How to Raise Your Visibility for Career Advancement

Branding.  It’s a word the older folks amongst us often dislike because it conjures up annoying advertising that will get to you subliminally, making you by a name brand when generic is just as good.  But branding is where it is at for career advancement.  For those of you saying, “bah, humbug,” let me add: your brand is the authentic you. You are simply putting out into the world the person you truly are.

What’s your brand? In the Internet age, your brand is simply your on-line presence.  In building your brand, you get to have the fun of discovering exactly what it is that makes you special and sets you apart from others competing for similar opportunities.  So, start by considering what you think is the one most important thing about yourself that you want others to know.  Do you want to promote yourself as a great copywriter or a terrific programmer?   Emphasize one skill among the many you have to build your own brand.

The key is consistency in your presentation from one venue to another, and care taken to keep non-professional data off the web. 95% of all headhunters and 90% of all potential employers (and that might include higher ups or human resource people in the company where you currently work) look at your on-line profiles before even considering an interview.

Technically, employers are not supposed to know about your personal life, but these days, we are in the ethernet, warts and all. There are plenty of horror stories out there about embarrassing Facebook pictures, personal blogs telling about drinking to excess at parties, or people who flamed someone else in a Linked In group dialogue.   And just like a jury told to “please disregard that statement,” once a person knows the information, it is not going to leave their head.

Here are a couple of examples of brand builders: 1) Jason Alba (jasonalba.com), CEO of JibberJobber.com and author of I’m on LinkedIn – Now What???; and 2) Allison Doyle (linkedin.com/in/alisondoyle) and her blog (alisondoyle.typepad.com). Follow their advice, and you will have built an on-line presence that will advance your career in no time at all.  Alison Doyle highly recommends including a photo on all your profiles, plus creating a video CVs via http://visualcv.com. There are pluses and minuses to providing the visual information, and for many people, the process is awfully intimidating.

In the meantime, here are some basic steps to take to build that on-line presence:

1)   Make sure your email is professional. Instead of jediwarrior@domain.com consider just using your name at your internet provider, like this: FirstnameLastname@domain.com.

2)   Use your real name in setting up profiles. LinkedIn will do this for you automatically when you set up your account for instance, I am: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/hillary-hutchinson/7/b6/b45

3)   Create your public profile in the standard places. Linked In, Facebook, Twitter are the current “standards.” Then, make sure you post it in sites that are specific to your industry or school where there are places to post it.  If you are looking for a job or other career opportunities, note it there, too.  (If you do not want your present employer to know you are looking for lateral advancement, this might not be advisable.)

4)   Link your various profiles. Add a Linked In or Twitter link to your Facebook account, so people can find out more about you.

5)   Participate in group discussions that interest you. Be careful: this can be a time sink.  Just pick a few, and get known as an expert or a go to resource person.  The beauty of today’s social media is that interests are more easily shared across geographic boundaries.  You can get to know someone across the ocean as easily as your hometown.

6)   Consider creating a personal website. WordPress has made this process extraordinarily easy for even the most technophobic amongst us.

7)   Consider starting your own blog. If you are a writer, this is a great place to shine; if you are an artist of any type, it’s a great way to provide visuals showcasing your talents.

Go forth in confidence that branding is not a dirty word, and create an online presence that advances your career.  Keep in mind that authenticity and consistency are the keys.  Let people know who you really are, and advance your career.

***May be reproduced in full or in part with proper attribution to***
(my name-Hillary Hutchinson, Title-Career Coach and Change Strategist, www.TransitioningYourLife.com

 

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