Climbing the corporate ladder on a hot streak is the career buzzphrase “personal branding”—but do you truly know what represents personal branding? Generally we understand the significance of corporate branding. As an employee we follow the corporate rules to represent our company in the best light possible; but when we leave our office at 5 p.m., are we still held responsible for branding? The answer is absolutely!! Tiger lost his corporate sponsorships not because his golf game was suffering but because his personal brand did not match the image he portrays when out besting the competition for the coveted green jacket.

Let’s consider another example that hits a little closer to home. You just graduated in May and are starting your new job at an accounting firm. Friday afternoon you have a meeting with your biggest client. This is the first time you introduced yourself to him and you are a little nervous. The meeting goes well and you end your Friday on a confident high knowing you impressed him. You’re anxious to start your Friday night so you and some girlfriends decide to go out and relive those college days of drunkenness, a little stupidity without a care in the world. You’re dreading the Monday morning wake up call and when you sluggishly walk into work, you read an email from your big client you met on Friday. He saw you and your girlfriends out and was surprised at how unprofessional your behavior was. Now I know you are thinking, “am I never allowed to go out and have fun again,” and that is not what I am saying. You need to remember that your personal brand is extremely important in the business world and how you act outside of work is just as important as how you act at work.

Do’s and Don’ts of personal branding:
Do: Always look put together whether you are attending a networking event, client luncheon, shopping at the mall or grocery shopping. You never know whether your next client is standing ahead of you in line at Starbucks or grabbing a salad at Panera.

Don’t get wrapped up in office gossip. You then become a person that cannot be trusted by other employees for fear that what they tell you will become the hot gossip around the office water cooler.

Do make sure that if you have a facebook, twitter, linkedin account or a blog that no matter which one I find, they all represent you in the same way. I should never be confused about the person you are when I find you on social media tools.

Don’t use facebook as a way to let the world know that you can still party like you are 19. We all like to go out and have a good time however pictures of you dancing on a bar should be left up to the imagination. Facebook is a powerful tool that can get you in a lot of trouble. Be sure you are checking your profile for pictures and comments that could damage the way people think about you.

Do your homework before meeting with a client, a connection you met at a networking event or an interview. I always remember the people that have taken the time to look at my magazine. It shows that you value my time and my expertise.

Don’t be a Tiger Woods with skeletons hiding in your closet. One way or another, secrets get out.

Do follow up. Your follow-up becomes a lasting impression so follow up on business cards, meetings and connections. You always want to be top of mind, the one that’s remembered because you extended the effort to show interest in the product, the business, or the person.

Don’t bring your personal drama to work. No one likes listening to a really put-together employee talk about his/her dysfunctional dating patterns.

Do and I mean remember this, always treat people like you want to be treated. Even if you are having a bad day, you lost a huge client, your boyfriend and you just broke up, or you are irritated because the line at Starbucks is extremely long, put a smile on your face and take a deep breath. You just never know whom the barista knows, who the person behind you is, or the person just walking in the door. You always want to be thought of as a person with a positive and genuine attitude. That’s the brand you want to project and protect—it’s fun to be known as a spitfire as long as it’s an acronym for sincere, professional, intelligent, trustworthy, faithful, in-style, reliable and empathetic!

So the next time you are battling the devil or the little angel sitting on your shoulder, remember these simple tips and your personal branding will be off and running.

Published recently in Workchic.

Are you aware of the current state of your “personal brand health”?

Brand building starts with brand awareness. Since your personal brand is perceived by others, you will need to get honest feedback from them. Only after you have gotten this feedback can you move on to tweak the expression of your personal brand and relay your professionalism, distinctive traits, and behavioral style. By changing your actions and communications, you can alter the perception of your personal brand by others.

How are you expressing and exuding your brand in the interview stage of your job search?

Directions: In this Job Search Quiz – Part 2, select the behavior or quote that most closely resembles your actions or communications. Note the responses you have chosen.

1. This is your first interview for a job that is exactly what you want and you have just met the interviewer. What do you do first?
a. Say, “Can you validate my parking ticket?”, OR
b. Make eye contact, smile, and offer a friendly handshake, OR
c. Start texting an IM to your best friend about how excited you are.

2. The interview is for a management trainee position in the hospitality industry. You are wearing:
a. Jeans, hoodie, and sneakers, OR
b. Well-fitted suit that conveys your personal brand image, OR
c. Hawaiian-print T-shirt, cut-offs, and flip-flops.

3. The interviewer asks, “What are your strengths?” and you reply:
a. “That’s easy: dependable, intelligent, resourceful, caring, smart, reliable, bright, a team player, honest and trustworthy, self-confident, and a people person,” OR
b. “Others have described my personal branding attributes as rock-solid dependability combined with an enthusiastic and helpful team spirit,” OR
c. “Ummm…let me see…I’m not sure?”

4. The interviewer asks, “Why should I hire you?” and you reply:
a. “Because I desperately need a job to avoid being homeless,” OR
b. “My skills, experience, values, and personal brand appear to be a perfect match with your job requirements, company culture, and values,” OR
c. “Why not?”

