In “Personal Branding Basics,” I listed three steps for making a personal brand work for you in your career. The first step, understand your strengths, was covered in Part 1 of this series. The next step is to understand how your strengths relate to an employer’s needs.
Finding a job is a lot like dating — it’s about finding a match between two parties (you and the company). It’s not just about money — although that is important. It’s also about helping the company meet a need that it has. Companies hire because of their needs. This is true for all jobs — from an entry-level administrative position to the CEO’s job.
The question you want to answer for the employer is, “Why should you hire me?” When employers are hiring, they really want to know: “Why should I choose you instead of someone else?” Branding is an important part of answering this question. You can’t be all things to all employers, so you need to figure out what sets you apart.
Once you’ve listed your attributes, values, and differentiators (see Part 1), think about:
- What is the company’s need? What specific problem are they trying to solve with this job? Are they trying to make money? Save money? Save time? Keep existing customers? Acquire new customers?
- What is your connection to the company’s need? Do you possess something special that solves your target employer’s problem?
If you aren’t sure how your strengths align with the company’s needs, research on your target job may help. Start with these sites:
O*NET Online (http://www.onetonline.org/)
This website was created for the U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration by the National Center for O*NET Development. The O*NET program is “the nation’s primary source of occupational information,” according to the site. It contains information on hundreds of occupations and is available to jobseekers at no cost.
Every occupation requires unique knowledge, skills, and abilities. These occupational characteristics are outlined on the site. The occupational descriptions, which include descriptions of day-to-day work, along with qualifications and interests of the typical worker, allow jobseekers to identify unique positioning opportunities for themselves in their job search.
You can also access the O*NET® Interest Profiler, a free tool (available for immediate download) to assess your occupational interests. The tool offers personalized career suggestions based on your interests and level of work experience.
Access the tool here: http://www.onetcenter.org/IP.html
My Next Move (http://www.mynextmove.org/)
You can start your research on an O*NET affiliated site, My Next Move. The site is an interactive tool for jobseekers to learn more about career options. It includes descriptions, skills, and salary information for more than 900 professions. You can identify careers through keyword search, by browsing industry classification, or through the O*NET Interest Profiler.
My Next Move is maintained by the National Center for O*NET Development under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration.
When you identify a profession, you can assess the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for success in the role. These can often provide guidance for positioning yourself. The “Personality” and “Technology” sections also give insight into your personal positioning.
The “On the Job, You Would” information includes common job functions. Look to see if these are areas where you excel — this can be a point of differentiation.
Also check out the “Also Called” information under the occupation for related job titles you can use in your personal positioning tagline.
America’s Career InfoNet (http://www.careerinfonet.org/)
This website is affiliated with the U.S. Department of Labor’s CareerOneStop program. The website includes occupation and industry information, salary data, career videos, education resources, self-assessment tools, and career exploration assistance.
Occupational Outlook Handbook (http://www.bls.gov/ooh/)
The Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) provides information on what workers do, working conditions, what qualifications are required for success in the position, pay, job outlook, similar occupations, and sources of additional information for research for more than 300 occupational profiles.
To find an occupation, browse the occupational group of interest on the left-hand side of the website, or use the “A-Z Index” (if you know the specific occupation). You can also enter a job title into the “Search Handbook” box at the top of the site. You can also search for occupations by pay range, education level, training, projected number of new jobs, and projected job growth rate — using the “Occupation Finder” or occupation selector drop-down menus on the home page. If you can’t find an occupation you are interested in, look in the alphabetical index, using similar occupational titles to search for an occupation.
Glassdoor (http://www.glassdoor.com/)
You can also research your prospective employer to identify how to effectively position yourself to work at that specific company. Glassdoor is an excellent way to assess what is important to the employer and how you might fit in.
Once you understand your strengths and how they relate to the company’s needs, you’re ready to define your brand. Your personal brand has two parts: a tagline and a full positioning statement.
The tagline is one sentence – ideally, 5-10 words in length. It should be easily understandable and easy to remember. This formula can be used to create your tagline:
Job Title –> Differentiator
This may be expressed without pronouns. For example:
Big Four Accountant with Operations Experience in Fortune 500 Companies
Security Guard with Anti-Terrorist Training and Ability to Identify Hidden Patterns
Hazmat Manager with Mechanical Engineering Degree from University of Virginia
Complementing your tagline is the full positioning statement. The positioning statement backs up your tagline with qualifications, accomplishments, and/or evidence. The full statement might be a single sentence, or it might be 3-5 sentences in length.
Here is a sample formula for your personal positioning statement:
Job Title –> Target Audience/What You Do –> Industry/Field –> Achievements/Results
This is expressed as:
I am a (Job Title/Profession) who (Works With Target Audience OR Who Does X/Y/Z) in the (Industry/Field) to (Highlight Accomplishments or Results).
For example:
I am a public relations specialist who provides media relations and race promotion services to the cycling community to help races attract more participants, media attention, and sponsor support.
Be sure to include:
- A target audience — who are the clients or customers you work with?
- Your employer/industry — where do you want to work? Who do you want to work for? You can even include your desired employer’s name.
- A point of difference — what sets you apart? What is the most compelling reason to choose you as a candidate? (This can be included in the “Achievements/Results” section of the personal branding statement.)
Don’t confuse big words with effective branding. Choose your words carefully. When possible, incorporate keywords — nouns or phrases that can be picked up through online searches and are prominently used in applicant tracking systems.
Once you’ve defined your personal brand, you’re ready to communicate it to potential employers. This topic will be covered in Part 3 of this series.