Personal branding What you need to know

Personal branding What you need to know by Amber Rolfe If you think branding is just for businesses, think again… Personal branding is a great way to create a positive representation of your skills, interests, and career goals. Whether you use it to find a new job, grow your business, or simply expand your professional network â€" it’s become an essential part of building your professional reputation.Not sure what it’s all about? Here’s everything you need to know about personal branding:What is personal branding? Personal branding is the ongoing process of marketing your attributes, personality and skills.It represents who you are as an individual, and helps you to build a positive reputation for yourself â€" both personally and professionally.Anyone can build a personal brand, and how you’re perceived is based on everything from what you post on social media, websites or any other online medium, to how you communicate with others and how you present yourself.  Where is my personal brand shown? Your pers onal brand is prevalent in almost everything you do, whether it’s online or in person. Here are a few areas you could be making an impression:BloggingSocial mediaYour CV and cover letterInterviewsEndorsements or product promotionsNetworkingConferences or events  Who sees my personal brand? In short, everyone.Whether its clients, employers, recruiters, or even just colleagues, family, or friends â€" your personal brand is visible to everyone you interact with.Why do I need a personal brand? Not only could a positive personal brand make you stand out to recruiters, it could also improve your prospects when it comes to establishing your own business, attracting potential clients, or simply gaining new contacts within your field.Whether it’s through blogging about industry insights or connecting with the right people on social media, you’ll be demonstrating both knowledge and dedication to your chosen field. Not to mention build a sense of trust and dependency in your skills.And w ith 43% of recruiters admitting to checking digital profiles often, creating an attractive personal brand has never been more important.Five ways social media is costing you the jobSocial media: How to make your profiles recruiter-safe  What should my personal brand incorporate?In order to start building an effective personal brand, it’s vital to decide on the impression you want to give, what you’d like to achieve, and most importantly â€" what you have to offer.Firstly, think about who you’d like to target, what kind of content they’re interested in, and how to connect with them most effectively.Secondly, consider what you want your brand to say about you.Here are a few elements you should cover:Your passions and interestsYour education and work experienceYour personalityYour goals and aspirationsYour valuesYour strengths and skillsUsing the above, you’ll be able to craft a message that tells your audience who you are, what you do, and what makes you different. Not only should you include this message on your professional profiles, you should also incorporate it into everything you do.Top tips for building a personal brand Personal branding isn’t always easy, especially if you’re starting from scratch.Here are a few top tips to help you get started:Keep learning. You need to make sure you’re continuously building on your knowledge â€" whether it’s through taking courses, listening to webinars, or even just regular reading.That way, you’ll be able to ensure the content you create, share, and interact with is relevant, helpful, and informative.  Review your online presence. To make sure your online presence isn’t painting you in the wrong light, give your social media profiles frequent audits â€" removing or hiding any potentially inappropriate photos or posts. Googling yourself is also a great way to figure out how you’re appearing to others  Get a personal website. Having your own website is an ideal way to condense all elements of yo ur personal brand into one place. All you need is a short bio, along with links to your CV and social platforms. You can also keep any portfolio work or blog posts here.  Be strategic. It’s important to develop an effective strategy for upholding your personal brand. Figure out how you want to be perceived, and use it to inform the nature of every status update, video, photo, or anything else you post online.  Build your network. By making solid associations with your company, university, and colleagues, you’ll be able to boost your reputation â€" and open yourself up to opportunities within your network.  Stay active. Aside from providing value with everything you share, it’s also key to maintain a consistent online presence. Creating your own blog posts that are relevant to your industry is great, but you can also share relevant articles from other sources. Just make sure you have enough to keep people coming back.How to add courses on LinkedInWhat is networking?  Still sear ching for your perfect position? View all available jobs nowFind a job What Where Search JobsSign up for more Career AdviceSign up for moreCareer Advice Please enter a valid email addressmessage hereBy clicking Submit you agree to the terms and conditions applicable to our service and acknowledge that your personal data will be used in accordance with our privacy policy and you will receive emails and communications about jobs and career related topics. Features How to start looking for work