5. You are not sure what employers will see if they Google your name before or after the interview. While in college you posted some photos on Facebook that show you in a beer-chugging contest. You:
a. avoid the whole issue as it is unlikely that they will Google you, OR
b. Delete the beer-chugging contest photos from Facebook, and substitute more professional pics, OR
c. keep the original photos on Facebook and add more professional photos to “round out” your personal brand.

Responses: Answer (b) is the most professional behavior or response AND opens the gateway for you to express your positive personal brand in the interview. By aligning your brand attributes, strengths, and skills with a potential employer’s needs and culture-fit expectations, you will have leapt ahead of the majority of job seekers for selection to the position.

What does your brand say about you ? Take the complimentary 360Reach personal branding assessment at http://www.reachcc.com/360v4register and use the insights gained from the honest feedback to build your personal branding image, behaviors, and communications. Contact Susan Guarneri, a Certified Personal Branding Strategist at Susan@AssessmentGoddess.com for personal branding coaching.

About Susan Guarneri:
Known as the Career Assessment Goddess, Susan Guarneri has a Master’s Degree in Counseling from The Johns Hopkins University and 24 years of experience in career counseling and career coaching. With 13 career-industry certifications, she is the only National Certified Career Counselor worldwide who is also certified as a Master Personal Branding Strategist and Online Identity Management Strategist. In addition, she has won recognition as a Master Resume Writer with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Susan has assisted thousands of professionals and executives with career transitions and job changes. She has also provided Fortune 500 companies, colleges, non-profits, and government agencies with management development, team building, career consulting, training, and workforce development. Susan is co-author of Job Search Bloopers (2008 Career Press).

Just what are your personal branding attributes, for example? Are you caring, dependable, creative, fun-loving, intelligent, energetic, optimistic, reserved, or quirky? Is your personal brand so strong that adjectives describing you immediately leap into the minds of those who know you or see you? Are the majority of those adjectives positive and similar? Then you have succeeded in being clear, consistent, and constant in expressing your unique brand through word and action. If not, you have a bit of brand-building to do.

Are you a confident and savvy job seeker with personal branding pizzaz? Take this short Job Search Quiz – Part 1 about the initial stages of your job search. In Part 2 of this series to follow, interviewing will be addressed.

Directions: Ask yourself which behavior or quote is most like what you would do or say for each question, and keep track of your answers.

1. You have built a LinkedIn Profile because you have heard it is important to have one. Your LI Profile:
a. Is short and sparse, listing the bare minimum facts, OR
b. Starts with a career focus and your personal branding attributes and strengths, OR
c. Describes your academic career and work history in minute detail.

2. You are networking for a job at a professional association meeting, and have just had a conversation with someone who has promised to keep you in mind for job leads or referrals. What do you do next?
a. Quickly move to another person so you can maximize your time at the event, OR
b. Offer your branded personal business card and express your gratitude, OR
c. Ask how soon you can expect to hear back, as you will be waiting.

3. You are putting together what you believe is a “killer resume”. You start with your name and contact information and follow with:
a. A reverse chronological listing of all your jobs, job titles, and dates of employment, OR
b. Your career focus and a branded summary with key accomplishments, OR
c. A general summary that covers several possible job targets and lists all your skills.

4. You are not fond of writing cover letters but know that submitting a letter is required in addition to a resume. You:
a. write a brief, generic cover letter that you can use for any job opening, OR
b. research the employer and write a targeted cover letter that shows your personal brand, OR
c. write a two-page cover letter that includes every aspect of what you have to offer for several different types of jobs.

5. You are an avid Twitter user, especially during your job search. Your tweets include:
a. stream of consciousness comments about how search is going (mostly bad), OR
b. on-brand, positive statements/retweets and links to resources, OR
c. constant re-tweets of what others have to say, including their offensive language.

In all these questions, answer (b) demonstrates your professionalism AND allows you to demonstrate your distinctive and positive personal brand. Answers (a) and (c) may also reveal a lot about your brand, but not necessarily what a potential employer wants to hire.

What is your personal brand? Take the complimentary 360Reach personal branding assessment to obtain honest feedback from those who know you well. Then contact Susan@AssessmentGoddess.com for coaching so your personal brand can become a differentiating asset in your job search.

About Susan Guarneri
Known as the Career Assessment Goddess, Susan Guarneri has a Master’s Degree in Counseling from The Johns Hopkins University and 24 years of experience in career counseling and career coaching. With 13 career-industry certifications, she is the only National Certified Career Counselor worldwide who is also certified as a Master Personal Branding Strategist and Online Identity Management Strategist. In addition, she has won recognition as a Master Resume Writer with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Susan has assisted thousands of professionals and executives with career transitions and job changes. She has also provided Fortune 500 companies, colleges, non-profits, and government agencies with management development, team building, career consulting, training, and workforce development. Susan is co-author of Job Search Bloopers (2008 Career Press).

Phone: 866-881-4055 Toll-free
Email: Susan@AssessmentGoddess.com
Websites: www.AssessmentGoddess.com and www.Resume-Magic.com
Blog: http://blog.careergoddess.com/
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/assessmentgoddess
Twitter: @susanguarneri