Do you know your personal "brand'?

[shootingstar]

This seems to be current topic for those looking for employment or looking to ratchet up their career to the next level. It is also a topic for bloggers in terms defining one's own personal blog focus, personal "voice" in their blog.

Frankly I find it annoying to read articles cultivating a personal "brand". It sounds too calculated (to me). But may be it's helpful to someone younger and just finished their studies.

But if I were to REALLY figure out my personal brand or how I appear to others, it depends who you ask. Or if the person knows you face to face.

I think I know my personal brand or how I appear to people who only know me distantly, ie. work colleagues, blog readers and probably not all of it, is pleasant.

[Crankin]

Well, what do you want your "brand" to be? If you think it might not be pleasant to some, are you OK with that? Voice is very much a construct that attracts readers to written material. We all have a voice or "brand," which is really just another word for it. Why does this annoy you? It does help to think about how you project yourself to various audiences, whether it be through writing, speaking, or even the way you are dressed. These are all things that help others decide if and how they want to connect with you. Humans generally seek to be around others with whom they have something in common. So, if you are applying for a certain type of job, in a certain environment, it probably does help if your brand matches that of the employer.
I think this even more important for older people wanting to up their career, or change fields. I certainly thought about it when applying for my first job in my new career and it was definitely something I talked to the career services office about at my university. In my field, many of the people my age are technophobes, and with the advent of electronic medical records, this is not good. And as we know, a lot of older people aren't exactly fit looking (although this certainly applies to most age groups in the US). The career services director told me to include my volunteer bike leadership role on my resume, as it gives a cetain impression of who I am. She was right.
I am older than you, Shooting Star, and I think this is important. I would not want even casual work colleagues to have a negative impression of me.

[emily_in_nc]

I think I get what shootingstar is saying.

I find the word "brand" when applied to human beings just sounds too impersonal and reductionist. Don't really know how to express this other than to say that to me, products have brands; living creatures are much richer and multi-layered than the word "brand" conveys. For some reason thinking of a person as a brand is as off-putting to me as treating corporations as people is.

Just my opinion...

[OakLeaf]

It's certainly a word with a very uncomfortable history, not to mention that its actual meaning is the precise opposite of the corporate-speak usage Shootingstar is referring to (a mark of being someone else's property, not of individuality). But I think it's important to clarify that it's the word you're uncomfortable with, not the idea, else you risk being accused of getting caught up in "semantics."

[Crankin]

I understand not liking the word brand as a verb (as in branding), and not a noun. But, it's not something that particularly bothers me, as language changes over time. I see this usage of the word as meaning style, voice, what you want to project. And, while we may protest over such corporate speak, I feel like a person would be lying to his/herself if s/he thought this was not important in the world of finding a job. It certainly doesn't annoy me, and it's just part of promoting one's self. Even in my field, it is useful; I say this as I am starting a job search.
I kind of think that in my case, I've always had to search for an employer that was compatible with my brand, or the way I project myself and my values/style. I had a major problem with this when I moved back to MA, in 1990. I ended up getting a job in a school system that, let's just say, was not a good match with my brand. Both my colleagues and the students. In fact, I took a part time job, very far from my house after this, because it ended up being such a horrible experience. I was so desperate for a job and I kind of forgot about the deep divisions of values between towns in my state, which I should have thought about. I was a poor match for that community in every sense of the word.

[shootingstar]

Don't really know how to express this other than to say that to me, products have brands; living creatures are much richer and multi-layered than the word "brand" conveys. For some reason thinking of a person as a brand is as off-putting to me as treating corporations as people is.

+1 Precisely the point. Yes, I agree everyone else here, that "brand" is just semantics, another word, for a person's personae or voice.
Crankin, I care up to a certain point, how people perceive me at work. And yes, the older one gets the more challenging it is, that one is not perceived negatively:

a) as being a technophobe (my career is on information management so I do need to keep current on some technology (meaning using some of it) and also the bigger issues -legal issues on electronic info., sextexting, malware, digital literacy divide between haves and have-notes). Does not using facebook, twitter put me in the negative, career zone? I'm not going to worry about...I blog, done other stuff reflected in my resume and am already out "there" for people.

b) not caring about my health --this is all a matter of perspective. And in a way, very unfair, for others who are in the same age bracket as I, but are struggling to lose weight/get healthier. BUT I am noticing quite a number of senior managers in their mid 30's and up, where I work, have consciously taken up some form of exercise --they look more fit / are fit... it's the "new" rising career star look I guess..at least for the organization that I work for. Well, cycling is part of it and one of the new "golfing" biz networking activities.

