So You Have a Professional Brand? Now Sell It!

Jennifer Fry
Careerminds Consultant

By now, I'm certain that you're familiar with the concept of a personal or professional brand; it's a concrete identity by which you can quickly and accurately describe yourself as a professional, and it's a great way to efficiently sell your skills and abilities to potential employers. Once you've devised your professional brand, however, the question becomes, how do I go about selling this brand effectively? After all, a great brand is nothing if people don't know about it-- at least not if the right people don't know about it.
With the on-going interest personal/professional branding, it's become more important to not only come up with an attention-grabbing brand, but also to market it creatively and effectively. Perhaps some of these ideas will be the right choice for you and your brand.

• Brand your Facebook profile. Employers are becoming increasingly interested in what their employees and potential employees are doing on social networks, so why not take advantage of their interest by putting your brand's best face forward on your profile. Use your profile and cover photos to illustrate your brand and keep the content that you post professional, consistent and relevant to your brand. The Timeline feature makes outlining your experience easier than ever.
• Use video or video features. This technique can be used independently or in conjunction with any number of other marketing tools (i.e.: Facebook, LinkedIn, website, blog, etc). Create a video resume using a storytelling technique or just touching on highlights; provide video footage of presentations you've made, or events you've put together or hosted; ask colleagues, clients or mentors to give testimonials on video. These are only a few ideas, but the possibilities are endless. You could set up an entire YouTube channel to your brand!
• Start blogging. Create and maintain your own industry-relevant blog, or offer to write guest posts for other blogs that you read, which is a great way to put your name and ideas out there while also building your network. Think about what issues keep industry leaders up at night, and address them, and invite readers to ask questions-- thought-leadership will be a major asset to your brand and your job search. Consider integrating your blog with other social media or video components.
• Create a website. The personal website could be falling to wayside while personal blogs are on the rise, but integrating the two could be the best way to provide stable pages with unchanging information plus new, up-to-date content. A website, as opposed to a blog, may allow you to more easily include tabs for "About Me," "Resume," "Testimonials," "Blog," "What I Can Do For Your Company," etc. so that some content stays constant, such as "About Me" while your blog content can be updated regularly.

While you don't have to take advantage of every single personal marketing tool there is, and while this list only provides a few possibilities, you and your personal/professional brand will benefit from being available to those who may be interested (i.e.: industry leaders, potential employers, etc). And remember, many of these tools and techniques can be used together, one complimenting the other(s) to be represent you.

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Careerminds provides scalable, strategic solutions to organizations seeking affordable, web-based outplacement services. Using a Web 2.0 e-learning platform that delivers affordable, online career transition services, Careerminds provides a high-tech and high-touch blend of on-demand career transition education supported by senior-level career consultants to help displaced workers reenter the workforce quickly.

Personal Branding: Putting It All Together

Jennifer Fry
Careerminds Consultant

We've discussed personal branding in the past, and it should be evident by now that developing and marketing your own personal brand is vital for your career transition success. With the job market in its current state, on the upswing but still not as strong as it could be, you need to stand out in a relevant way; it's one thing to be noticed, but quite another to be noticed for great reasons. The idea behind a personal brand is not to create a phony persona for yourself, but rather to build a recognizable brand based upon who you really are. Think of your favorite consumer brand, and consider how instantly you're able to recognize its products; now imagine your resume or LinkedIn profile or blog inciting the same reaction from employers. Consistency over all platforms is the key to a personal brand that catches employers' eyes, and keeps them interested.

To begin, consider what you do, what others know you for, and how these compare with your career goals. The goal is for your self-perception and that of others to match, and for them both to clearly connect with your aspirations. The brand goes beyond a job title, so think about what has made your individual efforts special-- why are your experiences and skills something no one else could possibly compare to? Talk to co-workers, friends and family to get a good idea of what others think.

Once you've established what you and everyone else agrees is your brand, you can start putting it out there. You don't need to create a profile on every social network there is, plus a blog, plus a website, plus business cards, plus this and plus that. The focus should be on the quality of your presence, not the quantity of your profiles and so on. Consider your options, and take advantage of those that you think work best for you and for your area of work--  multimedia professionals should have an appropriate multimedia presence, for instance. When deciding what tools and platforms to use, consider these options (some of which are a must regardless of your brand):

• Business cards
• Resume/Cover letter
• Portfolio
• Blog
• Website
• LinkedIn profile
• Facebook profile
• Twitter
• Video resume
• Email address

While you work on establishing your brand and your branding tools, keep in mind the consistent messages and images you should be including. Think back to that consumer brand you love, and how the logo and slogan are always the same. That's what makes them memorable: consistent reinforcement. Create a slogan for yourself-- maybe just a title such as Social Media Expert; post the same profile photo on every profile you have; keep the typeface and coloration on your business cards similar to that on your resume and even your blog. The moment an employer or a network connection comes across one of these branding tools, he/she will immediately recognize it as yours, and your brand can be as successful as those that you recognize everyday.

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Careerminds provides scalable, strategic solutions to organizations seeking affordable, web-based outplacement services. Using a Web 2.0 e-learning platform that delivers affordable, online career transition services, Careerminds provides a high-tech and high-touch blend of on-demand career transition education supported by senior-level career consultants to help displaced workers reenter the workforce quickly.

