The Voice of Job Seekers

Mark Anthony Dyson ★ Career Writer ★ Speaker ★ Thinker ★ Award-winning Blog & Podcast! ★ I hack and reimagine the modern job search!

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You are here: Home / Archives for Personal Branding

by Mark Anthony Dyson

5 Easy Ways to Make Employers Notice You

5 Easy Ways to Make Employers Notice You

 

Last summer, Geoffrey Owens, once a regular on the legendary Cosby Show, was seen working a — *gulp* — regular job at Trader Joe’s. The press quickly ran with the story, and people around the world began making negative comments about Owens’s situation. Owens ended up quitting his job because of all the unwanted attention.

However, there was a silver lining in all of this: Tyler Perry invited Owens to join the cast of his show, The Haves and the Have Nots.

Think about this: Press coverage put Owens’s name out there, and while there was a little turbulence at first, that coverage also led to a new job for Owens.

There’s a lesson here for every job seeker. Today’s job search is all about making yourself seen. If employers know who you are and what you can do, they’ll turn to you when they need someone with your skills.

So few job seekers use all the tools available at their fingertips to stand out. While different searches will require different strategies, there are a few easy steps almost anyone can take to maximize their visibility:

1. Showcase Your Personality on Social Media

As I always say, employers can’t train great personalities — they have to hire them. Why not spice up your public social media profile pages with exciting cover art and other details that showcase who you are as a person? Instead of coming across as a generic job seeker, personalize your profile and give people a reason to stay on your page a little longer. Tell a story about yourself — a sincere, personal story. Help employers see you as more than just another candidate.

2. Create a Facebook or Instagram Business Page for Your Job Search

Employers want to see your personal Facebook page because it tells them a lot about who you are, but your privacy settings say, “No way!”

No problem: You can create a public business page for yourself instead. This can be dedicated to your professional journey while keeping your personal page personal. Use your business page to share your professional musings and post content that delivers value to your readers and potential employers.

You can also use your business pages to run ads to better target employers on these platforms. Master entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk swears by Instagram ads for brands. Why shouldn’t you try a similar strategy to increase your own visibility?

3. Start a Blog

While a social media page can be a good supplement, your professional presence should really have its own headquarters on the web. A blog hosted on WordPress or a similar service is a great way to do this.

With your own dedicated site, you can control the positive professional narrative about your abilities, explore ideas, take your readers on your journey, and tell great stories about your achievements. At a basic level, a WordPress site costs less than $50 a year to maintain. That’s a small price to pay for a robust, multimedia professional portfolio.

4. Host a Local Radio Show

Does your community have a local radio station? Ask if you can host a weekly show.

Many cities have local stations that encourage community members to participate in content creation. Go ahead and get involved! You can use your show to interview employers and entrepreneurs, chat with industry experts, and answer questions from listeners. Not only will you create a valuable resource for your community, but you’ll also build a powerful channel for reaching potential employers.

5. Volunteer

Charity work is a great way to hone specific skills that can help you land your next job, even if you’re currently employed. If you’re not employed, it’s also a great way to gain additional experience and fill the gaps in your resume.

Additionally, Antonio Boyd, CEO, and president of The Think Tank Consulting Group, once told me that volunteering also enhances your understanding of people. This boosts your soft skills and makes you a better team player.

Finally, volunteering can also connect you with organizations you want to work for. By working with a nonprofit, you can meet local employers who support that nonprofit’s mission. These connections can be leveraged into job opportunities once you’ve demonstrated your value through your volunteer work.

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When you’re building a stand-out brand, use these strategies plus any others that can help you broadcast your value effectively. Whatever tactics you choose, be sure they truly assist your job search and capture the attention of the right audience.

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.

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Filed Under: Job Search, Personal Branding Tagged With: Personal branding

by Mark Anthony Dyson

7 Ways to WOW Employers This Year

7 Ways to WOW Employers This Year

 

 

How to impress employers is the question to answer today, but the answer is the same as yesterday’s: Find their need, then be the one to meet the need . If you do, then you have a right to have a mutual excitement about whom you partner.

