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Zeroing in on your unique personal brand and communicating it consistently and effectively in your job search is a surefire strategy for attracting employers' attention and landing a new job.

 

Here are four personal branding tactics that will make you irresistible to hiring managers.

1. Brand yourself in a sentence.

Effective brands are defined succinctly and competitively in a single sentence. The sentence should declare what's different about you and why it matters. It should be short enough to write on the back of a business card and definitive enough to describe the brand's purpose. For example, Google defines its brand this way: "Google organizes the world's information and makes it universally accessible and useful."

When you are composing your brand sentence, think of how you can label or position yourself differently. For example, rather than calling myself a career coach like others do, I call myself a "personal brand strategist" and go on to say, "I use the principles and strategies from the commercial world of brands for the most important brand--Brand You."

2. Get feedback on your 30-second elevator speech.

Brands hire experts to create their ads, then test them to get feedback.

There's an easy way for you to get feedback: Just grab a video camera and record yourself giving your elevator speech or your answer to the most popular interview question, Tell me about yourself. Then sit down and evaluate your performance. The only way to get good is to practice, make a video and rate your performance.

Your personal commercial should elaborate on your brand sentence in an interesting way. Take another page from the branding playbook and include a memorable phrase that embodies your brand purpose, like an ad slogan does for a brand.  

Try an analogy: Put two different ideas together to express who you are, such as "I'm a cross between X and Y" or "I'm like A meets B. Tazo Tea, for example, defined itself as "Marco Polo meets Merlin." I sometimes say, "I'm a cross between a P&G brand manager and a career coach."

Even though you've practiced and videotaped your delivery, your elevator pitch shouldn't seem wooden and rehearsed. The key is to practice, but to avoid memorization so you don't sound like you're scripted.

3. Create branded marketing materials that break through the clutter.

Every brand has marketing materials: advertising, a website, brochures, business cards and other collateral that are all designed with a distinctive look and feel and a message focused on the brand vision--the best brand story possible.

You should do the same. Your marketing materials are your business card, cover letter, email address, voicemail message and resume. Later you can expand your brand's marketing materials to include online social networking profiles, a website and a blog. It's easy to do them for free or economically though a service such as VistaPrint. But don't use their free business cards with their logo on the back (that will brand you as cheap!) or use a template design. You are a brand, after all.

Make sure that all your marketing materials have a similar look (they should use the same fonts and colors, for example) and tell your best brand story.

You can take another page from the branding playbook and get "celebrity" endorsements in your marketing materials. Of course, we're not talking about actual celebrities, but getting a quote from a former boss or client about a project where you played a major role. Put together a Resume Addendum that lists key projects in a case study-Challenge-Solution-Results-format. Then put the quote from your boss or client at the top of each case study. You can also use your endorsement quotes in your cover letter, website and your LinkedIn profile.

4. Develop an e-mail "Stalking" campaign.

CNBC "Street Signs" Anchor Erin Burnett got her start on television after writing what she called a "stalker letter" to anchor Willow Bay. Of course, Burnett wasn't literally stalking Bay, but a clever email and letter campaign to companies and hiring managers can brand you as someone with initiative and get you noticed.

Many of my clients have used this technique successfully in today's tough job market. Here's an email a client, a young technologist in transition, sent that got him a series of interviews and eventually a job offer:

Subject line: Looking for ways to keep costs down for your clients?

Body of email: I'm a technologist who recently supplemented my technology training at ABC University's program in xxx. I'm a go-getter who can deliver projects and services at a lower rate for your clients, a key concern during these economic times.

In today's environment, I think it's important to segment tasks that require someone to do a process or a project versus those that require someone with extensive experience to exercise judgment. Today's clients are looking for ways to decrease costs and I can help provide different ways to bill the client at a more cost-effective rate.

I would love to get on your calendar for a phone or in person meeting to discuss how I can add value to your company. I have attached my background and look forward to speaking with you.

When you get into the branding mindset, you'll want to reassess your personal brand regularly just like any brand manager would do--not just when you're in transition. After all, Brand You is a journey that will last your whole lifetime. 

Disclaimer- The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances. 

Http://www.drshrutibhat.com
Expert at leading Pharmaceutical R&D.
Translates innovative concepts to PROFITS.
TouTube Channel : Http://www.youtube.com/user/ShrutiBhat10

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Dr.Shruti Bhat, an Expert in Pharmaceutical industry, brings to you some highlights from current pharma business news-


The most recent figures from March of 2009 indicate Twitter has again nearly doubled, with 8 million unique visitors. Twitter users are primarily adults, and are highly mobile, updating through their laptops, Blackberries, iPhones and other devices. Together, users have created over billions of Tweets to date. Twitter combines components of blogging, Facebook, and other social media and condenses it down to a small but potent task. Members post updates (called Tweets) of up to 140 characters as often as they wish. Ostensibly, the updates are to answer one question: “What are you doing?” Like Facebook and other networks, people can follow each other and their Tweets. Like many social media options, participants can reply to tweets, and begin a whole new conversation. The result is a constant stream of communication. 

