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For today’s job seeker, in order to land your dream job, you must think creatively and develop a personal brand message to stand out amongst an ocean of other job seekers. Just as the big companies use logos, colors and themes to stand out in the consumer market, you can create an aura of uniqueness around yourself.

There are more people looking for work now than ever before, with an estimated 9% of the workforce unemployed and another 20+ million college graduates entering the workforce annually. That means you had better create an image that will help you get in front of the best hiring managers, through smart personal branding.

Here are some tips for creating an outstanding personal brand…

Focus on Your Specialty

Many people are either too scared or do not realize soon enough in their careers that the way to create a successful personal brand is to focus on a specialty. Think “doctor” vs. “medical professional”, and you get the idea. Instead of just being a generalist, take a good look at what you are a specialist in, and start building your brand from there. If you have been worrying about how to impress hiring managers, take some extra training in an area you feel strongest in to build your credentials even more. Once you do this, then you can start getting the word out about your expertise and you will become in-demand.

Consider Your True Passions

What help many candidates develop a marketable personal brand are the interests and passions that they have for things outside of work. This can include hobbies, sports, community service, social ideas and more. Start reviewing the things that you enjoy to find your true passion. For example, you may be an avid bicyclist and you want to let others know about it. So you develop a personal brand of being a bike enthusiast by sharing images of bikes on your blog or social media accounts. Fairly soon, people will start associating you with being that “bike person” and you will have created your personal brand.

Add Color to Your World

You may not find it too surprising that people are influenced visually by the colors that they see. A recent Ladders article talks about using color in your marketing materials such as your resume, cover letter and other aspects of your personal brand approach. William Arruda states, “Color is a valuable tool in your personal branding toolbox that will help express your brand attributes and create emotional connections with hiring managers and recruiters.” This can be very true in that using slightly colored resume paper can result in a higher likelihood that your resume will be picked for review, and you may very well land an interview just by adding this small step.

Use Social Media Branding

A very effective way that many successful candidates use is setting up social media accounts with personal branding. It’s easy to streamline all of your online activities by setting up your social media accounts with a single professional image of yourself, a smartly written resume, an online portfolio of your best work, and keeping your posts professional. Many hiring managers routinely look at social media accounts as part of the screening process, off the radar. This means you must be sure that anywhere someone can find you; you have your personal brand in place. Also, take advantage of job listings available on many social media portals.

If you need assistance with personal branding and finding your dream job, you are welcome to explore the many resources that Davis Staffing, Inc. offers here!