How to Write a Resume With a Large Gap in Relevant Employment History

How to Write a Resume With a Large Gap in Relevant Employment HistoryWhen applying for jobs, people want to use a resume that includes the maximum amount of relevant information. However, this is not always possible when one has a large gap in relevant employment history. When this occurs, some individuals use creative resumes to fill in the gaps. These resume formats include multiple sections of information, such as career summary, personal statement, skills and job history, education, and awards and accomplishments.The career summary section of a resume should provide an overview of the person's goals and objectives for the job. The section should also be written as a summary of a person's educational experience. In addition, the curriculum vitae should be highlighted by the section on interests and hobbies. If you have any work experience, the information provided there will help the employer to evaluate your qualifications.The personal statement section of a resume is typically t he last to be written. This section should contain information about the applicant, including educational background, work experience, and other interests and activities. It should also include a list of skills, such as research, communication, planning, and teamwork. While there is no requirement that the personal statement section of a resume be presented in sequence, it should include all pertinent information prior to the career summary.The skills section of a resume is usually used to present a person's educational background and work experiences in the selected job. The information presented in this section may range from basic technical skills to advanced managerial or leadership skills. Although there is not a legal requirement that the skills section of a resume include a resume section, it may benefit the individual to include this information, especially if the job does not require the use of some of the skills listed.The educational background of the individual can vary depending on the degree the individual has earned and the type of college program that he or she attended. Some education programs require the candidate to submit a transcript while others allow the candidate to provide the transcripts. For this reason, the educational background section of a resume should highlight the most relevant information to the employer.Most schools will not provide a list of academic honors. When this information is provided, it should be highlighted in bold text. An example of this information is 'Honors for Excellence.' All grades should be listed in the appropriate scale.The accomplishments section of a resume should focus on major accomplishments in order to show an employer how well prepared an individual is for the position. Some examples of accomplishments are letters of recommendation, college diploma, awards received, or any special projects that the candidate has undertaken. Some employers will request an essay explaining the accomplishments, if t hey were really special.A resume is a powerful tool for obtaining a job. It is imperative that the information provided in the resume be accurate. No employer wants to hire someone who has not accomplished what was expected of them. The advice on how to write a resume with a large gap in relevant employment history applies to both young and older individuals.