What’s all the buzz about? “Is Twitter here to stay? Does it really provide business opportunity?” 

So, the physicians and the patients are using it. What about pharma? 

What are the opportunities? 

What to Tweet? 

Full article...

http://www.pharm-education.com/2010/04/twitter-in-healthcare-and-pharma.html

Disclaimer- The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

http://www.drshrutibhat.com
Expert at leading Pharmaceutical R&D.
Translates innovative concepts to PROFITS. 
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The global economic crisis has hurt all of us in various ways. If you’ve been laid off in recent months, you're feeling its effects very directly. It’s discouraging to try to get a job while the news reports continue to announce massive new layoffs, and the resumes you send out lie buried in stacks on hiring managers' desks.

However, your job loss can be an opportunity to reassess your career, figure out what you want to do next, and take more control of your future.

Clearly, the days are gone when one company took care of you from graduation through retirement. While you may still meet people who’ve worked for one company for 30 or 40 years, their situation has little in common with ours. In fact, today’s average worker changes jobs every 3 years. Furthermore, hiring managers now prefer the worker who has changed jobs every 3 years. In the manager's eyes, that's the worker with broad experience. The worker who’s stayed with one company for 30 years is now a questionable bet, unless he or she moved around within the company, continuing to learn and grow.

Since you can't rely on a company to manage your career, you have to manage it yourself.

Coz..."If you don't have a plan, someone else will make your plan." And forming that plan for your career is a critical first step in creating the future you want. You need a strategy for the short term and the long term.

In essence, you need to figure out what you want to become, and develop a plan that will get you there. Your plan may change, but you do need one.That's strategy.

Now what about strategy execution? What do you do to get the job you really want? The answer? Marketing.

Marketing yourself, or proactive job searching, starts with identifying (1) what you can offer, (2) what distinguishes you from your competition, and (3) who your target market is. Marketing yourself is no different than marketing a product, but the product is you.

To effectively market yourself, you must develop a good understanding of your assets--your skills and personal traits. If you know your strengths, you can market yourself more effectively and with greater confidence, making your strengths available to companies that are looking for them.

You also need to understand the marketplace for people with your skills. This requires research. You may find that you need to go back to school or that people with your skills are employed in industries you hadn't thought of.

When you know your skill set and your market, your job search should rely on two important techniques: informational interviewing and networking.

One technique to apply to your job search is the informational interview. In the informational interview, you contact people who work in a field or company that interests you, and ask them questions to increase your knowledge and understanding. The interview can be done on the phone or in person. You can take this approach: "I'm exploring the kind of work I want to do, and I’d like to learn more about you and your work."

The informational interview is an extension of the research you’ve already done. These interviews should help you learn more about your field of interest and intelligently craft your career plan. You might make a connection through interviewing that leads to a job, but don't approach it that way. Instead, be a researcher. Always thank your interviewees for taking time to help you. If they’re interested, keep them updated on how things work out.

The second key tactic used by the proactive job searcher is networking. Networking is about meeting people--lots of them--and staying in touch. You should focus your networking on people who are in your field of interest. A good way to do this is to attend professional association meetings in your target field. Attend the meetings of these and similar organizations. Use the meetings to develop relationships with the members, and you will gradually build a powerful professional network.

Why do you need a professional network? Because the people in your network care about your success, just as you hopefully care about theirs. Many of them also recognize that helping each other is far more fruitful than treating others as hostile competitors.  

Read full article ... click...http://www.drshrutibhat.com/2/category/personal%20branding/1.html

Disclaimer- The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

Http://www.drshrutibhat.com
Expert at leading Pharmaceutical R&D.
Translates innovative concepts to PROFITS.
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I’ve read interesting takes on that question lately. Some good points, and some… not so much. What defines professionalism? Based on various pieces I’ve read, it’s certainly subjective. Whatever the definition anyone uses, it’s often THE factor that tips the scale from one candidate to another in the hiring process. 

In trying to define it, the dictionary doesn’t seem to be much help. Webster defines professionalism as: “the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or professional person.” …sounds like a circular definition. 

Having been a leader for over 15 years and interviewing hundreds of people, I’ve gathered some observations: 

~ There is no single characteristic that makes someone ‘professional’. Invariably when someone impresses as being professional, it’s a combination of a number of traits that creates that impression. 

~ It’s not the occupation! Often, people think you need to be a doctor, or lawyer, or senior executive to be considered professional. However, I know of people that are in lower level blue-collar positions that I consider more professional than some C-level executives. 

