Personal Branding Know your Value to Communicate Your Value Melanie Szlucha, The Best Resume Writer, Job Interview Coach and Job Search Coach Melanie Szlucha, melanie@redincllc.com, http://www.redincllc.com for more information.

What is a Brand? Put simply, a brand is the association of positive (or negative) qualities with a recognizable name.

Different Brands Evoke Different impressions

Why Should You Care About Your Brand? You need to control the message and articulate your value. You need to present yourself consistently. Helps you describe your experiences more clearly.

What Goes Into Your Brand? Image Skills

Using Others to Identify Your Skills Performance Reviews and LinkedIn Recommendations. What have your bosses said about your skills? How did your favorite boss describe you? Attributes that colleagues and friends use to describe you. If I called them, what would they say? What are you known for?

Looking At Your Experiences to Identify Skills Accomplishments. What are the things you have worked to achieve? What did you enjoy about your last job, or what was your favorite job and why? What is the essence of what you enjoy doing? What are problems you are good at solving? Themes in your career or volunteer experiences. Are you the person who is always… What are you known for?

Looking at Your experiences to Identify Skills GOAL: Gather a list of unique traits that not everyone possesses, but are attractive to employers. That becomes your brand. It enables you to discuss your experience with passion in a networking situation or job interview (to be memorable). Describe your background in the summary section of LinkedIn (to entice employers/recruiters to reach out to you). Brand yourself boldly at the top of your resume.

Transitioning Skills to Jobs Search the job boards (advanced search feature) using those skill words. Indeed.com, LinkUp.com, ZipRecruiter Search using your degree or certification credentials. You may be surprised to see what other types of positions are interested in your degrees. Informational interviews at potential companies or people who are currently holding that job. Don’t trust a career coach. We’re not on the front lines and in the hiring trenches. Go to the horse’s mouth to understand their underlying concerns and start there.

How to make a resume Avoid functional resumes like this one.

How to make a resume A Chronological, skill-based resume is a safer bet.

Image and your Brand Your image is all of those personal characteristics that people use as indicators to get a sense of who you are. How you dress. Your email style. Phone and voicemail etiquette. How proactive, self-reliant, tenacious or helpful you are. How you show up for appointments. Your resume style. And lastly…. Beware the “Halo” effect.

Improv and Job Interviews The foundation of improv is listening and agreeing. Listening: Not only with your ears, but also being attune to the physical nuances of the scene partner. In today’s society, this is a lost art. We rarely concentrate our attention on the other person to that degree, and as a result, we miss opportunities to connect with them because we are so concerned about sharing our message.

Improv Exercises Alphabet Game: Partners of 2. Each sentence starts with successive letters of the alphabet. Apples are on sale today. Brad, you know I’m allergic, why do you do this to me? Carl, I wouldn’t define an allergy as an itchy nose…. Etc. 2 minutes for this exercise. Try to make it a conversation that makes sense. See how far through the alphabet you can get. Suggestion: You’re 2 friends walking around a mall.

Improv Exercises One Word Story: Partners of 2. Each person is contributing one word to create a story that makes sense. 2 minutes for this exercise. Suggestion: Create a fairy tale/adventure story.

Putting it All together Don’t expect the employer to figure it out on their own. Branding helps to make sure you get into the right position versus a position that may not be a fit. Branding defines your value and what an employer can expect to get from you based on your experience and skills. You want to control the conversation and articulate your value. Be aware that everything you do is contributing to your brand. Listening will give you more clues about how to position yourself for the position in an interview.