What's The Difference Between Branding vs. Marketing For the Job Seeker?

Well hello, March! February was a busy one and this month I am hopeful that we will approach Spring without any further snow days! Ha.

I was fortunate to be part of the inaugural launch of ACTNOW Educations 3-cert program. This organization is dedicated to the support and professional development of transitioning service members and their families. As part of this I provided resumes, and job search support for the very first cohort of the 3-cwert program. This daunting project took 3 weeks for me to complete, and saw roughly 30 resumes and hob search strategies completed for retiring and transitioning sergice members looking for civilian employment in the private IT, Cybersecurity, and program development arenas. I’m exhausted and excited, and so proud of every one of them.

Shouting out one of our favorite client reviews this month!!

"Thanks a lot! This is exactly what I was looking for. I will be sure to spread the word about how helpful you are." ~T. Davis

In addition to my participation with ACTNOW Education, I’ve also been developing and releasing my own training courses. Currently available is the Writing the ATS Compliant Resumé for IT professionals. In the next couple of week I’ll be releasing a course for transitioning military and service members as well as another for New Graduates and Students.

In regards to my own development I have a few things coming down the lines. At the end of this month I’ll be completing my Project Management Professional (PMP) and Agile Scrum Certifications. I also hope to finish up my Career Coach for Military and Service Members Certification next month. I am looking forward to putting these new skills and certs to good use for my community and clients.

My personal and family life this past month has been lively. Complete with kids events, birthdays, snow days, planning for summer trips, and managing all those things that we tend to neglect when we get too busy with work. This next month I am looking forward to slowing down just a bit and spending more time with my kids, finishing up some home renovation projects, and building a solid foundation for Moorbly. 

Now for our exciting topic this month! What is the difference between branding vs marketing for the job seeker?

Grab a pen and paper and get ready to take some notes!! 

Branding VS Marketing For the Job Seeker

What's the difference?

BRANDING:

Establish Your Brand

If you want to sell yourself to employers, you must ensure your personal brand is polished. Start with a branding statement – this looks like a one or two sentence summary of your skills, work experience, and career goals.

Make sure your LinkedIn Profile includes a professional photo, headline, personal summary, work experience, job-related keywords, and visible contact information.

Get Social

When you have optimized your LinkedIn Profile, you can join industry specific groups and connect with other in your field who have similar titles or job duties to what you seek. Ask for advice or referrals, and always offer to help in return.

Polish Your Soft Skills

Your interactions with recruiters and hiring managers (your emails, cover letter and resume) demonstrate your communication skills. The way you choose to brand yourself (your LinkedIn profile content and social media posts) demonstrates your creativity. Because these will serve as your first impression, it's especially important to ensure they are polished.

Become a Subject Matter Expert

There's a big difference between those who are subject matter experts in their industry and those who struggle to look like they are in order to get hired. Employers can easily tell the difference, and obviously prefer to hire the former. In addition to researching, networking and applying, build time into your daily schedule to share content on social media. This can include blogs, articles or original pieces — anything that those in your industry would find valuable.

Marketing:

Market Yourself Via Networking

Networking isn't only about having formal relationships with others. You also need to add some value to your network members. Helping others will let you establish a good image, and people will help you when you need it. LinkedIn is the most popular platform that helps to build your professional network

Describe Instead of Being Brief

It may not be possible to be descriptive in your resume. However, don’t shy away from expressing yourself when you get the right opportunity.

Employers want to hire proactive and problem-solving people. Briefly talking about your accomplishments and experiences won't provide a clear idea to recruiters. Therefore, you need to take time and explain your success story to impress them.

For example, instead of saying you streamlined the communication among various teams, you need to describe the steps you took to streamline. You must also discuss the scenario before your action and how it changed after your steps.

Create a strong online presence

Unless you have a strong presence online, it gets difficult to impress the recruiters.If someone wants to learn about you and your work through an online search, they should find sufficient material that'll showcase your talent.

Demonstrate your skills properly in a Cover Letter

Job vacancy posts typically include the necessary skills for the position. It’s no surprise that most qualified candidates will possess that skill. So what makes you different from others?

You can stand out from the crowd by explaining how you’ll apply your skill for that task. While applying for a job, take a common skill you need for that position and describe how the company will benefit from your skills.

 How confident are you in branding and marketing yourself in today's job market? If you feel the dread, you just might need our Writing An Impactful Resume Course

I totally would too...

If I were able to wave a wand to make sure everyone of my community members had the job of their dreams I would. But sadly, I can’t. So instead I will arm you all with one bit of advice. Do a little bit every day, it doesn’t have to be much. Just stay consistent in your outreach, your follow up, and your engagement. You’ll be surprised how quickly it all adds up. If you keep with it, you’re likely to find that your next opportunity is just one email, one phone call, or one application away.

Just keep going and don’t lose your stride.

Of course, I’m always here to help in any way I can. Feel free to reach out and we’ll have a chat about strategy, or just a good catch up.

I wish you well my friends. See you in April!