Many companies have responded to recent economic challenges and have developed products and services to help today’s jobseekers and professionals. Social media and improvements in web-based technologies have helped this development.
Employers are hiring online and looking at business profiles
Recruiters and human resource managers are doing more business over the internet including more job opportunities being posted on websites. Social and professional networking websites like LinkedIn continue to thrive and grow their communities. Many offer new products such as a premium membership or resume distribution service that help individuals market themselves online.
Weddle's Source of Employment Survey confirms the new model for many mangers or executives. Over 60% identified professional networking sites as the top technology tool that they believe will be most useful in hiring efforts over the next three years.
Social Media plays a role in finding jobs
Managing your professional reputation online and marketing yourself via the internet are new skills for today’s jobseeker. Many new products and services have hit the market recently to help with reputation management and privacy or identity concerns such as ReputationDefender.
Personal branding involves a word, name, phrase or symbol that represents you as though you were a product. It is the packaging and presentation of yourself, via body, appearance, content, and communication to create a unique impression and communicate your value.
The concept of brand is rooted in marketing and the packaging of goods. The term has recently been applied to human beings due to the increasing importance of marketing ourselves in current economic times.
Personal branding can help you market yourself to employers
Ask those who know you best – colleagues, friends, family or clients – for their honest assessment of you. What comes to mind first? What defines you? The true measure of your personal brand is revealed in what they have to say about you.
In terms of building your professional reputation, your personal brand should be linked with your value proposition. For example, if you are starting a coaching career you may chose to call yourself Coach Class and use a motto Turning Student Athletes into Citizens whereas your competitor might go with Coach V (for Victory) and a motto of Win At All Costs! The first sends a message, or brand promise, that is about integrity and overall personal development through sport. This might appeal to parents of student athletes in particular. The second sends a message of winning as the most important value and appeals to an intense competitive drive rather than personal development.
Ultimately brand is about communication and building relationships. If you think of yourself as a product or service, ask yourself the following questions:
- What are my strengths or greatest employment assets?
- What is my brand promise or greatest value proposition to prospective employers?
- How can I show this or back this up (e.g. work samples, videos of presentations, etc.)?
- How can I communicate this in the most compelling way to my desired audience?
Establishing a personal brand can be a good approach to showcasing yourself in today's marketplace and showing how you are different from other job seekers. You should consider what others have done in the way of creative approaches. Their content is showcased in their business profiles in a compelling manner that leaves a strong impression and conveys information quickly.
Resource:
Mashable: Personal Branding
Michael Firth - I'm a career expert, consultant, teacher and social entrepreneur. I have recently served as Ask the Expert blogger on ...
