Insider Secrets To Upgrade Your Professional Career Branding And Close The Deal On That New Job Opportunity
Résumés and LinkedIn profiles are an essential part of the branding process, but they're almost never enough. Don't be a victim of the high unemployment rate!
By taking your career branding to the next level, you can land a great position in a matter of weeks—not months or years.
So, if you've been sitting around waiting for the right opportunity to come your way, now is the time to take action.
In today's job market, a strong resume and a well-crafted LinkedIn profile won't get you very far. In order to truly succeed, you need a career branding strategy.
What is career branding? Branding is what makes a company or product unique. It's the experience created for customers through service, marketing, and PR. And it can be applied to individuals as well!
Career branding involves much more than putting together a really nice cover letter and making sure your LinkedIn profile is up-to-date. The goal of career branding is make a lasting impression on employers by ensuring that everyone who encounters you—whether they meet you in person, watch your presentation online, or read your latest blog post—views you as a leader and an expert.
To help you get started with career branding, here are 3 insider tips to upgrade your professional brand to grab that new job:
Focus on your real customer. If you want your professional career branding strategy to be effective, you have to focus on real customers—not just potential employers or hiring managers. When you're putting together your branding plan, don't think about what you like or dislike; think about how the messaging will resonate with people who are hiring for positions similar to yours. If you're a project manager who works with Excel all day, you might think that creating a presentation about how to use pivot tables is a great idea. But if you never see an Excel pivot table again once the presentation is over, it's not going to make much of an impression on your audience. So instead, create a slideshow or short video about managing projects using the pivot table function. Once you learn to view your skills, knowledge, and experiences from someone else's point of view—a customer who wants to know what you can do for them—you will be able to craft a career branding strategy that works!
Represent yourself how you want to be seen. To create a career branding plan that impresses potential employers, you have to make sure you're representing yourself the way YOU want to be seen—not the way others describe you. There's nothing wrong with being smart and successful, but instead of letting everyone assume that you're amazing at everything you do, be open about your strengths and weaknesses. It might seem scary to admit that there are areas where you need improvement—but once you become more transparent, you'll start to notice that people will be much more willing to trust what you say. And when it comes time for YOU to write about yourself or answer questions in an interview, your career branding statements will be clear and concise.
Speak and write like a real person. When you're creating a presentation or writing copy for your resume/LinkedIn profile, pretend you're talking to a friend, not an employer. It might sound like career branding advice you've heard before, but it's true! I know this because I've worked with clients who were trying to make the most impressive career branding statement or answer all of their "interview questions" at once. But their final drafts sounded stiff and formal . And if you read something that you would never say in casual conversation, it will be obvious to your audience. The next time you write a presentation, create a resume/LinkedIn profile, or record your "elevator pitch," pretend you're having a conversation with someone who has nothing to gain by helping you—and then adjust the language accordingly!
It's important to remember that if everyone else gets hired except you, it's not their fault - the problem is your profile or approach. You should not worry about what others do and say - instead, focus on yourself and make sure you are doing everything possible to get hired.
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🔴 Ilene Rein is an Executive Recruiter and Job Search Strategist. She teaches job seekers exactly how to market themselves with laser precision to employers using inside secrets from the view of the Recruiter exponentially increasing their chances of getting noticed and hired rapidly!
Schedule a complimentary consultation to speak directly with Ilene to discuss your job search and how to land your dream job in record time: http://talktoilene.careers
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