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What Is Branding And Why It Matters

May 8, 2012

These days you’ve probably seen a great deal of material online about “personal branding” or “branding your job search.” Both of these refer to the same subject, which is essentially to use certain marketing tactics to enhance your job search by associating yourself with certain concepts, such as extensive experience or a particular skill.

Not every job seeker has picked up on branding yet, although many scratch the surface of it without even realizing it by repeating a tagline or brief objective on their resume and online profiles. This is just one small part of “branding,” however…you can take it (and your job search) a great deal further!

The first step to branding is to pick a target. Think about the kind of job you really want, and the sort of company that may offer it. For example, if you want a job in a big corporation you’ll be applying through their human resources department, and they are probably tougher to impress than a small business owner who’s looking for help. (We can help you with the HR managers, since we know exactly what kinds of things they want!)

Once you know who you’re trying to reach, keep it in mind while you come up with a few concepts to associate yourself with. You might pick your particular specialty, or a past achievement of note, or a trait (such as reliability or efficiency) that you know your target wants. Keep it simple and stick to a handful of these.

With your concepts in hand, your next job is to write or re-write your resume and be sure to address the associations directly. Don’t be repetitive and don’t be afraid to occasionally replace them with alternate words (reliability can also be responsibility; efficiency is all about time management) to avoid sounding redundant. When your resume is done, update all of your online profiles to reflect it, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and any other public profile an employer might find.

Next…keep the associations going! Make sure your public updates reflect the qualities that you’ve chosen. If your resume and profile “reflect” these qualities, then posting content that suggests them “projects” it, making you easier (and more interesting) to find!

If you’d like help getting started with your personal brand, be sure to contact us and we’ll guide you through it.

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