The one thing I've noticed in myself as I grow older and am still working, is trying to say less/be less negative. So thatI am not "branded" as sour grapes or cynical. I do wish I didn't know certain things, underlying common work politics that happens often in most organizations.

At this point in my life, I'm more comfortable with myself than I was compared to 15 years ago. Do I care about my blog "voice"? There is a reason why I don't rant much on my blog: I want to leave the very best of me digitally on blogosphere. And if the blog doesn't attract ton of blog traffic because I'm not controversial in my writing, "voice", I don't care.

I have worked for several very contrasting organizations, meaning very contrasting work cultures. What helped me a lot was knowing the work that I was doing was of value to the clients, even though I didn't always share some of the broad corporate culture/values or some people who were just difficult to deal with. On the surface, I probably appear more conformist but certainly I don't feel it. And cycling to work, everywhere, does add to that ...only because cycling still is only less than 3% of North America's regular transportation choice in most areas.

[smilingcat]

ughh! Next I will be hearing of what's your mission statement as if we are some kind of corporations. Even within corporations, I have to ask "What's up with that?" If you have to say "We want to service our customer to their expectation and exceeding it" in so many different ways, something isn't right with the corporations. After all, isn't that what business wants to do so it has repeat customers?

And branding... don't even get me started. I thought branding is what you did to calves? NO?

The minting of MBAs and their "biz" speak is just really annoying. I have serious and major distrust of such people. Just "SHOW ME THE MONEY!!" (Bist du Schulewesen gegangen, Ja?)

[shootingstar]

ughh! Next I will be hearing of what's your mission statement as if we are some kind of corporations. Even within corporations, I have to ask "What's up with that?" If you have to say "We want to service our customer to their expectation and exceeding it" in so many different ways, something isn't right with the corporations. After all, isn't that what business wants to do so it has repeat customers?

And branding... don't even get me started. I thought branding is what you did to calves? NO?

The minting of MBAs and their "biz" speak is just really annoying. I have serious and major distrust of such people. Just "SHOW ME THE MONEY!!"

Though I tried to explain myself just before you, smilingcat (related to job-related personnaes), I'm actually a bit tired of living up to other people's expectations of an ideal (older) worker. I'll continue to play the game at work, but what I do now is quite different from 20 yrs. ago. I have to cut some slack ....for myself now.

The cattle branding is rather appropo for some organizations.

[malkin]

I sort of get it. When I send notes home or newsletters I use the same font and layout so if parents are paying attention, they'll notice that this is another document from their crazy speech therapist. Of course I hope they think a little better of me than that, but if that's as good as it gets, I'm okay with that. It's better than just another paper to move from the kid's backpack into the trash.

[rebeccaC]

but if that's as good as it gets, I'm okay with that.

I prefer the word reputation. I see some of the personal branding writings as a need to get to the top of the ladder. That’s a little too male hierarchy thinking for me. I just work on building a good work reputation and extend that to networking with people I feel have respect for my work and I can learn from or share with. A group of us connect when someone is looking for work to help them think about it. That kind of authentic relationship is what helped me most when I was offered the job I have now. With some spirituality in there I guess that’s how I see my personal branding.

One of my mentors would talk about the goals, values, communication style, being authentic etc in building a reputation. It’s worked so far for me.

[emily_in_nc]

I prefer the word reputation.

So do I! People have reputations, products have brands. Maybe it's semantics, but language is important and words carry connotations.

[malkin]

I'm not sure 'reputation' is what I'm after.
Maybe 'persona' is a better fit for what I do.

[Chile Pepper]

Image seems a perfectly fine word in this context.

[OakLeaf]

Chile Pepper! I was just wondering about you. How's everything going?

[Chile Pepper]

Aw, thanks, Oak. Everything is fine, but man is life hectic. We are heading into summer here, so it's the end of the school year for my two boys. My oldest is graduating 8th grade, and he has been something of a challenge this year (adolescence--what can you do?). Our school is K through 12, so no change, but I'm still hoping things even out next year. We are trying to expand our winery business, and I have had more freelance work than ever this year, so work is good. And finally, despite the hectic schedule, I am just 300 km short of reaching my 2013 riding goal of 5,000 km! Now, that's km, not miles, but it has been a real challenge for me.

How are things going for you?