Every week, NETSHARE hosts Ask the Coach, a phone-in coaching session with leading career management experts. Here is an excerpt from a recent session with career coach Don Orlando .
This week, career coach Don Orlando reminded attendees to our weekly Ask the Coach call that they need to take charge of their personal brand. After all, if you don’t tell people who you are and what you have to offer, others will define your brand for you.
Don reminded attendees that everyone has a brand, like it or not. And that your brand should be consistent across all the media you use to promote yourself – printed materials, online, marketing documents, etc. The objective of creating a solid personal brand is to provide a personal value proposition that helps you stand out from the crowd. You want your brand to match your excellence to the needs of the organization. And you want your brand to differentiate you so you are not seen as a commodity available at the right price.
Your personal brand is the excellence you have accumulated and integrated over time. Branding is the thing that has guided and will continue to guide your personal life.
Your personal brand is:
- Your demonstrable promise of value
- Proof of your integrity and character
- The best guide for your career
- Consistent and part of every aspect of your career campaign
- The way you demonstrate your worth to the marketplace.
Your personal brand must never be:
- A slogan
- Your obituary (past accomplishments without a value message)
- Ignored in favor of short-term objectives or advantages, such as pay or location.
- Shape-shifting to meet the needs of what you think the hiring manger wants
When you do it right, proper branding makes it easy for companies to see how your value fits their needs and will help them compete more effectively, either by reducing costs or increasing revenue.
