Career Counselor Robin Ryan Articles

Personal Branding Leads to Landing a Dream Job

by Robin Ryan

I’ve spent my whole professional life helping people advance their careers. I live to get letters like this because they let me know I am making a small but positive difference in helping another. So many people I hear from start out like this:

robin ~ i truly hope you can help me. i was laid off from my job 2 months ago. this is the longest i have gone without working and it's hard. my unemployment finally came through last week but, that's not enough to maintain monthly bills. i've applied for over 30 jobs in the past 2 months....so far, no job.

i really, really try to not get depressed, but i think it's my middle name. i don't like to think that i'm running from problems, but i sure wish i could move and start over somewhere, where there are better opportunities BUT since I share custody of my kids, I can’t move.

can you help me?” maria

Self-marketing is not a skill most people are born with. One of my talents is the ability to look at a person’s skills and help them identify what are their best assets and accomplishments, and then promote those strengths to an employer. The process is called personal branding and I had been doing it for years without defining, specifically, what it is. In Maria’s case, she had become so desperate in looking for just any job that she had not developed her personal brand, a technique we call Brand You. We worked together to examine her talents and natural abilities. We transformed her efforts into marketing herself by promoting her top talents and past accomplishments. She gave me an early Christmas present when she wrote the other day to say:

robin ~ it's fantastic news...i got a job yesterday!!!!!!!!!!

i am now a manager for estee lauder cosmetics. i had to go through 2 face to face interviews, a one hour phone interview.....whew!!!! this job it is a wonderful opportunity for me, with incredible advancement opportunities!

i'm very, very excited and thankful for all your help, expertise and compassion in my search for a new career. I'm living proof dream jobs happen when you correctly promote Brand You! my new resume we created is awesome and really opened up this door for me!!! our interview coaching was so invaluable, and your books and cds, expecially on salary negotiations were a great benefit too! i'm so very grateful. thank you every so much! ~ maria

Personal branding may not be a term you are familiar with. But you need to be. It took me quite a while to consider how exactly I could teach someone else about self-marketing their personal brand in order 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 is my newest book, "Soaring on Your Strengths," that is just now available from Penguin books.

In a nutshell, "Soaring on Your Strengths" focuses on developing your career identity, AKA your unique personal brand, among bosses, colleagues, and other employees. Most people haven’t given much thought to how they are perceived at work. But everyone needs to think about that question if they wish to become the best they can be and get greater joy, better rewards, and personal satisfaction from their job.

"Soaring on Your Strengths" helps you define your own unique genius and a career identity -- known as Brand You.

You’ll define Brand You as your:

Brand Equity -- notable strengths
Brand Advantage -- core competency
Brand Passion -- utmost interests, associated with the question, “What was I born to do?”
Brand Values -- what you care most about
Brand Essence -- personality traits that make you distinctively you
Brand Image -- presentation and appearance to the outside world
Brand Reputation -- how others see you and what they say about you

Add all these components together and you have Brand You, the unique genius that is distinctly your own. Couple that with a work environment that allows you to flourish, and the sky’s the limit for your success, and more importantly, for your personal happiness at work.

If you looked over my website I’m sure you’ll see my official bio that says something like: Robin Ryan is one of the most visible figures in the employment field, a tireless lecturer and teacher whose career column appears in over 100 Gannet newspapers and their websites. She has been a guest on over 1000 TV and radio shows including Oprah, Dr. Phil, CNN, and NBC Nightly News. She’s the author of seven bestselling books, numerous award winning audio programs, and has a undying passion to see others achieve career success.”

That communicates my credentials, but leaves out a fact I think is even more important: that I am very passionate about helping people help themselves to find a rewarding job, to get promoted, and to get paid what they are worth. I think this new book will help you do just that.

Need more assistance? Robin is available to help you achieve your goals and dreams with individual career counseling. Click here to learn more.

Robin Ryan has appeared on Oprah and Dr. Phil and is considered to be America’s top career coach. Robin has a busy career counseling practice providing individual career coaching, resume writing services, interview preparation, salary negotiations, and outplacement to clients nationwide. She is the best-selling author of : "60 Seconds & You're Hired!," "Soaring On Your Strengths," "What to Do With the Rest of Your Life," "Winning Resumes," and "Winning Cover Letters." A dynamic national speaker, Robin has spoken to over 1200 audiences sharing her insights on how to improve their lives and obtain greater success. Contact Robin at: 425.226.0414, or email: robin@robinryan.com, or visit her website: http://www.robinryan.com

Reprints release: Newspapers, magazines, online websites are granted permission to reprint this in part or whole but are required to credit the author including author's bio, book credits, and include author's website information (with link if online); PLUS email author at robin@robinryan.com and state when and where reprint publication will occur. Questions: contact author at robin@robinryan.com or 425.226.0414.