Checklist for Developing Your Personal Career Brand

in Career Management

By: Murray A. Mann and Rose Mary Bombela-Tobias

In the article, In Today’s Economy, Building a Strong Personal Brand is Key to Job Search and Career Success: Part I, we discussed the importance of personal career branding for Latinos. At the end of this series we will provide you with a free 360° online brand assessment and other tools to assist you in advancing your career. Below is a step-by-step checklist on how to develop your brand.

• Know yourself. Understand your values, personality, knowledge, skills, abilities, passions, uniqueness, and worthiness.
• Assess your abilities through testing. There are numerous assessment tools to help you identify your personality type, strengths, values, and career orientation.
• Perform your own appraisal.

Examples: Conduct a SWOT analysis – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats as they relateto your career goals. Re-read your performance evaluations from the past couple of years and askyourself what they are really saying about you. Are there adjectives that are consistently used among allthe reviews?

• Brainstorm: Make a list of all the things you are good at. Examples: Some ideas for brands include conflict management, sales training, best-practice systems, marketing for service professionals, and customer service.
• Identify your passion.

Example: Using your brainstorming list of what you’re good at, circle those items you are most passionateabout. Narrow the list down to one or two items.

• Determine the advantages of your passion and best attributes.

Example: If you are great at conflict management, the advantages to recipients (employers) of yourbrand might be greater cooperation among team members, which leads to enhanced productivity, newideas, less employee turnover, etc.

Note at least three distinct advantages for your brand.

• List your contributions and accomplishments.

Examples: Use Barron’s The Complete Job Search Guide for Latinos Career Management Toolkit’s Primaryand Industry Specific Questionnaires for Developing Your Career Marketing Documents.

• Assess your reputation quotient.

Examples: Listen to what others are saying about you. When people introduce you or talk about you toothers, they often make some powerful personal career brand statements and use adjectives that clearlydescribe you. Pay attention the next time you are being introduced.

Also, become self-observant and reflect on the following questions honestly.

• How do people respond to my presence?
• Are people glad to see me in meetings or do they sigh with relief when I leave?
• Do people listen to me?
• Do they want to hear what I have to say or are they glad when I stop talking?
• What do I see and hear from others in daily conversation that gives me ideas about who I am to them and how they feel about me?
• Give yourself permission to create and promote your personal career brand.

Examples:

Use the power of the R.E.S.P.E.C.T. model from Barron’s The Complete Job Search Guide for Latinos toempower your career-building efforts. For some of us, it means starting with your family by asking themwhat they see as your greatest strengths and accomplishments. Their acknowledgement of your qualities,acts as a blessing for you to embrace your gifts. Then work your way outward by asking your friends,peers, supervisors, employees, friends, mentors, and coaches.

In part 3, we will discuss how to successfully live and market your personal career brand.  

¡BUENA SUERTE!

About the Author: 

Murray A. Mann and Rose Mary Bombela-Tobias are co-authors of Barron’s The Complete Job Search Guide for Latinos and Latinos@Work Blog

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