Brands Are All About Perception

Developing your personal brand involves tweaking your situation to different job opportunities while trying not to sound too self-important. Then you have to throw in the right kind of personality traits to make you stand out from other job candidates.

One trick to creating a great personal brand starts with taking vague statements and turning them into concrete skills or qualifications. As an example, you have 10 years of management experience. Unfortunately, a lot of people also have that level of experience, so a statement about your years of experience doesn't make you stand out or improve your personal brand. Your resume should show precisely how many years of experience you have, so don't rehash it by listing it as a skill or qualification.

Remember that an employer looks to see if you're worth the investment. That makes communicating your personal brand vital to the hiring process. When you communicate how you operate to someone in charge of hiring, you create a perception of your work ethic, skills, qualifications and personality. This perception goes a long way to securing your dream job.

One part of your personal brand is authenticity. When gauging your authenticity, a hiring manager evaluates whether you portray yourself honestly, figures out exactly what you can do and determines your skill set. You hope to relay all of this information with concrete results. So how do you tell an employer you have 10 years of management experience in a concrete way?

Instead of stating the obvious, try a provable statement: "Led a team of 12 to 16 people who improved Acme Brick's return on investment 15 percent each consecutive year." You do not need to say this happened for 10 years, because your resume already states you worked for Acme Brick for 10 years. If you had a decade of management experience spread throughout more than one position, make concrete statements about each position.

Consider a feature-benefit model that displays your panache for turning facts into benefits. How does your team leadership affect the company at hand? Solve a problem for your future employer by demonstrating how your experience brings instant credibility to your brand. If you are about to take over a small, dedicated team, show that you plan to hit the ground running from day one by having a one-month goal for your team in hand at the interview. This turns your brand into a perception that you're a go-getter and self-starter. Your feature is the 10 years of experience, and your benefit is that you can solve a problem for the firm right away.

The goal of concise statements for your personal brand is to stick the facts. Once you uncover the facts about your brand, you must remain consistent. The 15 percent ROI or experience leading a team of a dozen people does not change, but you can alter the keywords surrounding those facts based on the job description of the position for which you apply.

Maintaining a consistent personal brand leads to bigger and better job opportunities. Figure out what your brand means, and then hash out the details. Swap out vague, worn-out resume phrases for success stories that prove your professional worth, and watch your personal brand solidify.

Photo courtesy of ryan_rancatore at Flickr.com