When the camera turns toward Madonna, Oprah or Arianna Huffington there’s no mistaking who they are. These female icons are walking talking brands. While generally associated with the ”Type A” personality, personal branding is less about “Type A” and more about “Type It”. It’s about your unique voice, purpose, and skills as a professional – and creating a persona that can be found across the vast field of recruiting sites permeating the web.
Branding yourself through the use of social media is becoming widely acceptable because instead of throwing resumes to the wind, you’re establishing your camp and network on-line so your next boss or career opportunity can find you.
That’s the running theme in Dan Schawbel’s new book, Me 2.0 : Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success. The Gen-Yer wrote the book for the millennial generation, but the material is simple to follow and well suited for Gen X and Boomers looking to make a career transition.
Me 2.0 breaks the mold on the personal branding “Type A” myth. No matter the position you hold in your current job, or the career you are heading into, there’s that “something special” that you’re good at. It might be crunching the numbers, being the person who handles clients with that extraordinary tone which catches their ear – or the calming soul in the office who keeps thing together when crisis occurs. Your brand exists, it’s inside of you just waiting to be birthed, and then beamed to the rest of the planet.
Me 2.0 suggests an entirely different approach to pounding the pavement – surfing the web and taking up enough space, making enough noise, and establishing your skill set in public to stand out above the rest. Schawbel, who also heads-up social media at global technology firm, EMC, says his book explores social media tools to help boost “personal empowerment, confidence building and professional networking” capabilities.
Schawbel uses current research and taps the minds of some of the best branding thought leaders of our time to illustrate his four step process:
- Discover your brand
- Create your brand
- Communicate your brand
- Maintain your brand
You’ll have to read the book for the details. Keep a yellow marker handy as there’s some great information that you’ll go back to – over and over again.
As I wrote recently in my post Personal Branding in a Tough Job Market, personal branding will help to differentiate yourself in a tightening job market even if you’re only a superstar in your mother’s eyes. Finally, finding your unique voice is key to articulating your personal brand. You’ll find more on that in my post: Personal Branding: Aligning Your Talking Points with Your Passion.
