Michael DeSafey | Executive Recruiter and HR Professional

Branding? Have you created a professional brand that matches your career objectives

Branding For The Professional Career

Branding? Have you created a professional brand that matches your career objectives

Date : July 24, 2014 | By : michael_desafey

Branding? Have you created a professional brand that matches your career objectives.

We all know about the branding tactics large companies use every day to gain loyal customers, but have you ever stopped to consider the importance of personal branding for yourself during your job search journey?

Personal branding is the latest buzzword being used by career coaches as a marketing tool for jobseekers.  It is quite similar to the “elevator speech” that we have all been taught to have prepared; a quick speech for someone that tells them who you are, what you do and what your goals are. A personal brand takes this concept, but goes more in 

depth and is more encompassing of the concept. Personal branding puts more of the emphasis of marketing your identity to others rather than just quickly “selling” yourself in a brief encounter.

Personal branding allows you to control how others see you and this control allows you to determine your own path and goal setting.  Personal branding can also be compared to your own personal mission statement in that it is a clear statement of who you are, who you want to be and how you are planning to obtain it.  Not only will it keep you on track for the results you have set for yourself, but it also allows you to ensure how others view you and your career goals.

When creating your personal brand have a particular goal in mind (job, career, company) and be mindful of their image, as well as, that which you have for yourself.  Qualities that may be considered a strong personal brand with one company or career type may not be compatible with another and may need to modified and customized appropriately during a job search – always make sure it is relative and compatible.

When creating your personal brand carefully consider what words describe you, what your achievements have been and how you want others to view and describe you.  This is also an opportunity to really look at yourself and make sure you are the individual you strive to be.  Do you have any expert qualities? Are you consistent with who you want to represent? Do others view you the same way you view yourself? Before committing to a personal brand, you may need to take a hard look at some of these traits and make any modifications necessary to yourself to fit the brand you visualize for yourself.

Once  you have decided how you want to brand yourself make sure everything that you do fits that brand.  Your actions, projects, goals, clothing, personality and more must fit into the brand you have designed for yourself.  For a complete branding of yourself make sure all areas of your life run parallel and reflect the vision.  With our modern technology today this means not just your work life, but also includes your personal life, and your social media life.  With that being said, it is imperative that you be present and up to date on social medial (Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn at a minimum), but your postings must match your personal branding. This means tasteful and interesting posts online; reviewing your account settings to avoid any involuntary photo tagging or postings being viewed by potential employers that may not be consistent with our brand image.

Employers are using social media more and more in their search for new employees, so much so, in fact, that your social media profile can be the difference between getting an interview or being overlooked during the early stages of the interview process.

Taking the time to create a brand image and consistently living up to those standards you set for yourself will allow you to advance your career within in the directions you desire, with exceptional career opportunities.

Michael DeSafey is a leading executive recruiter for professionals in the construction, engineering and environmental industries. He is currently the President of Webuild Staffing (www.webuildstaffing.com). To learn more about Michael or to follow his Blog please visit www.michaeldesafey.com

First Impressions Count!! So Make The Right One…

First Impressions Count!! So Make The Right One…

Date : March 14, 2014 | By : michael_desafey

Making a great first impression is essential to having a successful interview. Throughout history many influential leaders have stressed the importance of making a great first impression. Most notably the Greeks thought and wrote extensively about the effects of one person’s personality on another. In today’s business environment these concepts are still very relevant when making a first impression.

Ones Ethos as the Greeks defined it, can be referred to as their ethics. Who you are as a person and how you are perceived by others.

The latter being the more influential in the business world. Who you are perceived to be will greatly determine how much influence you have over another person in business and increase your level of credibility in public. In your personal life though the opposite is true; everything you do and/or do not do personally either adds to or decreases your level of credibility with the ones who know you best and are around you every day. Many of the worlds great leaders had great public success, but personally had troubled or little success in their personal affairs.

In public the first impression you make on others dictates how you will be perceived. The most obvious impression revolves from your appearance. When you first meet someone within 30 seconds or so that person will make a judgment about you based on your appearance and within 1 minute finalize an overall opinion about you based on your tone of voice, body language, etc.. Most notability in a hiring / interview setting most hiring managers will admit they make an assumption on a potential employee in less than a minute after meeting that person; that assumption is very hard to change during the interview if the interviewers mind is made up.

So what can you do to make that great first impression?

(1) While you cannot change your god given physical features, you have complete control over how you dress and present yourself to the world. As it may be a sad commentary on the business world that how you dress will greatly influence how you are perceived. Making a conscious effort to dress professionally and be groomed and clean cut when in a public will greatly influence people’s impression of you. Following fashion trends and/or utilizing accessories such as a brief case, ipad, etc.. all add to your overall image. If necessary, take a look in the mirror, get a few fashion magazines or hire a fashion consultant to help you; as your appearance is the number one influencer on the impression you make within that first 30 seconds.

(2) Your body Language is the next thing people perceive about you. Are you making eye contact? Talking in a strong confident manner? Smiling? Have correct posture? Present a pleasant personality? Your body language says a lot about who you are as a person and leader. So stand tall, make eye contact, speak clearly and slowly, use a moderate tone of voice and when making hand gestures do so purposefully and deliberately. Most importantly be confident.

(3) Know what you are talking about!! Once you have made it past the all-important 1 minute hurdle; you now need to show you know what you are talking about. This is where great business professionals shine. They know their stuff. So in an interview setting, you better be ready to show you are qualified, have the experience and understand the business of the company you are interviewing with. Have your resume with you, do you research on the company understand the position they are talking with you about.

Making a good first impression in the business world go’s a long way in having a successful career. The interview is the first step in building that career. So take the time to prepare and present the best version of you when interviewing.

Michael DeSafey is a leading executive recruiter for professionals in the construction, engineering and environmental industries. He is currently the President of Webuild Staffing (www.webuildstaffing.com). To learn more about Michael or Follow his Blog please visit www.michaeldesafey.com