As a job seeker, have you thought about your personal brand? MDL Partners helps job seekers recognize, evaluate and craft their personal brands during the job search process.
John Decker, Executive Vice President of MDL Partners (www.mdlpartners.com), recently gave a talk to the Princeton Alumni Association of Boston on personal brand building.
He started by dividing the group into teams and handing each a sealed envelope with a card containing the name of a particular brand. Their assignment was to determine what made that particular brand effective and included names such as Evel Knievel, puppies, Einstein and Hummer.
The group decided that good brands have the following qualities: • Grounded in core values • Communicate how specialized and differentiated the brand is (at the extreme, how many brands are identified with jumping over the Grand Canyon on a rocket motorcycle?) • A positive emotional attachment (puppies) • Inspire aspiration – appeal to the audience to improve themselves and the world • Can be repeated internally and externally • Consistent across all media • Known and echoed by partners • Guide actions for yourself and others • Memorable (Hummer stopped production in 2010 yet is still very well known) • Memorable slogan (Einstein’s E = mc2) • Can influence purchase (or hiring)
Decker stressed that as a job seeker, you should ask yourself whether your personal brand has these qualities. Have you even thought about your personal brand?
“You do, by the way, have a brand, whether you’ve thought about it or not,” explains Decker. “Your brand includes a web presence (or lack thereof), your car, clothes, home, friends and interests as well as your work. Your brand is your persona as others see it. If you haven’t done so, you might want to Google yourself, search your name on Zoominfo, and for a real eye opener, search your name on Pipl.com. After you have recovered, you might take time to evaluate, think about and act on your personal brand.”
As the leader in the career consulting industry, MDL Partners helps job seekers recognize, evaluate and craft their personal brands during the job search process.
“Your brand should be the tip of your personal iceberg (the visible expression that other people see) of who you are,” notes Decker. “Your skills, abilities, interests, values, mission, goals, etc. should be the parts of the iceberg under the surface. You should then distill your brand to what you’re really good at, and where you want to go.”
MDL Partners works with clients to communicate their brand by way of their actions. “Work to create your brand, and make sure your brand is working for you” the company advises.
About MDL Partners: In the career consulting industry MDL Partners is unique because we utilize our extensive network of nearly 5,000 clients as a primary resource. At MDL Partners we work with mid and senior level executives, entrepreneurs and professionals who are looking for a better environment, a new job, a career change or career advancement. When you become a client of MDL Partners you immediately gain access to a worldwide network of senior level executives and professionals. This extensive network is a true differentiator between MDL Partners and other career services options. And our career services are yours to use in the future as your needs and the market change.
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