Don’t you want a job you love? One for which you are rewarded with a higher salary and enhanced perks? Fantasy? Dreams for somebody else? No, this can be your new future, but you may need to manage your career in a whole new way. The name of the career game is now personal branding.



My client Cathy was a Chief Financial Officer, longing to become her company’s CEO, and when Larry her boss announced his retirement this was her chance. Except for one major problem. Larry did not support her moving into the CEO job. Only with a carefully developed personal brand would she have a chance to get this job without his support. We needed to define Brand Cathy, so her skills, strengths and abilities were more apparent and the Board Director would view her as the candidate of choice. Larry’s lack of endorsement WAS a major roadblock, so Cathy and I created a great resume and cover letter, and worked on polishing her interview skills. I advised her on strategy and how to represent her personal brand and recognize the value she had to offer. She worked hard, did her best, but was doubtful that she’d land this job.



Once we clearly defined who she was professionally and established her career identity, AKA her personal brand, the Board members took notice. She did indeed become the organization’s new CEO –- and what a great one she will be.



If she had not invested all her time and energy into developing her personal brand the outcome might have been very different.



Your Career Identity



Can you quickly state what your key strengths are? Do you know what your career identity is? Not your job title, but your CAREER IDENTITY. It’s that unique authentic reputation you have among bosses, colleagues, and other employees. This reputation is what I call Brand You.



Personal branding may not be a term you are familiar with. But you need to be. It took me quite a while to consider exactly how I could teach someone else about self-marketing their personal brand to advance their career. The heavy corporate brand advertising or marketing approach would lose people quickly. So I spent over two years working on the process, and the end result are in my newest book, “Soaring on Your Strengths.”



Your career identity is not some slick piece of advertising. Brand You is based on the authentic, talented, and genuinely unique and special person you are. It is not phony and conceited, or an exaggeration, nor is it a trick or fleeting fad. The components of Brand You are the essence of you as a person, which include: your work strengths, your image, your passion and your personality traits, along with other people’s perceptions of you, applied in a work environment that enhances your productivity.



I recommend you give yourself a gift if you care about career advancement. No matter what stage you are at in your career –- the beginning, middle, or senior level, or if you are changing careers or reinventing yourself — you’ll have a game plan for your future. You will know how to self-promote and market yourself successfully to become the very best you can be.



"Soaring on Your Strengths” is a book that will prove to have been a great guide in years to come. Kenny Moore, Director of Human Resources, Keyspan (a Fortune 500 company) calls it “A groundbreaking must read book to insure financial prosperity and career success.”



© Copyright 2009 Robin Ryan. All rights reserved.