Ultimate Resumes eNews
DECEMBER 2004

How Will You package Yourself For the Holidays?

While I have been going about my holiday shopping I have noticed the abundance of catalogs, flyers, billboards, and television and radio advertising for all sorts of products. It occurred to me recently that behind each product for which we hear or see an advertisement there is a highly paid team of brand managers, marketing experts, advertising agencies, and publicists who are responsible for encouraging us to purchase the product. From chocolates to toys to jewelry, every product is presented to us in an enticing manner. Which brings me to the point of this newsletter:

Each of us possesses a unique set of skills and talents which combine to create a product which potential employers can purchase. I think that many people actually have enough skills and talents that they are, in reality, their own mini-corporation. If each of us is a unique product, how can we market ourselves with the same strategic enthusiasm that corporate brand managers use to market everything from macaroni & cheese to clothing?

It’s important to brand yourself so that you are positioned for career advancement and personal achievement. Perhaps you want to obtain admission to graduate school or be promoted at work. Or maybe you want to embark upon a new career altogether. An important first step in achieving your goals is to think about your brand. Who are you? If an advertising agency were to create an ad campaign for “You Inc.” what would the slogan be?

When I work with clients one of the first questions that I ask is, “How would you describe yourself as a professional?” Some people have said things like, “I am a detail oriented intellectual property attorney” While others have described themselves as “change agents” or “creative problem solvers”. Whatever your special strength or passion is, it’s important for you to know what your “slogan” is. In other words connect the dots …don’t describe your career as a disjointed series of tasks you have completed. What is the overriding theme? What are the common strengths that you have brought to each job?

Sometimes what makes someone special is something very simple. I worked with a client once who told me that he had never had any genius ideas and that he didn’t aspire to senior management in his field. However, he said that he liked his role as a “rock” in his department. What he meant was that he is the consistent performer in his department; he shows up on time and does his job properly every day. He knows his field well and he does a solid job of managing the day to day operations in his department but he doesn’t aspire beyond his current role. Whatever you may think of his career goals, the important thing is that he understood his strengths and his aspirations. And he was able to turn that information into his personal brand.

When you understand your brand you can create an action plan for marketing yourself. Most people never stop and take a realistic look at the relative strengths and weaknesses of their brand which makes it much more difficult to market it in a strategic and aggressive way.

So, during this holiday season, I hope that all of you stop to reflect on your brand before the New Year arrives and you create your annual list of resolutions. If you take a good look at your brand now, you can create a set of New Year’s resolutions in 2005 that will help you to achieve your personal and professional goals. And, that, my friends, will help you to enjoy the success that I wish for all of you during this holiday season and in the New Year.

Happy Holidays!

— Liz Handlin

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