How to Develop Your Personal Brand!

The old ways of getting a job are long gone. You can't just walk into a business, turn in your resume, and expect to receive an excited phone call from the manager. There is far to much competition. Even when you meet all the requirements on the job listing, that is simply not enough. What makes you stand out? What is your personal brand?

What makes your accomplishments unique, and marketable? Why would this company want to have you on their team? What makes up your personal brand? This can be a number of things, but they must be difficult to duplicate by other job seekers. Just like with a business brand. It could be something like patenting a manufacturing process that cut down on waste by 30% and increased productivity by 10%. Coming up with a marketing strategy that uncovered a new, and growing target market; which increased profits by 15%.

What is your personal story? What are your values, your principles? What makes you unique? According to monster.com, this is very important to establishing your personal brand. You are developing a mission statement of your brand.

When selling your personal brand, think of prospective employers like customers. These customers want solutions that will make or save them money. How can the attributes of your personal brand solve that problem? Having someone with your sales reputation on their team will help gain new clients. The ability to implement your unique just-in-time manufacturing, will save the company money; and increase stock price. It could be anything, but does it benefit the company you are targeting?

You have all these great qualities, but if no one knows about them, you are dead in the water. Now is your time to network! Go to events, practice that elevator speech. But, like I said it's not all about you. Ultimately, when you are networking, you are building relationships with people. These relationships can be mutually beneficial. But, if you seem fake, or self centered, you will not get anywhere fast.

Everything is on line these days. Make sure you have a strong presence on line according to Entrepreneur. An excellent on line presence does two things. 1. It opens the door to numerous additional networking groups and opportunities. It will expand your reach greater than what you can manually do. 2. It acts as your expanded portfolio. When you go to an interview, all you have is your resume, but your on line portfolio or website can work wonders for you. A great website can show that you are an expert in your field.

Just because you are currently an expert in your field, doesn't mean you can't learn more! That is, if you want to remain an expert in your field. Additional training, and continuing education, these things can be very beneficial to your personal brand.

Your personal brand is what makes you, well, you! No one can replicate that, or take it away. So, why not invest you, and into growing that brand to the best it can be!