Are you making any of these personal branding mistakes?
The term personal brand is one that has been used almost everywhere. Especially if you have been looking for a job, I'm sure that you have seen it before (maybe even on this site). The problem is that many people still aren't sure what exactly it is and how to use it to make yourself more attractive to employers. Since this is every job seekers goal, if you haven't given much thought to your personal brand, maybe it's time to look into it.
So, what is a personal brand anyway?
In our highly connected world, people can find out all sorts of information about you simply by doing a web search. Because it's so easy, employers will often Google a candidate prior to the interview. They want to get a general idea about who the person is and what they are all about. If you haven't shaped your brand, it's very likely that the employer will only get bits and pieces of information about you and may draw a wrong or incomplete conclusion about who you are. Since you can be certain that they will look, you can make sure that instead of seeing random information about you, they find a well thought out picture of you at your best. This is where a personal brand comes in. Your brand is the image that you present. It includes your online presence, your resume, cover letter and you as an employee. In a nutshell, it is your professional image across many platforms.
What are the most common mistake people make when branding themselves?
Branding yourself isn't difficult, but there are still a few mistakes that I see people making every day. Whether you already have a brand or are just creating yours, make sure that you aren't making any of these:
- Decide what you want and stick with it - If your brand keeps changing focus, it can present the wrong image entirely. You can't brand yourself as an excellent Healthcare administrator on one site and as a motivated sales person on another. When you have two different images, no one believes either of them. If both things are true, then maybe your brand should be that you are a professional who strives for success in every area of your life. This way, you are still presenting a clear, consistent image while still persuing the types of jobs you want.
- Have a focus - If you think about it hard enough, you can find what your area of expertise is. Everyone has one. Think about the areas of your job that you are best at, the ones that you are most passionate about and the things that make you different from everyone else in your position. There are thousands of medical assistants in the world, so instead, you could be a pediatric medical assistant who cares about making even the youngest patients feel at ease, or a medical assistant that is committed to treating senior patients with respect. Whatever it is, narrow down your focus to what makes you unique.
- Show your benefit - When you are creating a brand, it's important to focus on what you can offer an employer. Look at some of the most successful brands today and pay attention to what they do that works for them. Nike, for example, doesn't run advertisement telling you how great thier shoes are and their slogan isn't "Our shoes are the best". Instead, they show how you can live a lifestyle by wearing their shoes. Most of the time, the ads for the shoes just show someone participating in a sport and their slogan is "Just Do It". People respond to the image because they instantly understand that the shoes can help you be someone who plays sports and lives that lifestyle. That is what people are buying. They could get running shoes anywhere.
- Be original - When you get started creating your brand, you want to stand out. In order to do so, you have to think about what makes you different. Add parts of your personailty, your hobbies or anything that makes you stand out. Remember that your brand represents you as a person just as much as it does you as a professional. Make it original.
Do you have a personal brand? What do you think are the most important points of branding? Please share your thoughts and suggestions in the comments.
By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for HealthcareJobsiteBlog. Along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.
