What everyone should be clear about personal branding is that although I believe in the “been there and done that” point-of-view, it is also important, that you still have to PROVE that you can do the job better than anyone else can, and setting yourself apart from you competition is critical.
Yes companies are more sensitive to age discrimination, but that only means you have a chance at being considered…It does not mean you have a leg up on the competition.
For those of us over 50, it is more important than ever to use your “it” factor, and your “experience”, to your advantage, and learn how to package that into your personal brand.
What Is Personal Branding?
A brand is anything—a symbol, design, name, sound, reputation, emotion, employees, tone, and much more—that separates one thing from another. In the case of Disney, it is the Mickey Mouse image, for Kentucky Fried Chicken it is the image of its founder Colonel Sanders, and more recently the KFC initials it is using more and more in its advertising. It is what drives the marketing of these brands, and is what you will learn to apply in the marketing of your YOU, Inc. personal branding.
It is what sets them apart from their competition, and it is what will set you apart from your competition and help you rise above and stand out in the crowd. Big business use marketing, and so should you by marketing yourself -- it should be a major part of your job search strategy.
Branding in business is common, but today branding is becoming just as important on a personal level. After all, you might work for a business that works with other businesses, but its people working with people that make business relationships valuable.
I will take you through all the steps you need to build your unique brand. In today’s job market, especially for us over 50, there is no room for being another face in the crowd. You have to separate yourself from the competition, and we'll learn using a strong cover letter is a great tool in our arsenal, and not just a formality..
You have to be more appealing to your target audience and you can achieve it by creating a recognizable personal brand – and we need to smash that “dinosaur”, “their too old”, “outdated”, perception that many younger hiring managers may unfairly be harboring.
We need to bring forward and emphasize our skills
and experiences – that “been-there-done-that” attitude, knowledge and confidence.
How do you do that? By first understanding analyzing famous brands, and then applying that very same approach to yourself when building your brand.
Building a recognizable personal brand opens professional opportunities. Creating a vision for your future and implementing that vision can lead to...
In a competitive business environment, if you do not understand the value that you bring, or how to demonstrate your unique value to decision makers, you may not survive – so create a brand for yourself that will be sought after and get you – selected and hired!
Personal branding is marketing yourself and the skills you bring, and it's not just is not for the Gen-X, Gen-Y or Millennials – it also applies to those of us Baby Boomers. The only difference is that they are not talking about it; they are blogging about it, living it, and using it more than us Baby Boomers.
If you don’t know the modern office technology proficiently like Microsoft Office, Excel, Word, PowerPoint – don’t fool yourself and think you can learn as you go, but do go to the many FREE resources like libraries, friends, family or take a course or two at a local college to learn them. In today’s world, many employers will test you…even for manager and executive jobs.
Invest in yourself and you will be more confident.
In these days of widespread use of technology, we all need to take charge of our personal brand and online reputation.
The primary prejudice against “old” people is that they are not up to date on the latest technology and that if they are hired for a job that is “beneath their dignity” that they will leave the moment the market picks up.
To tackle the technology issue first, your email cover
letter and attached resume must be perfect, and I do not mean close to perfect,
I mean perfect. While a younger person might be excused and assumed to be in a
rush, an older worker will be assumed to not know how to do things or properly
use the technology.
With so many qualified competitors in the job market today, landing a job requires broader knowledge of the job search landscape itself and a better understanding of your own qualifying skill sets, strengths, and personal attributes – more than ever, you need to generate chemistry when you speak and write about the value you offer.
When you understand what branding truly is, you understand why it knows no age barriers.
This site's success will hinge on me helping you solve problems. For those of us over 50, we face more challenges than others younger than us when competing for jobs and getting doors to open.
I invite you all to share your stories of challenge and successes. We all can learn from those who have faced the same challenges. The idea here is to help and be helped - so please add your comment or insight!
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Branding
You talk about branding, I don't get it -- why is branding important?