How to see the need for change

How to see the need for change Jeanenne is my assistant. Of sorts. It was unclear what her job was when I hired her. She is sort of the nanny, but I dont really need a nanny. I am with the kids almost 100% of the day. You might wonder how I can do that and still have a job. The answer is that I dont do anything else. So, for example, the kids broke the flyswatter and I wanted one right away before I died from fly annoyance. I called Jeanenne, and who knows what she was doing, but she stopped whatever it was, and bought me a flyswatter and drove it to my house. She is my big city same-day service in Darlington. The first half a year I lived on the farm, Jeanenne realized that what I really needed though, was a tutor for how to act in the country and a shoulder to cry on. When the Farmer told me to leave, it wasnt the first time, but it was the worst time, and I took the kids to her house. Just for dinner. When things calmed down enough so that I knew I was staying, she helped me create an org chart of who is related to who in the area (everyone is related somehow) and she even kept me abreast of essential gossip like which husband found his wife in bed with another guy. (Note about the country: In the city, gossip is the term for rumor and trash talk. In the country, gossip is confirmed truth.) Once I was here long enough to know who I want to be friends with (I love the school principal, for example) I did not need Jeanenne for social navigation. But I needed her for stuff like going to the DMV, and taking the kids to Madison when I couldnt handle doing the drive three days in a row for my six-year-old sons dance recital rehearsals. (Hip hop. By the way. And I know Im really old when kids are learning dance routines to the Beastie Boys.) And, now that Melissa is gone, Jeanenne has started taking pictures. This one is my older son at the pool. But, dont worry, Melissa still has her hands in the photos on this blog. She edited the photo. So, its official: it takes four people to write a blog post on my blog. I have me, the writer, plus my copy editor, a photographer, and now a photo editor. Im just letting you know, in case you think you want a blog like mine. You probably dont. Mainstream media dominates blogging now, and my little site of four people masquerading as one is nothing compared to say, Pioneer Womans site as two, full-fledged web agencies masquerading as one person.) This is all to say that what Jeanenne does really well is to adapt to the reality of her job. She never says, Thats not what I was hired for, (which, by the way, is one of the five worst things you can do to kill your career.) She never assumes that her job will continue unchanged as reality changes around her. Look at this photo. We eat three meals as a family, at the dinner table, every day. I cook all the meals, and most of the time I am cooking all farm-rasied food, which is the case in this photo. Pretty nice, huh? Heres another thing I could tell you about this photo. The meat is corned beef because the farmer made a deal to split a cow with someone who took all the good parts of the cow since they figured I dont know what Im doing with cooking a cow, so the bad parts were so bad that all we could do was make corned beef out of them. And I could tell you that I dont eat meals with the family. I cant tell if its Aspergers (most people with Aspergers like to do something while they eat so sitting with other people eating is always unpleasant.) Or maybe it has to do with bulimia (I was hospitalized for it and I never seem to shake the sense that I should only be eating stuff I can throw up.) But either way, scientists have found that hunger makes people feel better, so maybe Im on the right track. I could also tell you that I had to fight forever to get those plates. I didnt even want these plates. I lived with my grandma growing up because my parents were total fuckups and my favorite dishes of hers were white and pink with blue flowers. I used them for my sweet-sixteen birthday party that was formal and stuffy in a way that only a girl living with her grandma could have. But I loved the dishes and when my grandma asked me what jewelry of hers I wanted, I told her I wanted the pink and white dishes. Besides, I knew the good jewelry was going to my grandmas only daughter. It turned out the pink and white dishes were going to the only daughter as well. So I moped for fifteen years, or maybe my whole life, that I lived with my grandma because my mom didnt want me but I was never as important as my grandmas real daughter. When I saw that my dad inherited the other dishes, the blue and white dishes, and his new wife didnt like them, I asked for them. The dishes go well at the farm. You could see that in the picture. Or you could see our perfect, farm-family life. This is true for everyone. Everyone can look perfect or they can look terrible. And its true for every job, as well. Every boss. Every co-worker. Its a pretty safe bet that we all live our lives somewhere between the perfect and the terrible. And nothing is really really good always. But there is still sometimes. Because the really really good parts exist only in brief moments. So when you think you need to switch jobs, or switch cities, or switch spouses, or switch any of the other bazillion things that you might feel are not as good as they should be, remind yourself that your job, your family, and even your dinners are probably pretty much the same as everyone elses. And remind yourself to enjoy those brief, really, really good parts.

