Without a doubt, your most critical asset when launching into a job search is your personal brand. In a market as competitive as today’s, your skills and knowledge are most likely replaceable. It is the personal collection of accomplishments, attitudes and unique attributes that will likely land you (or your competitor) the job.
Here are just a few reasons to make sure your personal brand is clearly defined and communicated in a job search:
It’s what separates you from the crowd. Keywords may help get your resume to human eyes, and your experience might get you to the interview, but it’s your personal brand – those qualities, values and reputation that make you unique – that separates you from the other candidates in order to get you hired.
It helps get you out of the resume rut. Your resume is but one tool for communicating your skills and expertise – and every other candidate will have one. When you put intention into building a personal brand, you branch out to other creative outlets (i.e. portfolios, profiles, websites, events) to communicate your expertise both on and offline.
It targets your efforts. The process of personal branding is all about strategy – with a clear goal in mind, you put intention and effort into getting there. It’s not about fate or chance or luck, but rather about the work and creativity you put into your search and communicating how you can add value to target employers.
It helps others connect you. When you’re clear about who you are, what you offer and what you want, you can clearly articulate that to others who may be in a position to connect you. If you’re not clear about what you want, your networking efforts get watered down and others don’t know how to help you.
The ability to articulate your personal brand is so critical to the job search in a market like this one – to know who you are, what you want and what you do best, and how to communicate what makes you unique and compelling to potential employers.
Next month, we will be launching our first of a series of Coaching Calls to discuss and review all matters of personal branding. As an attendee, you will be able to send your questions ahead of time, so the content will directly address your questions and issues. We’ll kick off this new series in November with our first call dedicated to Personal Branding in the Job Search – How to Amplify Your Personal Brand & Stand Out. If you want to get the details and sign up information for this call, click here to get updates.
