Articles - Career / Personal Development

 There are countless reasons your brand is important, and it starts with your resume. When most people think of a “brand”, they often think of things like food or common consumer goods. 

Tide, Frito-Lay, Dole, Coca-Cola, and Brawny are good examples of brand names that are not uncommon for us to gravitate to.

They indicate to us traits like quality, tradition, and trust.  But, does this mean that those products are actually better than others right next to them on the shelf – the ones with less familiar names?  Absolutely not!

What those companies that created those brands did was effectively market them to the public.  This is no different than what each of us needs to do in our careers and every day life.

 There are countless strategies and methods to building a brand and there is no way possible for me to list them all here (in fact, there are a tons of books out there devoted to the subject!), but there is one key element in your career toolbox that is a major part of your brand - your resume.

 Everything from the visual effect to the content, defines who you are, your past, and where you want to go.  It is a working document - always changing.  Some resumes are well done, some are not.  What is important is that your resume requires the attention it deserves because it is so highly regarded when you are seeking new employment.

 Being a third-party staffing recruiter, I estimate that I review close to 10,000 resumes a year.  A good resume is like a good book, if it is creative and keeps my attention, I want to keep reading and it stays in my mind - like a well branded product!

 Good brand managers and marketing gurus don't just create brand images for a couple hours in one night every five years!  So neither should you!  Building a brand takes time and effort.

 Here are some tips for you to consider when working on your brand:

 1. Create a branding plan.  You don't have to be formally trained to do this!  Just sit down and determine who you are and what you strive to be.  Write it down!  Illustrate it out if you have too!  The main objective is too understand how you want people to see you.

 2. Get a professional resume done.  When you want to create a large presentation for work, you don't build it from scratch, do you?  No, you go and try to find professional-created templates to start with and get the ideas flowing.  Same concept for your resume.  Take the time and money to get a professional resume done - it will make a huge difference as opposed to struggling for hours to write your own.  Check out the Professional Association of Resume Writers' website (http://www.parw.com ) to find a qualified and certified resume writer.

 3.  Build a brand/career toolbox.  Along with the resume, make sure you have other important supporting documents: cover letters, references, past work examples, etc.  And while some might think this is overboard, I still believe that a career/professional toolbox should have uniformity and be well branded.  Make your own custom letterhead, matching business cards, same font types and sizes throughout all documents.

 4. Build a marketing plan.  Get creative or surround yourself with creative people and create a plan to market yourself.  It doesn't have to be just when you are looking for a new job, in fact, it shouldn't be at all.  Always be promoting yourself through your career/professional toolset, networking with others, etc.  Setup a web presence or blog if you are into that.  Whatever you do, pushing your brand now will ensure success later.  Dove soap has been a success for many, many years, but they still market and brand the image... You should too!

 5. Finally, review your strategy every three to six months.  Change it up once in a while.  Be creative!  But no matter what, never worry about self-promotion and over doing it, unless you start seeing negative results, then scale back and re-evaluate your strategy.

 Building a brand is crucial to your success, and worth the time to do!

 Biography

 Robert Stanke is the Executive Recruiter for SearchPoint, Inc., a professional IT placement firm in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Robert is also involved in various ventures and organizations focused on career development, which you can learn more about at his website: http://www.robertstanke.com

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