Your Brand, Your Career

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9/6/2013Your Brand, Your Career

ITAC Solutions, Charles Baughman

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We’re going to begin this morning discussing the concept of “Personal Brand”.

This September ‘97edition of Fast Company, a publication on innovation in technology, ethonomics, leadership and design, addressed the topic of “The Brand Called You – You Can’t Move Up if You Don’t Stand Out!”. The topic remains as relevant today, 15 years later, as it ever was, particularly in light of the continuing competition to find and keep employment.

Before you can successfully piece together a résumé and online or social media profile, you have to know who you are and more importantly, who others perceive you to be. Take control of your brand or let the chips fall where they may.

So, what’s a brand?Well, branding is the art and science of defining and differentiating yourself to the public.

An effective brandmotivates its audience to choose its subject over another subject. In the example of a job‐seeker, it compels an employer to choose you over someone else.

Branding begins with one question…

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Donald Trump ‐ very clear on who he is and is not, consistent in what he does, always making sure his brand is being communicated. Takes charge of communicating his brand

Oprah – Self‐improvement, giving back, controlling your own destiny. Her motto “live your best life” shined through in her show, magazine, and on her website.

Tiger Woods – His was a personal brand portraying character and achievement, determination to overcome injury and be the best. To not let that boy‐next‐door image be affected by fame and fortune.

Lady Gaga – Uses her image and controversial nature to reach out to her “little monsters”.

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• What makes you tick? • Why do you like working with some people more than others? • Why do you find yourself actually doing better work when working with some people over others? • Why do you enjoy some projects over others? Is your enjoyment based on the role you play or the work you actually do? • These are often the things about which you are passionate.

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• What results have you put up in the past? • Even if the majority of your experience is in classroom projects or committee (special interest) work, you should still be able to answer this question.

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• It wasn’t a river that carved out the grand canyon but the collection of individual drops of water over time. • You don’t have to be a celebrity like Donald Trump or Oprah Winfrey to have an impact on your environment. • Do you have change well? • Are you an effective communicator? •Are you a good leader? • All of these are traits which can help you identify your ability to impact those around you. • Just be sure you can prove it and more importantly, those who can back up your statements.

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• Everyone has value• What about your skillset or background makes you valuable?• What about your skillset or background is unique to you? • If you have trouble finding the answer within, don’t be shy about asking those who know you well and care about your success. They’re likely to be able to rattle off a few suggestions to help you out.

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What’s a “UVP”?

Your “Unique Value Proposition”.

To answer this question, look at your answers to the first four questions you’ve asked yourself.

Where are your passions? What direct value can and do you provide? What is unique about the way you provide that value?

Find a way to articulate your personal brand succinctly.

I’m a business professional with a focus on helping people and business succeed together.

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• Recent CareerBuilder survey of hiring managers said 1/5 of a candidate’s online profile helped them land the position

• 43% said they found information that led them NOT to hire the candidate, up 9% from last year

• Avoid!!!• Racy Photos• Booze!!! 48% of employers discovered info about candidate drinking or drug use

on Social Media• Crazy Ranting – bad‐mouthing employers or others• Poor Communication Skills• Intolerance – 28% of managers spotted discriminatory comments regarding race,

gender and religion• Lies – Just less than ¼ discovered candidates had misrepresented themselves

through their online profiles.

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• What are the benefits of limiting your social media “exposure”? • Less to manage• Less opportunity for potential employers to find out the less‐than‐desirable information about you

• What are the benefits of utilizing multiple social media sites? • Creates new ways for potential employers to find you• Now, almost an expectation that you have a social media presence• Introduces new ways for you to find employers –

•Career pages• Special interests ‐ philanthropies

• What are the challenges of utilizing multiple social media sites? • Brand Consistency• Security• Archaic information

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• Does your appearance marry up with your personal brand? If you want people to think of you as someone who “has it together”, is that what they see when they look at you? • Are the words people use to describe you and who you think yourself to be the same? • If not, start looking for the disconnects. • Do the trails you leave for people to find and follow you lead them down the path to the real you? • Do the clubs, musicians, books, blog posts and responses, status updates, and other interests you share online tell the right story….the real story? • When you are true to your personal brand, you are authentic and unique. This makes you uniquely valuable! • Now, let’s talk more about that online aspect of your “personal brand”.

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• Survey from TheLadders indicated that hiring authorities spend, on average, 6 seconds reviewing resumees before deciding to investigate further.

•4 of the 6 seconds are spent looking exclusively at four areas:•Job Titles•Previous Employers•Start and End Dates•Education

• Check spelling – 61% of recruiters in CareerBuilder survey would automatically dismiss a resume due to typos• According to one Adecco Survey, 43% of hiring managers disqualify candidates for spelling errors• Lastly, 76% of managers surveyed will reject a resume’ for an unprofessional email address

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• Soft résumé versions:• Increasingly important as more companies require/request online application to jobs• Companies using job boards such as Monster or CareerBuilder have built‐in search tools to help them find candidates in the resume databases of those job boards. • So, those systems rank resumees based upon the key words the user (i.e., recruiter) puts into the system to find candidates. If you key words aren’t the keywords the user identifies, your resumee may not show up in the results.

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Your Brand, Your Career 9/6/2013

ITAC Solutions, Charles Baughman 24

• Use your personal brand and your unique value proposition to position yourself for a successful meeting• Listen to your inner voice to know if there’s going to be a disconnect between who you are, what you enjoy, and the job for which you’re applying. If the fit doesn’t seem right, don’t try to force yourself into the wrong position. • Use the information you learn about yourself through the job search process to tweak your personal brand, adjusting your social media profiles and résumés, where necessary. • Be confident, armed with the knowledge that you know who you are, what your bring to the table, and how you can make a great impact for the right employer!

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Your Brand, Your Career

Recruiting & HR

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