Creating a personal branding statement can help you to focus your job search, learn how.
If you are looking for a job, a personal branding statement matters. You already know about the importance of a personal brand, but perhaps you have never heard of the phrase, personal branding statement. What is it and why does it matter in today’s environment? Before delving into creating a personal branding statement, let’s talk resumes for a second. A resume is an important document because it gets you the interview, which gets you the job. It showcases your work history, which is backward looking, but the most outstanding resumes are forward looking as well, and that’s why it is critical to include a personal branding statement on your resume. A personal branding statement matters because it can help you to secure a new job.
What is a Personal Branding Statement?
A personal branding statement is a concise statement that conveys who you are and what you have to offer. Borrowed from the marketing field, it communicates the essence of the person behind the name, and reflects your reputation. Include your personal branding statement in the Summary/Highlight/Objective section of your resume.
Example of a Personal Branding Statement
Ten years general management experience working in fast-paced, dynamic, technologically sophisticated environments. Known for profitable growth through profit & loss management, strategic planning, product development, sales management, and customer relationship management.
The example of the personal branding statement above works because you can quickly see who the person is and it also shows what he or she has to offer a prospective employer.
Steps to Creating a Personal Branding Statement
Before you create a personal branding statement, you have to conduct a self-analysis. The answers to the following questions will give you the information that you need to create your personal branding statement.
- What is the core of who you are? What are you passionate about? What are your career goals? How do you want to make a difference? What is your vision for your career? These questions help you to discover the things that cause the “fire in your belly,” the things that make your heart sing.
- What differentiates you from your peers? What do you have to offer that no one else does? What makes you unique? Everyone has that one thing that she can do better than everyone. This question helps you to discover that one thing that makes you unique.
- What are three of your greatest strengths that have benefitted your employers? What do others say that you do very well? Knowing what your strengths are help you to sell your value to a prospective employer.
- Think back to the three most important work-related projects that you successfully completed, how did the actual work get done? In other words, how do you make things happen? These questions help you to uncover your working styles, which can be used as selling points to prospective employers.
- Are you persuasive?
- Did you collaborate with others?
- Did you have to be resourceful to get what you needed?
- Did you have to take many risks?
- Did you have to tap your network of contacts?
- Identify three attributes that are common to the way you completed the three projects
Now that you have answered the above questions, keep in mind that a personal branding statement conveys who you are and what you have to offer. With that in mind, craft you statement based on your answers to the above questions. This is a useful exercise because it allows you to zero in on what you bring to an employer’s table, and that’s what you will need to land your next job.
