More and more professionals across industries and functional areas are discovering the value of creating, communicating and maintaining personal brands, both in their career search efforts and in their continuous professional development.
But despite its growing importance in the professional world, many are still unclear on what personal branding actually is.
To clarify, personal branding is the process of:
- Identifying the unique and differentiating value that you can bring to an organization, team and/or project.
- Communicating it in a professionally memorable and consistent manner in all of your actions and outputs, both online and offline, to all current and prospective stakeholders in your career.
Everyone has a unique personal brand (a.k.a. the unique and differentiating value) which encompasses your strengths, your career goals and your values, and that brand is communicated in everything you do–both when you are looking for a job and when you have already obtained one.
Whether you have already identified and are actively communicating your unique and differentiating value or whether you are just beginning the process, be sure to give your career goals some serious weight in the development or the update of your one-or-two-word brand, supporting pitch and overall ongoing self-presentation. If you don’t, you may unintentionally pigeonhole your personal brand, limiting your opportunities to climb the career ladder.
We are all “pigeonholed” by others based on our perceived personal brand, or strengths, skills, expertise, education, and potential for growth and leadership. This is just what happens in life.
Think about it, why, for instance, do actors and actresses get typecast into the same or similar roles when they often have the talent potential for other genres of film? Unfortunately, their personal brands are often pigeonholed as a result of their talent and strengths. Obviously, depending on your goals, this isn’t always a bad thing. It’s simply that once people formulate a perception of you and your personal brand, it can take a lot of time, energy and sometimes even money to change it.
Therefore, take control now and position yourself and your personal brand for growth and the opportunities you want before others do it for you!
For example, if you’re a salesperson pursuing leadership and management opportunities, you want and may need to become the best salesperson in the organization to demonstrate your strengths and sales expertise and earn that promotion. However, in this case, you should not brand yourself as the “best salesperson,” but better, as more of a “sales strategist” or even “sales coordinator,” simultaneously encompassing your career goals and positioning you perfectly for both your current opportunity and the next.
It’s just like the saying, “Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.” You have to establish and communicate a personal brand with your goals in mind and with room to grow. Unless you’re completely content in your current position or at your current level, don’t pigeonhole yourself as a big fish in a small pond or you’ll outgrow it with few places left to go. Brand yourself to be a big fish in an ocean of opportunities and communicate and exude that brand in everything that you do to effectively pursue your career dreams and goals.
Guest blogger Chris Perry is a Gen Y Brand and Marketing Generator, a Career Search and Personal Branding Expert and the Founder of Career Rocketeer, the Career Search and Personal Branding Blog.
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I'm Jason. I make people shine. My mission is to help 1 million people tell their stories better. 
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It sounds like you are saying you want to be a little general with your specific niche? That sounds challenging, but do-able. This is a very interesting take on possible drawbacks of going too narrow with a niche. Thanks for the different take.