In Today’s Economy, Building a Strong Personal Brand is Key to Job Search and Career Success: Part I

In almost every news report on how to succeed in your job search and career in today's economy, the experts advocate that having a strong personal brand can be the difference in securing employment, surviving a layoff or advancing your career.

Your personal reputation is what lets people know what they can expect from you. Your personal career brand allows you to leverage your reputation, authentic strengths, principles and unique promise of value to distinguish you from your competition. We are not asking that you change who you are. We are suggesting that if you define and live your personal career brand you will reap greater rewards in your job search and career management.

Why Personal Career Branding is Critical for Latinos
- "If you don't build your personal career brand, others will label you."

The fact is you are giving your power to other people to categorize and define you from their perspective. Do you want to be identified as Chuy's sister, Mr. Johnson's assistant, the brown one or the Latino accountant.

You may be described solely as your job title or job description. Is this how you wish to be known? No matter what kind of work you do or where you are in your career, would you prefer to be perceived as the Cadillac, Lexus, or Volvo of employees, or as a 4-cylander basic performance vehicle?

The chart below lists the benefits of building your personal career brand.

Personal Benefit

1. Helps you understand yourself better.

2. Allows you to embrace your values, knowledge, skills, abilities, contributions, achievements, uniqueness, and worthiness.

3. Strengthens your personal power allowing you to remain honest to yourself, be more flexible, exercise control of your career, and shape how you are perceived by employers.

4. Gives you permission to express your value to employers.

5. Prepares you for the job search.

6. Increases your confidence and ability to conduct a successful job interview.

7. Guides you in making well-founded career decisions.

8. Improves your value and employability.

9. Attracts and opens employment and career building opportunities.

10. Leads to better, more interesting jobs and assignments.

11. Enables you to persist and weather the tough times.

12. All of the above continually empowers you.

Employment Benefits

1. Paints a compelling concise picture of who you are and the unique promise of the value you offer.

2. Establishes the critical great first impression that makes you stand out as a top candidate that must be considered.

3. Allows employers to learn about you through others, which generates more credibility.

4. Clearly positions you as the best candidate to get the job done.

5. Makes others aware of your expertise.

6. Increases your continuing visibility and presence in the workplace, in the community, and within your network.

7. Promotes you from the status of an "employee" to one as to one of a talented player or leader.

8. Differentiates you from your peers and other applicants.

9. Moves you to the top of the applicant pool.

10. Makes you the pursued, not the pursuer.

11. Provides employers with tangible reasons to hire you.

12. Creates in the employer's mind a compulsion to hire you.

¡BUENA SUERTE!