Part of the challenge is that most job seekers are still co-dependent on job boards, bracing themselves for interrogation during the interview process, and hoping to get picked. What’s unfortunate is waiting to be chosen, often by the company, as if it were the NFL draft. Many will even go with the company that’s the wrong fit for them.

Instead of being the shepherd of their career, they settle for being the hired hand. They do enough to say they did something. It’s an intrinsic battle we have at least once during our careers. I have done it when I needed the check. It’s not the worst decision ever, but unfortunately, for some, it’s the only way to navigate career moves.

Yes, you can have a say in where you work. It’s a relationship. You choose each other. You still need to impress employers, however. And you can WOW them before your first interview. You’ll need to keep in mind there are no quick fixes or immediate results here. Build an online presence over time, and you have built a powerful referral engine directly and indirectly. Here are a few suggests on how to do that:

1. WOW employers by weathering the storms

Resilience is a powerful attribute to show. If you’re telling your story online, part of it must explain how you navigate challenges and overcome fears. Show how you create workarounds without complaining about obstacles. You can also show how you weather online criticism and how you create solutions to silence the noise. It’s tough to do, but it’s doable.

2. WOW employers with your diverse network

Showing you can work with different types of thinking and people from various backgrounds demonstrates communication skills. You will also notice your networking opportunities will open global possibilities. Engaging conversations with the diversity of thought also helps you hone your craft. What you say is not nearly as important as how you say it. It is creating an engaging learning environment for your network and readers of your website.

3. WOW employers with a consultant mindset

Good personal trainers assess your physical movement before prescribing exercises. They will not offer training to weaken a weak body part even if the exercise strengthens the muscle. The trainer may defer to your doctor for further tests or a physical therapist who knows how to rehabilitate the weak muscle. In the same way, the consultant mindset tests to see where the source of the problem is. If there are several things, you may need an additional consultant.

4. WOW employers with your agility

Depending on your industry, kicking and screaming when there is new technology to learn is not a good thing. Companies are spending millions to make work life and profit easier, faster, and better. You must demonstrate enthusiasm and the ability to toggle between various forms of technology. You add value if you can show others how to make the transition too.

5. WOW employers with a bold delivery of solutions

Don’t ever underestimate the power of audio and video. When using these mediums as storytelling tools, you can ensure ways to be memorable. Creating or being a guest on a podcast, radio, video, or television show changes how you are remembered and valued.

6. WOW employers with your use of video

Video can help you reach employers in many ways, and you can optimize its use on Facebook (Facebook Live) and Instagram (Instagram Stories). Recruiters and employers actively use both, and there is a growing use of Instagram by showing their culture and employees as brand ambassadors. In addition to using YouTube, Zoom, a video software for video conferences and online meetings, can be a tool to create value for an audience of industry peers and colleagues. All of this can transfer to interviewing for jobs with companies that use it in the first part of their interview process.

7. WOW employers by extending your resume to the web

Your resume needs more than accomplishments and results to stand out in a very competitive job market. Blogs, vlogs, and podcasts are slowly growing as a way for job seekers to demonstrate expertise. A recent article on JobMob.co.il shows 17 examples of people who found creative and bold ideas to present their credentials to target employers. When it didn’t work for the original target employer, it helped her stand out to other companies like the intended employer.

It takes time at the beginning of your job search to find out what employers want. Since so many job candidates don’t have anything online employers want to see, for you, it’s where you want to lead them. Business cards, word-of-mouth, and maybe a QR code on your phone are great ways to have people you network with or potential referrers find you easily. Even LinkedIn has a new feature, providing a QR code, and those who scan it will go to the user’s profile. So many people do not put the consistency and the thought to build an impressive online presence either.

Consider this advice an opportunity to make it easy and insightful for employers to find you, and at times, discover you before you know they are looking.

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.

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Filed Under: Online Reputation, Personal Branding Tagged With: online reputation, Personal branding

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

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.

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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.

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.

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Filed Under: Linkedin, Personal Branding Tagged With: LinkedIn SEO, Personal SEO

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