Job seekers that want to stand out in the job pool should turn to strengthening their personal career brand. Having a strong career brand means having a strong identity across all boards, be it your online presence, resume, cover letter, and more. A strong personal brand allows you to put your best foot forward with potential employers, making it easier for them to decide who they want to pick out of the job seeker pile.
Before creating your career brand, you should clearly establish where you want to go in your career. Having a concrete idea of who you are and what you can bring to the table can lead you in the right direction as far as a career. Once you have that sorted out, you can start to build your personal brand.
Many job seekers highlight their skills and accomplishments on their LinkedIn profile, while others take to Twitter to network and follow top professionals in their field. Others will even blog about a certain topic in their desired industry that they feel well-versed in.
There is much more job seekers can do to build their personal career brand. In fact, there are new career branding trends, one of them being crowdsourcing for professionals. What others have to say about you is vital to your job search. While it’s important to be able to supply traditional job references, receiving positive feedback and endorsements on your online social media profiles and blog can boost your value as a strong candidate in the job search.
Before marketing yourself to others online, it’s always helpful to get feedback first from the people you’re close with. Talk to your neighbors, friends and family in regards to how they perceive your skills and talents. You may not hear what you want to hear, but it’s better to get criticism from someone you trust before receiving it on your social media, blog or video blog.
Many job seekers are turning not only to social media to promote their career brand, but also to video. A video resume can be very important to your career brand because it allows you to show off your personality to employers along with other characteristics that can’t be found on paper. So familiarize yourself with video and communicate with employers on a different format besides tweets or Facebook posts. Don’t be afraid to try new things for the sake of strengthening your career brand.
What have you done to strengthen your personal career brand? Respond in the comments below!
IMAGE: Courtesy of Flickr by Elmira College
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