Personal Branding Archives - Page 2 of 18

How To Show Your Brand is More Than Your Title

I want to share my annual thoughts on job search trends that are slightly different this year. Instead of one list where I share a list, I want to dive deeper into each one I share and then write a round-up linking to each article.

Let’s start by stating the obvious. You’ve heard me say that job search is a lifestyle. You’re going to need to market the brand you have. It’s more than titles, acronyms, and letters behind your name unless it’s an M.D., JD., and others. Even MBA letters behind a name have lost their essence. It won’t evolve into anything significant until it’s visible with applied knowledge.

If you differentiate yourself from your peers and competitors, you’ll lump yourself in. It would help if you wanted to stand out, but listening to many folks who are telling you a brand is something you create. If you’re making a persona instead of exploiting the one that markets yourself, you’re doing it wrong.

Yep. I used “markets.” Get used to it as of right now. We’re all trying to get some visibility. It’s not magic. It’s intention.

Let’s talk about the title with the letters behind it. Many experts will say on LinkedIn it doesn’t matter. Titles are marketing if they’re useful and universally known. Labels are marketing if you do something only 50 people in the world do. Titles are helpful when you are professionally involved in an industry where you’re paid to have those skills, and everyone knows what it is. OK, so maybe I’m wrong about this. It may get you some helpful LinkedIn SEO.

But it’s not your brand.

I’ll argue if you can’t capture your brand in the fewest words possible, you’re thwarting your marketing efforts. It works well spent if you want your brand and work to be its referral engine. People need to scan and click. Take their thinking from them, and infuse it wherever possible, with as fewest words as possible.

We’re remote, and we’re online. Present yourself as a gold mine, not a land mine:

How are you valuable?
What do people need from you (what have you been told)?
What solutions are you known for?

You have to explain a title; if you have three inexplicable titles, people may not ask anything of you.

My wife and I contracted our electrical work to George for many years. George has been our go-to guy for whatever electrical job we needed for our two-flat. We thought that’s all he did, and in fact, we also enjoyed his company. We know that he also owned several pieces of property.

We didn’t know he retired from the government after 32 years of finding hidden money as a tax accountant. We didn’t realize this until this year about George.

If we’d known, it wouldn’t change our relationship with him. But he only wanted us to understand what is relevant to us. George solved one problem for us. He has received many referrals from us just for the work he’s done for us. George created the demand for his work only as an electrician for us.

Be like George.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

5 Ways to Improve Your LinkedIn SEO and Reach More Employers

5 Ways to Improve Your LinkedIn SEO and Reach More Employers by Mark Anthony Dyson

Job seekers who want to take charge of their online job searches need to start applying search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to their social media profiles – especially LinkedIn. Employers are using Google to vet you. When they enter your name, there’s no telling what they might find. The negative comments others have made about you could derail your job search.

If you want to increase the quality of your job prospects and ensure a smoother job search, you must take control of your online image.

Click To Tweet

Proactive SEO efforts may produce short- and long-term positive results in the way employers view your job candidacy. If you don’t have an online presence, you can’t compete in today’s job market. Even more important than just having a presence, however, is having the right strategy for your presence. The impression you create on LinkedIn and other sites can either help or harm your candidacy, depending on the steps you take.

Listen to LinkedIn SEO with Susan P Joyce

So, how can you use SEO to ensure employers find you – in a positive light, no less – on Google?

Susan P. Joyce is the founder of Job-Hunt.org and owns WorkCoachCafe.com. She is a personal SEO researcher and writer. I talked to Joyce to glean some insights on using SEO in your job search:

1. Google Yourself

Joyce states there are several reasons to Google yourself, including:

– To ensure your name is not associated with any unsavory acts, such as crimes (Even if you haven’t run afoul of the law yourself, someone with the same name could have.)
– To ensure there is no negative information about you in the search results
– To decide how you want your name to appear to employers
– To plan how you will distinguish yourself from competitors

If you have a common name, you may need to add a middle initial or middle name to distinguish your professional presence.

“Find one version of your name that’s relatively clean on Google, and use that version of your name for all of your online professional visibility, badges at meetings, and business cards,” Joyce says. She also recommends using this version of your name on job applications and resumes.

2. Use Several Different Browsers and Search Engines

Joyce recommends searching your name using a few different browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc.) and a few different search engines (Bing, Yahoo, Google, DuckDuckGo, etc.). Different browsers and search engines may return slightly different results, so you will get a fuller picture of your online footprint by running multiple searches. The goal is to ensure your LinkedIn profile is the first result no matter what engine or browser a prospective employer uses.

Listen to Defensive Googling and The Obsolete 40-Hour Work Week

3. Conduct a Private Search

For best results, Joyce recommends using incognito mode – or “private browsing,” as it is called on Firefox – to conduct your searches. This private mode prevents your cookies and browsing history from impacting your search results. In essence, your SEO research will be purer – but not perfect. Joyce says it is beneficial to conduct such a search once a week.

4. Update Your Terminology

If you have degrees or certifications from years ago, they may make you appear irrelevant if they contain outdated terms. For example, Joyce mentions “management information systems” (MIS), which has largely been replaced today by “information technology” (IT).

If you’re still using “MIS,” you have “1999″ written all over yourself. Find out what terms employers are using to describe your position, certifications, and skills. Use these terms on your LinkedIn profile and elsewhere. You may want to try several searches with alternative terms to see which is best for SEO purposes.

5. Effectively Use the Headline and Summary Spaces of Your LinkedIn Profile

Joyce notes many people don’t make full use of their LinkedIn headlines, which she describes as “a billboard on a superhighway that’s empty.”