Show Your Job Search Some Love

Jennifer Fry
Careerminds Consultant

It's been a week since Valentine's Day has come and gone, and while you can be certain that many people made sure to show some extra attention to their significant others, the question remains about showing a little extra love to their job searches. Although the time has passed to present your Valentine with flowers and chocolate, it's never too late to go above and beyond during your career transition.
Certain steps to job search success go without saying-- compose a quality resume, research and seek out employers, network, etc.-- but there are a few extra measures that you can take to really give your job search some added attention.

• Create a blog. Share your knowledge with your professional community, and show it off to your potential employers. By maintaining a blog that focuses on information relevant to your field, you can become a thought leader, or the person that everyone in your industry turns to for the latest and greatest news and knowledge. What better way to impress an employer by providing a link to your own well-kept professional blog on your resume.
• Write guest posts. So maybe creating and maintaining our own blog sounds like a tough feat. That's ok. You can build up to that, or just get your name out there by writing guest posts for other people's blogs. Find a blog that is 1) relevant to your field, 2) well-written, 3) accepting guest entries, and get in contact with the administrator. Writing for a pre-established blog will help you make connections, and may help you find a job. Be sure to include a brief bio with contact information at the end of your post, and mention that you are seeking employment. You never know who may be reading!
• Find a mentor. Utilize your own network to find a professional who is willing to invest themselves in your search. An ideal mentor is someone who is currently working in a position similar to what you are aspiring to do, and whose network is relevant to your field. A good mentor can provide additional connections, great advice, and one-on-one attention.
• Seek feedback. Make use of your network, your friends and family, and the interviewers with whom you come into contact. Sometimes the truth can be hard to hear, but if you haven't found the success you've been looking for, constructive feedback may be just what you need to move forward.

It may be too late to romance your Valentine, but a little extra effort in your job search can never come too late.

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Careerminds provides scalable, strategic solutions to organizations seeking affordable, web-based outplacement services. Using a Web 2.0 e-learning platform that delivers affordable, online career transition services, Careerminds provides a high-tech and high-touch blend of on-demand career transition education supported by senior-level career consultants to help displaced workers reenter the workforce quickly.

Will Starting A Blog Help You Land A Job?

Brittany Richter
Careerminds Consultant

During the career transition process you are doing whatever you can to help your efforts move along smoothly, and hopefully rapidly. In addition to everything else, you’re reading blogs, hearing about blogs, and maybe your friends are even encouraging you to write one. A lot of individuals who are in your same position are adding “Start a blog” to their task lists for the job hunt. Should you be doing the same?

Our answer:  If you do it right, it couldn’t hurt. If you follow our tips and advice and keep things appropriate, starting a blog could be a good addition to your job search process.

Start a blog if:

• The jobs you are looking for require critical thinking and/or written communication skills
• You can come up with something relevant and appropriate to focus on
• If you have the time to devote to it

Don’t start a blog if:

• The individuals in your industry aren’t likely to read blogs
• If the skills necessary for the positions you are applying for can in no way be showcased via a blog

If you have decided that you fit in to the category where blogging may be a good addition to your job hunt, there are a few things you may want to understand before you get started. The reason why a blog could be a good addition is because it can help you build your professional brand. If you have skills or traits that are hard to put down or show on paper, then a blog could be your opportunity to showcase yourself. For example, “strong communication skills” is one of the most common phrases that appears on a resume. If you start a blog, you can show that you really do have superior written communication skills. The same goes for critical thinking, design, technological and analytical skills, among others.

The key is to decide on a relevant focus for your blog content and never lose sight of why you are blogging. Below is a list of additional guidelines to help you get started and to leverage your blog as job search tool.

Guidelines for Starting a Blog for the Job Search Process

1. Decide on a focus for your content and stick to it. If it doesn’t work out, delete the blog and start over with the new topic.
2.  Don’t slack… on anything.  Make sure to proofread your content, link to the sources of your information when appropriate, and take the time to think of compelling, relevant material. Spelling and grammatical mistakes, a lack of attribution to sources of information and lackluster content won’t help you build your personal brand.
3. Come up with a schedule. If you decide in advance how often you’d like add entries to your blog, you can create continuity by sticking with that schedule. We would suggest starting with 1-2 posts per week until you get the hang of it; then moving to 3-4, depending on how much you feel you can handle. What you want to avoid is posting 10 times in one week and then not at all for several weeks.
4. Use it as a learning opportunity. Starting a blog about something relevant to the industry you are hoping to obtain a position in can help you not only establish your brand, but expand your skill set. Research topics that you don’t know much about and then write about them based on what you’ve found. This will expand your knowledge base and could help you add skills to your resume that you didn’t have before.
5. Promote! Post a link to your Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook account statuses—if you have them—each time you post. Also consider joining industry websites and joining relevant groups on LinkedIn to promote your blog.

Click here to listen to an interview of our very own Dr. Justin Schakelman as he talks about social media and the job search. 

Where To Start:

Ready to get blogging?

Search Google for different websites that will help you design and host your blog. One popular example is Wordpress.

Need a little inspiration?

Tyler Durbin at Generation y Journey tells his personal story of how his blog got him a job.

Need an example?

Abby Stollar is seeking employment in Public Relations and started a blog about trends in the industry and commentary on anything related to the subject.

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Careerminds provides scalable, strategic solutions to organizations seeking affordable, web-based outplacement services. Using a Web 2.0 e-learning platform that delivers affordable, online career transition services, Careerminds provides a high-tech and high-touch blend of on-demand career transition education supported by senior-level career consultants to help displaced workers reenter the workforce quickly.