Branding

As someone who has spent several years building a  brand that offers me an advantage, I am quite aware of how easy it is to develop a brand these days.

Why is it important to build a brand? It can help you avoid being laid off and help you find a job more easily.

Here are some ways to create space in peoples’ minds that will give you an edge.

1. Become the resident expert in something or some skill. Being an expert causes people to regard you highly (It may also cause you to become “stuck” but that’s a topic for another day)

2. Become a resource for one and all. Becoming a connector for one and all makes you valuable to people. If losing you means losing contacts that are needed, it is less likely you will be fired.

3. Constantly build your network. Two years ago, more than a year before the. world economy collapsed, I wrote that the labor boom times were about to end and that you needed to have your network in place. For a job search, 22% of jobs are filled by recruiters and 6% by job boards. How do you think the rest are filled? Your network! Building your network leaves you well prepared.

4. Use the social networks to make your brand ubiquitous. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Xing . . . even groups using Ning allow you to make people aware of your experience and knowledge. Becoming an expert is as easy as posting some messages from time to time.

5. Create content. Many years ago, when a friend was trying to advance his career, I encouraged him to write articles for trade magazines and become a speaker. He was an AVP with a bank at the time and within ten years was hired as a partner at a large professional services firm. Today, blogs, ezines and online groups make becoming an online celebrity and/or resident expert much easier.

Blog about how to best do certain things. Post in groups on LinkedIn. Just remember that if you blog something “humorous” that someone could interpret as being “stupid” or “risque,” it can come back to hurt you.

For example, the proprietary trader (or prop trader) whose online message that he had lost a lot of money and was looking for a system that would be better than what he traded by, was refused an interview that would have exposed him to their secret trading models because they found his message via Google.

6. Help people with endorsements. Too many people have developed a closed mindset where they refuse to help people with testimonials, particularly on sites like LinkedIn. People there who ask me for testimonials often don’t know me and I certainly can’t vouch for their work or performance.

I will write something supportive of those I can actually vouch for . Try to help your current and former colleagues, subordinates and friends, even if it means just writing about their character.

© 2009, 2010, 2015 all rights reserved.

Branding is one the most important things you can do for your career. Just like a consumer product, branding helps create a place for you in a buyer’s mind that causes them to think of you whenever they make a decision.  

Branding in a job search is not just about finding a job today. It is about creating “the mental real estate” in people’s minds as a go to person in your field.

How important is branding? Let’s go back to consumer products for a moment.

When you go to the store to buy laundry detergent, do you pick up two or three products, read the list of ingredients and think, “Hmm. The chemicals in this product will probably do a better job than the ones in this one. And it has Phenyl-Bannana in it for an extra boost!”

Of course you don’t look at the ingredients. You look at the price, maybe you have a coupon or use the product your mother or father used in their home. You make the decision based upon a host of reasons unrelated to the ingredients because the industry has taught you not to bother.

In job hunting, you can create a similar affect by becoming a knowledgeable go to person in your field online, in trade groups, in networking groups, with friends and colleagues and a host of other places so that when people think of an expert in your subject, they think of you and come to you.

So that when a former colleague hears about an opening in their firm, they think of you as someone who can fill the role.

So that everyone is favorably predisposed to you and they are literally ready to hire you.

Here’s an example of how that works.

You see, “Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter” and come to my website. You read some of my articles from previous editions of “No B.S. Job Search Advice Ezine.” You listen to an episode of “No B.S. Job Search Advice Radio.” You sign up for my ezine, connect with me on LinkedIn and watch some of my videos. Maybe you read a tweet or two of advice or follow me on Facebook. Maybe you order a book or guide from me.

You do this for a while and think, “Jeff really knows recruiting and works hard to do a lot of things for free to help job hunters. Some of what he writes or broadcasts I already know but, heck, it lets me know I’m doing things right.”

And from that comes trust.

And often that means people recommending me for search assignments at their firms.

And sometimes that means they hire me to coach them in their job search.

Creating a brand is not something that happens overnight. It takes time to become the authority but the rewards are enormous.