~ Attitude. Certainly attitude creates a positive impression. However, I believe it is also a critical component of professionalism. It’s not just whether someone is upbeat or not, but also whether they are a solution-finder or nay-sayer. A professional is someone that sees opportunity, not just finds reasons that something can’t be done. 

~ Competence. With that perspective regarding attitude, competence in your field is therefore also vital. In order to be professional, you have to know what you’re talking about. You have to be able to have understanding and insight into relevant issues in your field and be able to articulate solutions. 

~ Communication Skills. You may have a great attitude and be highly competent in your field, however, if you can’t communicate your insight or ideas effectively to others, you miss the mark. Communication skills don’t refer to an accent, but rather the ability to be understood, speak in clear terms, and make complex subjects understandable. 

~ Appearance. Unfortunately, often “unprofessional appearance” has been used as a euphemism for racism, sexism, discrimination against the obese, or some other such discrimination. Those are misguided and shouldn’t be a factor in considering a professional appearance. However, appearance does matter. It’s not necessary for someone to expensive business suit. However, clean and appropriate clothing, fit properly, and arranged well do play a part in a professional image. A mechanic in well fitting and well cared for cover-alls can create a professional image as well as a C-Level executive in a tailored suit. Dirty, wrinkled, sloppy, and unkempt appearance damage a professional image regardless of the field you may pursue.  

~ Appropriateness. Inappropriate language, slang, appearance, or subjects have as much to do with damaging a professional image as anything else. Running off on unrelated tangents in a conversation, cursing, or wearing a polo shirt to a formal executive interview each create an impression that you don’t grasp the particular role. Like it or not, but ‘bucking the system’ rarely gets rewarded when pursuing a new job.  

These are obviously all personal opinions. However, I have seen each of these factors play a large part in my own impression of someone’s professionalism. Observations that are regularly supported by the feedback I get from my HR colleagues. 

Also, at http://www.pharm-education.com/2009/12/what-makes-someone-professional.html

Disclaimer : The above information is a personal opinion and not intended for any particular person living or dead. This is for research purpose/ dissemination of knowledge only. 
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What happens on the Internet, stays on the Internet. How that affects your job search is up to you. 

Job seekers should not only manage how they come across in person, but on the Web, too. We often forget that everything you post online, from your Facebook profile to your Amazon book reviews, is out there for others to see and judge. 

"Most employers nowadays hop on Google to search a name as a preliminary step, either before or right after the interview," says Monique Tatum, author of "Jumping Off the Curb and Into SEO Traffic." "A positive and strong online presence can play a tremendous part in the employer's first impression." 

In 2009, 45 percent of employers used social networking sites to research candidates, according to a CareerBuilder survey, a 23 percent increase from last year. Thirty-five percent of employers said that what they found caused them not to hire the candidate. 

Times have changed: 

Not only has the use of the Internet, social networking sites, blogs and other news media skyrocketed in recent years; all of these things have revolutionized the job search. It used to be that if a hiring manager dug around online and couldn't find anything, it was a good thing. Today, however, if you have no online presence, it could be more of a career killer than if an employer found some digital dirt. 

"If you have an established career and no online presence, it is a big red flag for employers," Employers expect to find blogs, forum posts, LinkedIn profiles and many other sources of information about you. If you haven't been mentioned by other people in a professional context, employers will wonder why not." 

Sweep the dirt under the rug-

One of the easiest ways to get rid of your digital dirt is to create more of it -- except the good kind. Tatum suggests developing your own positive content by creating articles, starting a blog or posting to forums.  As long as you can smother any negative information about you, you should be OK in an initial employer search. 

Something to be proud of-

If you want to build a digital footprint that won't scare away future employers, here are five tips on how to do it: 

1.     Make your content useful.

2.     Join social networks, both for career purposes and social purposes.

3.     If you can't delete it, smother it.

4.     Avoid joining groups or engaging in online activities that could embarrass or restrict.

5.     Beware the cyber twin. 

Further details http://www.pharm-education.com/2009/12/build-digital-footprint-you-can-be.html 

Disclaimer : The above information has been cited from literature in public domain. This is for research purpose/ dissemination of knowledge only.
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In this age of web portfolios and digital job searching, website is a lifeline marketing tool. So how do we make our site informative and also attractive ?

Important Design tips for your web portal- 

1.     Colors and Images.

2.     Use less Eye Candy.

3.     Avoid Popup Window.

4.     Keep Adverts To minimum.

5.     Hide Visitor Counter.

6.     Better Navigation.

7.     Don't Keep Moving Things.

8.     Visitors are Not Interested In You Or Your Awards.

9.     Don't Crowd The Screen.

10.  Make Your Site Sticky.

For in-depth reading on this topic, please visit-
http://www.pharm-education.com/2009/11/important-tips-for-your-web-portal.html
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