Languages of Appreciation Physical Touch

Languages of Appreciation Physical Touch Gary Chapman and Paul White are the authors of The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace.   Their book discusses why appreciation is one of the most important elements of employee motivation and satisfaction.     The Five Languages of Appreciation are based on the Five Languages of Love, which is why they include Physical Touch, although physical touch is a tricky proposition in any workplace. As it turns out, very few workers (almost none) identified physical touch as even part of how they seek or show appreciation in the workplace.   As more and more human resources professionals educate companies on the hazards of sexual harassment and cultural differences in how people perceive touch, it’s not surprising that very few workers or managers think of touch to say thank you. Despite all our evolution, we humans are creatures of the senses, so touch can still be a very powerful method of communication between us.   As a general rule, extroverts are more comfortable than introverts with touch, as are women more so than men.   As a woman, I have received and given hugs, high fives, and other brief touches in the workplace.   Almost everyone I know instinctively knows the border between neutral touching and inappropriate or uncomfortable contact, and I can honestly say that I’ve never had a moment that crossed the line for me. There are times, in fact, when touching is a real and human response.   When you are delivering difficult news or requesting a favor that is going to require a huge effort, a brief touch on the shoulder or arm can be a powerful way to connect and create a bond.   As with all the other languages of appreciation, the way to tell whether touch will work for someone is to watch them in action.   If they’re a toucher, chances are they value touch in return. A 2010 study published in the journal Psychological Science reported on a series of experiments involving touch. According to one study, 67 men and women were asked to choose between a cash payoff and a risky gamble and then touched on the shoulder and back by male and female researchers. The researchers Jonathan Levav and his co-author Jennifer Argo of the University of Alberta in Canada, found that “both sexes were more likely to select gambles with no guarantees of a payoff if they had been made to feel more comfortable, especially if touched by a woman.”   Apparently, what we feel when touched is deeply rooted in our collective psyches from infancy. Adding just a moment or extra contact to a standard handshake can send a powerful bonding message.   The two-handed handshake or the shoulder pat during the handshake intensify the emotion you convey through an otherwise neutral gesture. When in doubt, choose the fist bump.   The Obamas made it cool in 2008.

Writing a Professional Resume in 3 Steps

Writing a Professional Resume in 3 StepsWriting a professional resume is a very crucial aspect in the job application process. A well written and impressive resume can increase your chances of getting the job. Before you begin, you must learn some important guidelines that will help you write a professional resume successfully.First and foremost, when writing a professional resume, it is essential to outline everything very clearly and professionally. You must know exactly what you want to include on your resume. By having an outline, you can easily break your task down into smaller parts. You don't have to write everything from the bottom up or top down, instead divide your task into sections such as the education, work experience, education, skills, knowledge, achievements, skills, and lastly, the skills and experience.Secondly, when writing a professional resume, you must not forget to include your contact information. This is so important and you must emphasize this as much as po ssible. You must also include contact numbers of both personal and professional contacts. You must also mention your best work experience, work experience including organizations, government positions, private sector positions, internships, placements, self-employment, and private practices.Thirdly, when writing a professional resume, you must not include the subject matter of your past job experience. This information is important because you may get future interview opportunities and job openings in a certain industry. However, if your previous employer didn't value your work, it doesn't mean you won't get interviews in that particular industry. It's just important that you present your most recent work experience instead of your old job experience.Fourthly, when writing a professional resume, you must always include references that prove that you have excellent references. You must also include your educational background, work experience, as well as other credentials that prove your professional skills. Moreover, you must also note what types of jobs you were able to get before your current position.Fifthly, when writing a professional resume, you must avoid using abbreviations and acronyms. Rather, try to use correct spelling and proper grammar. You must also make sure that you are citing all relevant information for the specific position that you're applying for.Sixthly, writing a professional resume should include a good summary of your employment history. You must include details about your jobs, your supervisors, as well as the salary you received. Make sure that you also include your highest and lowest paid positions, bonuses, and awards.Lastly, when writing a professional resume, you must also remember to attach all the documents that prove your accomplishments. These include educational certificates, work experience statements, work certifications, as well as resumes, letters of recommendation, along with letters of reference. All these documents c an prove to your potential employer that you are reliable and competent.

