Create a Brand Strategy to Help You Position Yourself

I think it's important to have a personal brand strategy before you begin job hunting when you want to build your career. It's fine not to have one if you just want a job to earn some money for a while.

But if you're in the early stages of building your career, or in the midst of a career transition, having a brand strategy is one of the key ways of helping you create a clear path for yourself.

Ask yourself these questions when building your strategy:

• What do I want to accomplish?
• What am I good at doing?
• What am I passionate about?
• What skills & knowledge are companies looking for?
• How do I want to be described when someone describes me to a potential job referral?

Jot down the words that entered your head when you read those questions. This is the beginning of a mind map, which is a way to capture feelings, thoughts and images all on a piece of paper. It's a great way to begin to organize your strategy on positioning yourself as a brand.

3 Words that Contain the Secret of Getting the Next Job

Networking.
Networking.
Networking.

According to this report, 73% of executives get their next job by networking.

Only 3% by cold calling, researching companies... and only 1% by just sending out resumes.

Use online networking. Face to Face networking. Who do you know? Who do they know?

The 600 Seconds That Can Make All the Difference at a Job Interview

First impressions count! And even more so at a job interview.

You can improve your odds of success by mentally rehearsing the first 10 minutes.

Walk through your posture, your handshake, your accessories and especially your answers to the most common questions traditionally asked at the beginning of each interview. Practice. Practice. Practice.

What are those most common questions? No, I don't mean questions about the weather or if you had trouble finding the location.

Find them here in the 10 Biggest Minutes of Your Interview article. Thanks to executive recruiter Jim Walton at Black in Business for leading me to this article.