Communicating your Personal Brand

How well are you communicating your personal
brand…in print, online, and in person.

Durham Region Networking Group
November 25, 2009

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Agenda
Target Audience: people seeking employment
Question: How well are you communicating your personal brand?
• In Print
– Calling cards
– Portfolio
– Thank you cards

• Online
– LinkedIn (say cheese!)
– Google (say ah!)
– Virtual/visual CV (say what?)

• In Person
– The interview
– Networking
– Community involvement

2


Is your brand in print making an imprint?

Photo source: Google


In Print: calling cards aka biz cards
What should be on your calling card?
– Name, credentials/area of expertise
– Telephone (direct e.g., home and cell)
– Home address (optional)
– Email address
– LinkedIn address (personalize it)
– Web site address
– Twitter address
– Be creative yet, professional—stand out!
-colour -calendar on the back -font
-quote -layout: vertical vs. horizontal -areas of expertise
Is your card standing out from the deck?

4


A portfolio should complement your resume


In Print: portfolio
You don’t have to be in marketing or design to have a portfolio!
What should a portfolio contain?
– Your photo, mini bio/profile
– Purpose
– A list of your core areas of expertise
– Key accomplishments for each area of expertise, snap shots of your work
– Select commendations from your peers and partners
– Contact information
– Formatting your portfolio:
• Create in PPT (easy program to insert images
along with text), may also choose to make a PDF once PPT is final Proud recipient of the 2008 corporate
• Print in colour or black and white; spiral or binder bound award in the category of “mastery”
• Include a burned copy on CD (attach to inside back cover) (voted by peers).
• Upload to slideshare on LinkedIn
• Leave a copy with hiring manager post interview

6


Are you saying thanks or thank you?


In Print: thank you cards
Is there a difference between thanks and thank you?
THANKS THANK YOU
Being same ol’: Being unique:
-Sending an email - Hand made card
- Leaving a voicemail - Store bought card
- Using standard boiler plate thanks - Hand written message—say
something that you wished you had said
during the interview or perhaps
you want to reinforce or reiterate
something that was said

8


Say Cheese!


Online: LinkedIn (photo)
Say cheese! (please)
• Don’t make your first
impression one of mystery
• What does using the silhouette
template silently say about you:
– I’m shy Image source: Google via FaceBook

– I don’t want you to see me
– I don’t like myself enough to have my photo displayed
– I don’t have the technology or resources to get a digital photo of myself or have
my photo uploaded
– I’m a rebel—it’s my choice, I choose NOT to have a photo!

From a first impression perspective, how well do any of the above bullets translate
into a potential work environment?
10


Say Ah!


Online: Google
Say Ah! Image source: Google
• Why is it so important to have your name appear in a Google search?
– In our virtual world, it actually holds some merit--shows that you’re “real” or at least
active in your profession, your community, social media networks e.g., LinkedIn, blog
discussions etc.
– Recruiters or hiring managers will do a “Google search” on a potential candidate and vice
versa
– If you haven’t already done so…search your own name and see what comes up then…set
up a “Google Alert” so that you will be notified when your name pops up in cyber world.

12


Say What?


Online: virtual/visual CV
Is the paper resume archaic?
• How much do we need to do before we stand out from our peer
competitors?
• Check out this virtual CV site…that is, if you’re interested and up for
the challenge…
– www.visualcv.com

Image source: Google

•Or, how about a TV bio?
http://videobio.com/paulcopcutt/

14


In Person


In person: Oh, hello, I didn’t see you come in.
If you had to rate your personal brand (impact, involvement, impression) where would you rank?
On a scale of 1 to 3 ( 3: good; 2: needs improvement; 1 poor)
The Interview
- Are you confident going into an interview? Are you an active participant, asking questions, not just
answering them.
- When you leave the interview, do you believe that you’ve made a positive impact, a lasting impression?

Networking
- Are you an active participant when attending an event e.g., do you engage in conversations/introduce
yourself to other people that you do not know or want to get to know better?
- Do you exchange information with people e.g., business cards and do you have conversations like: “do you
know x, or would you be so kind to introduce me to x?

Community
- Being an active member within your community or supporter of a charitable organization goes a long way.
- On the surface, shows that you are giving, a team player, and compassionate. Community involvement
aside, these are usually characteristics that help differentiate candidate A from candidate B.
- Be proud of your involvement and make sure that you highlight some of the activities or campaigns that
you support on your resume, on your LI profile etc.

16


Thank you!
Contact information:
Email:
paulina.callaghan@sympatico.ca
Cell:
289.388.7699
LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulinacallaghanabc
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/anilauP


Communicating your Personal Brand

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