15 Ways to Own Digital Terrain

15 Ways to Own Digital Terrain It is now no longer optionalyou must have an online presence! Your career stability and your job search demand it. Here are some tips to help you  begin claiming digital terrain and brand it with your unique messaging! Own Digital Terrain You need to stake a claim by owning turf on the internet. The strategy starts by googling yourself to see where the best references to you appear. Your goal is to have only great, relevant content on page one of search results! Here are 15 things you can do that will help you achieve this goal. It will take at least 30 days for Google to begin to notice these updates so start today! Build a robust LinkedIn profile Add your work history and profession to your Facebook profile Create a personal and professional Instagram account Start a blog Try a Twitter chat Start pinning images that represent your professional interests on Pinterest Create a page on   About.me Leave intelligent/work-related comments on industry blogs Create an infographic representing your work history Create short videos demonstrating your expertise and post on YouTube Share photos from industry events Write an Amazon book review Create a Slideshare presentation about you, your professional accomplishments and/or testimonials Participate in discussions on LinkedIn Create a summary of what you are sharing online with Scoop.it, Paper.li, FlipBoard or others! Monitor your personal reputation with this Google Alerts/Googles Me On The Web Increase Your Ranking BrandYourself This freemium tool helps improve how your rank with search engines. Is This A Waste Of Time? Certainly one could make the argument that doing all of this might not be the best use of your time. But, let me ask you this? When you search for yourself on Google, Bing or whatever search engine you prefer, what comes up? Dont you want more and better references to you and your professional experience? This is your challenge!

What Type of Help Do You Need for Your Job Search

What Type of Help Do You Need for Your Job Search Let me start off by saying   I believe that everyone needs help with their job search.   You may decide you need help early in the process or you may not discover you need it until later.   Few of us have enough experience job searching to be really good at it.   Plus it has changed. The type of help you get depends on how resourceful you are.   Often times, we dont know, what we dont know.   If you havent had to seek job search help, you may not be aware of the myriad of resources available to you. Some are free, some are not. First, here is a map of the job search process.   I hope it helps you plan your trek. (You can click on the image to make it larger) Whether you are a new college graduate or a C level Executive, you face similar challenges along the way.   Developing the right strategy and implementing it correctly demand youve armed yourself with current information on hiring trends. I am fortunate to know Meg Guiseppi of Executive Career Brand.   Meg specializes in C-level Executive Job Search.   Her services include Executive Branding, Resume, Biography, Online Identity ROI Value Communication.   She is an authority on personal branding.   It isnt just me saying this.   Shes an expert on Job-Hunt.org and is regularly quoted by the media for her knowledge and expertise. Want to know a little back story?   When I first started blogging in 2008, I began following Meg, reading her content and sharing it via Twitter and quoting her in my posts.   I did this because I respected her work.   This past summer, Meg and I began talking on the phone and have been regularly chatting ever since.   She has been a mentor to me and helped hold me accountable.   I hope she would say Ive helped her a bit along the way too. We talk about trends in job search, blogging, SEO, you name it.   It has been wonderful getting to know her and I respect her expertise even more today than I did in 2008. There are a couple of reasons I share this, first and most importantly, online contacts can be turned into meaningful connections and relationships.   Second, I am endorsing this book because I really think it is great, however, I didnt have to pay for it. Meg recently released a new eBook, 23 Ways You Sabotage Your Executive Job Search and How Your Brand Will Help You Land. Ive read it!   I recommend it!   What I enjoyed about Megs book is the way shes laid out chapter titles because in my mind, what this means is, she understands what the challenges are for C level job seekers. As usual, Meg knows what shes talking about.   I ALWAYS pick up great ideas and information when I read her work, I am pretty sure you will too. Heres a glimpse at some of the questions Megs asked and answers in her book: “Job search is so different than the last time I had to find a job. Where do I start?” “I spend 6 hours a day on the job boards. I’ve sent out hundreds of resumes! How come nothing’s happening?” “I think personal branding is a crock. I’m not a brand. I’m a person!!!” “I don’t want to put myself out there and expose myself online.” “I set up a LinkedIn profile a while ago, but never finished it or did anything with LinkedIn.” “I’ve heard Twitter is a big fat waste of time! Who needs it?” Meg also has authored another eBook, Executive Branding and LinkedIn Profiles This one is free. Good luck with your search and if you do decide to get Megs eBook, let us know what you think!