover what job
or career they ultimately want to have.
“It could be as simple as, ‘What was your
favorite class in school?’ or ‘What outside
of work makes you excited?’ Putting kind of a SWOT
analyses of your brand together – strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, threats – just like a company would
do, “ he said.
Once a basic career path has been identified, additional
honing may be required.
“You can’t head in and become a marketing
expert because the world has enough of those. You have
to really push down,” urged Schwabel. “You
have to become an Internet marketing expert, and that
may not be enough. So you may have to become an Internet
marketing expert for youth. And if that’s not enough,
an Internet marketing expert for college students in the
Boston area. So it’s really segmenting your market
and reaching that target group and becoming known to that
target group for your expertise.
“Research the industry that you might be interested
in getting into – see what it will take to break
through. See what the market is like and see how you can
stand out amongst everyone else.”
A job seeker’s core competencies must be strong,
Schwabel said, because that is the foundation of your
personal brand.
“You still have to be a quality candidate; you can’t
be a slacker or none of this is going to work for you.
You have to be good at what you do.”
Once job seekers determine who they are and what they
want to do, they must then put these key bits of information
to work. However, Schwabel warns that the results of even
the best branding efforts may take some time to bear fruit.
“It may take several months, several years to make
that happen, but it’s all about passion mixed with
expertise,” he said.
“Don’t give up. There are so many opportunities
out there. If you really want to be successful or happy
in life, you have to create your own opportunities.”
Despite the fact that it takes some time and requires
job seekers to utilize new techniques, the effort can
lead to better career opportunities down the line.
“There is a ton of information out there,”
Smith-Proulx said. “I say that sometimes the biggest
mistake we can make is not seeing what’s going on
now. It’s not our father’s job search anymore.”
The following are a few bits of advice from our experts about how to make the most of your personal brand:
Integrating
your personal brand into your resume
Smith-Proulx: A lot of people think that
employers are looking for certain types of personalities
and capabilities, so they flood their resumes with the
same terms. They are all self-motivated team players instead
of something a bit more differentiating.
Schwabel: Resumes have changed. A resume
is not enough anymore. Employers are getting so many resumes
that they need to grade (applicants) on more. Doing a
video resume, or a one-minute summary of who you are or
what you can bring to the company is useful. Print out
your LinkedIn profile, which has recommendations, hopefully,
from your various supervisors. Just small tactics like
that will make you stand out more.
Conveying personal
brand at the interview
Smith-Proulx: “Tell me about yourself,”
for example, that’s a great one in which to convey
some key points about your brand. What I typically coach
people to do is to think of three main components of your
brand. One could be the skill-sets that they bring. One
could be the degree program and anything associated with
it, the third might be reputation. Every story told within
the context of the interview should revolve around those
kinds of themes.
Schwabel: It’s all about the research
and preparation beforehand. You have so much information
accessible at your fingertips these days, you can find
out what it’s like to work for a company without
working there…You can figure out if you want to
work there so you don’t waste your time and you
don’t waste their time. It’s all about finding
a match. Doing your research on the person you are interviewing
with as well as the company, knowing as much as you can
will really make or break you, because your competition
will. Dress the part. Understand what the corporate culture
is like, and mimic them with your own style. Just be professional.
Personal branding online
Smith-Proulx: What most people need to
be cognizant of is that any information can be gleaned
through social media really becomes part of your brand,
and should support your brand. The information online
about you should be monitored, should be built carefully,
strategically around the brand you are trying to convey.
There certainly are a lot of people who are not thinking
of social media in terms of their brand. In terms of finding
digital dirt, that can be very hurtful during the job
search. It can also be harmful not to have a media presence.
Schwabel: Online, you have to reserve
your name across the whole Web 2.0 sphere. Reserve all
those for brand protection. Then see what people are already
saying about you online, and see what people are saying
about the topic that you want to own. Consistently put
out content that’s related to the field or position
that you want to create for yourself…Tell the world
who you are and what you want to do so all the opportunities
that you would be interested and passionate will translate
for you.
