Personal Branding for Job Seekers
Job seeking is terrible.
Whether you’ve found yourself in this position by choice or by circumstance, looking for your next role can feel like an endless process of squeezing yourself into someone else’s wishlist of ideal traits.
It’s thankless and exhausting. And the process often uncorks a lot of big, hairy questions: Who am I? What makes me unique? What do I even want?
Here’s where your personal brand comes into play.
Take moment to set aside what they want, and focus instead on you.
Here’s how you can shift the focus internally and explore your personal brand instead.
First, examine your energy.
Nothing is more appealing to a recruiter than great energy. So you need to tap into the sources of yours.
Think about those moments when you feel that buzz from doing what you do so well. The days when you shut down your laptop and you can’t stop buzzing from being so damn good at what you do.
Observe that. What’s happening? What are you actually doing? What are you not doing in that moment?
Describe it. Are you with others? Counseling them? Traveling? Are you in your own world, headphones on, analyzing data? Articulating a strategy? Define it, discuss it with your closest colleagues or friends, and get the language right.
That’s what you should be doing in your next job.
Next, examine the evidence.
Take a look backwards, and find all the evidence of times when you had that great energy. It could be in your last job, in a volunteer role, in your college career, or even before then.
Find the moments when you found that energy throughout your life and career. Write them down. Now ask, what value did you provide at that moment? What changed for your team, organization, friends, clients when you were in your zone?
Ask for input. Reach out to your champions, current and past colleagues or trusted friends. Share your thinking and check your assumptions. What do they notice about when you’re really at your best? What would they add or clarify for you?
Find the patterns. You want to be able to say, “throughout my career I thrive when working in [these kinds of organizations] playing [these kind of roles].”
Distill it and practice saying it. Concise is powerful.
Finally, examine your passion.
Now the trick is to tie your energy and your experience to what you actually care about.
This isn’t always easy to pinpoint. Some people have so many interests, the question feels unwieldy. For others, it feels intangible or silly. So don’t overthink it.
Start with your inspiration. In your wildest dreams, what companies have you always daydreamed about working for? What industries? What leaders you admire?
Spend time with this, see where it takes you. Maybe you’ll find that you’re drawn to fast-paced start-ups, or socially responsible companies. Maybe you have a deeply hidden creative streak begging to be explored.
The point of exploring your passion is to help give others an insight into what drives you and what you really care about. Even if you don’t land in your aspirational company, it can help provide forward movement that helps you tap into other opportunities you didn’t know existed.
As you find this clarity you will be able to sharpen the story you tell and the signals you send. It will begin to attract the people and opportunities in your direction that are most likely to lead you to your next role.
You can’t control everything, but in a moment that can make you feel helpless, this is one thing you can do for yourself. I promise, it will be time well spent.