Simply listing your title is a waste of space, and it won’t distinguish you from the competition. Instead, use this space as valuable SEO real estate.

Click To Tweet

Use terms associated with your profession that will help you appear in employers’ Google searches.

–

Improve your LinkedIn and social media SEO by using the steps highlighted above. Employers will have an easier time finding you, and the information they find will be positive. This, in turn, translates to an easier job search for you.

And one more thing: Make sure you have professional profile photos for each of your social media profiles. Profiles without photos are a little off-putting.

This article was previously published on Fox Business News!

About Mark Anthony Dyson

by Mark Anthony Dyson

12 Ways to Quell The Voice of Your Personal Brand and Not Get Heard or Hired

12 Ways to Quell The Voice of Your Personal Brand and Not Get Heard or Hired by Mark Anthony Dyson

Never quell the voice of your brand. Never. It is the path to your future opportunities.

Everyone is an authority, at least in their household, or at the minimum, self. Right? Or maybe you are an insider and can speak authoritatively about your industry, hobby, or passion. Authority is essential in your career brand voice.

People get psyched out when they hear a loud voice that is demeaning and demanding. That’s a career brand voice most will pass on. Trust is earned and won, and that is what people will be drawn to at the end of the day.

Your actions are also vital in establishing a professional brand and voice. It would be best if you did what you said you would and people believed you. Or you don’t meet the goals that you set for yourself. It’s almost as if your words fall to the ground. Want more clients? Want more opportunities?

If your voice doesn’t have a brand, you give the control to someone else.

Click To Tweet

I have 12 ways to identify why your voice lacks authority or credibility. This will help you connect with people much faster, with assurance, and open the doors to opportunities you didn’t think existed before.

12 Ways to Mute Your Brand and Not Get Heard or Hired!

Lack of Focus

You can have too many influences, heroes, and mentors if you lack core beliefs and values. The overflow of your heart, or lack thereof, will surface. If people don’t know where you’re going or are confused by the direction of your actions and words, no one will buy in. If your messaging is unclear and unfocused, eventually, your network and (Lord forbid) those who consider you for jobs become uninterested. It’s best to master one point and two sub-points at a time. Better yet, one issue might be best.

Trying Too Hard

Let’s say you meet someone that can put you on the right person’s hiring radar. Instead of being patient, you start calling twice a day for a week to ask how things are progressing. What are the chances your contact is so annoyed they are now ignoring you?

Listen to 5 Reasons to Unfollow Career Obstructing Social Media Contacts

Inciteful but Never Insightful

You want to be seen as original, but at the cost of someone else’s ideas or content. You instead erroneously quote or regurgitate others’ ideas as your own. When people hear you or see your work, and it becomes evident that you don’t have an original thought, they will lose respect or confront you until you give correct attribution. We have all seen people who suck up to people for reasons other than being valuable. It never ends well, and the last thing they get is respect.

Weak or Wrong Delivery Method

People think a loud delivery of their ideas is the most effective when it only compensates for weak arguments. Great ideas need the proper delivery to inspire the right action and by the right people. Sometimes, less is more, especially when we have the right solution. I have a soft voice, but I believe in the proverb, “A gentle word breaks a bone.” The secret is confidence in what I say (often preceded by much thought). You can do it too!

Listen to Second Chance for Job Seekers with GoodHire

Lack of Experience

I am turned off when people say they have a passion for a career or task but lack the work, credentials, or research to demonstrate competence. The first few hundred times may not be enough to claim yourself as an expert. If that’s the case, there are other questions and concerns you should have and put in more reps (more work).

Not Growing Professionally

To use a fitness analogy, to grow muscles, they must be worked to failure now and then. Reps are done until the power is overloaded with work, until no more reps can be performed—

You don’t grow because you haven’t been overloaded or worked to failure.

Click To Tweet

Muscles must be challenged regularly to grow, and so do you. You want to grow, stretch, and show your usefulness. Create a blog and take people on that journey with you!

Not Asking Questions, Lacking Depth

Great questions come from excellent listening skills. Not asking an interview question is lazy, but lacking depth in asking a question says so much more negatively. People who successfully obtain the job they want repeatedly ask simple but profound questions.

Lacking Initiative

Successful career management is partly intuitive. There are hints as we go along that point us in the right direction. Sometimes, it’s weird, but that voice inside should be heard often, and to quell it requires initiation and action. Perhaps you’re afraid to fail or to make a mistake. People will likely forget the missed shot if you make the next shot.

Read Do you impress potential employers?

Temperament

People will find it easy to say no to you if you are easily frustrated. Apply temperance to any area in life, but specifically to your career management or job search efforts.

Your Life

All unclear goals, objectives, and targets lacking in purpose will come into play in everything you do in your career. The pattern in your life shows that you’re a shooting star: vibrant at first, then dissipates like mist. That’s rarely a good thing.

No Follow-Up

This is a must-have skill. Without it, you will never thrive. Want to work from home? Want to freelance? The follow-up is the money maker probably missing from your arsenal. To emphasize an earlier point, no one takes you seriously when you say you’ll do it and you don’t.

Don’t Promote, Market, or Advertise Yourself

I am not a big fan of wearing a banner or showing my face on a billboard, but I have a website. It’s probably the difference between someone finding you and your uniqueness or wondering why you’re unique.

This can be challenging if you are used to not being in control of your career. Job seekers have much more confidence and faith when he or they have a pliable attitude and are willing to pivot, turn, or turnaround even. Wherever your opportunities come from, it will depend on how you develop a career voice recognized by the right employer, business partner, or client.