According to Gary Vaynerchuk’s New York Times number one best seller released earlier this year (Jan 30, 2018) entitled “Crushing It”, your personal brand is one of the most critical components for success in today’s world of business. How understanding social media platforms and using them to grow your brand is priceless in today’s marketplace.

Still don’t believe me? Consider this example – if I were to ask you to explain what you have accomplished or who you have influenced along the way in your career which would be more impressive – handing me a few pieces of high-quality paper or directing me to your LinkedIn, Twitter account, Facebook Business page or website complete with pictures in addition to a resume (if needed)?

People that speak at conferences have a personal brand.

People that get invited to speak on podcasts have a personal brand.

People who get asked to contribute content to industry blogs and publications have a personal brand.

People who get asked, all have a personal brand.

Are you a go-to person? If so, it’s because people value your brand – Congratulations.

If not, all’s not lost there are some specific steps to take regarding brand improvement I will talk about in another blog or you can contact me directly to learn more now.

We are in a transition period in business which is why I’m bringing this topic to your attention now.

When you meet with someone, what do you do beforehand if we want to know more about them? You look them up online.

What do you do after that coffee meeting if we didn’t GOOGLE them, but want to learn more? You look them up online.

What do you do when you’re choosing between working with one person versus another person? You look them up online.

Over the next few years, this is only going to become more ingrained into the way we do business. We can’t help it — we make decisions based off what we see, and if all we see is an outdated presence or worse none online, people will assume that person is outdated and possibly underrate their actual value.

What’s your email address (Gmail, Earth…, Hot…. or AO.)? Why do I ask? According to automationtechies.com, it does matter to the point of your being judged as either “technically relevant” or an out of touch applicant which could also lead to possible age discrimination.

Did you know many companies either ask for you Facebook or LinkedIn account page up front or review it anyway without your knowledge? Why? To get a more realistic understanding about who you really are beyond what you have listed on that piece of paper also known as your resume you uploaded or attached to the job application.

Christina DesMarais wrote an article for Inc.com (Nov 16, 2017) further detailing why many resumes are “dead on arrival” which I’ve summarized below:

● They are static, often quickly outdated which can lessen your chances of getting referred onward for further consideration

● If your experiences don’t match the key words and titles the new position is requiring, your application may be mistakenly overlooked due to search technology

● Many current job titles and roles are vastly different in many industries which could create an artificial skills gap that prevents you from interview consideration

● Believe it or not resumes can also screen out some from even applying for employment due to never having learned how to create one. Or even worse some “game the system” by crafting phony information which meet the exact requirements of the job, but they actually don’t have the skills or education.

Now back to that Facebook page of yours I was discussing earlier: What can you do now? Immediately go look at it with the eyes of an employer not as the person holding the drink or something else in their hand(s). Is what you see classy or trashy? Would it help or hurt the brand image your resume/interview portrays? If it’s classy – great, if not, we’ve got some work to do.

Start with an understanding of how many employers normally stop after checking your second or third Facebook page which means we need to move the “bad brand” material onto lower pages. This is accomplished by posting pics and status updates of your doing “good brand” things such as volunteer work, job related events you’ve participated in, sharing of “deep thoughts”, fun community events such as charity walks, car shows, etc..

If you’ve continued to read this far – thank you and congratulations for investing in furthering your career. Wondering what does work?

We both know and understand there’s no magic, one size fits all Jedi move or secret here, however there are strategies you can utilize to improve your chances of securing both that interview and dream job which starts beyond just having a “nice” resume.

I will be talking more in depth about branding, interviewing and other career strategies in an upcoming blog so please sign up for future posts to avoid missing them or others which you just may find interesting and useful.

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