Getting offered a job can make you feel really, really good. Being offered a higher salary can improve your lifestyle. Today, your job doesn’t just define you, it also protects you. Is this the reason why candidates find job interviews so crucial to their business and personal success? Are you doing the right kind of interview preparation? Please click below to discover the secret of great interview preparation.
Get to know yourself
You probably think that you know yourself pretty well already and of course you do. Your image of yourself is made up of three parts, namely the ideal self, self-image and self-esteem. The ideal self is the person you would like to be. It is based upon your early programming, beliefs, attitudes and job experiences. (This is sometimes referred to as the ego). The second part of self-image is your image in terms of how you think of yourself and how you present yourself to others. The third part of your image of yourself is ‘self-esteem’ or how you feel about yourself.
Most candidates only give an employer a very brief ‘glimpse’ of their personality and its value to the organisation. When you are asked at an interview, ‘What do you have to offer this company?’ How are you branding yourself? What will you focus on? Will you focus on:
- Your goals?
- Your ideas?
- Your issues of safety and security?
- Or the rules and regulations?
Are you confident and able to communicate what you have to offer?
In today’s fast business world, companies do not have the luxury of discovering ‘Who you are’ at an interview. Personnel managers and people in the position of making the employment offers have to make quick decisions. Those candidates who can offer this knowledge to the respective companies are the ones who will be snapped up quickly. So if self-awareness is so important and so vital to the employment decision, why do so many candidates keep their personal value a secret? Are they afraid? Are they unsure of themselves?
The answer is that most candidates don’t know how to brand themselves and get their message across to the interviewer. (i.e. They just answer the interviewer’s questions rather than getting their message across. This is giving complete control to the interviewer.) It is very important to leave the interviewer with a lasting impression and the way you do this is to communicate your personal brand.
How are you branding yourself?
To create interest in yourself and your talents at an interview you need to be aware of and communicate your personal brand. Do you have a vision and a goal? Do you know where you will be in ten years’ time? If you are not clear, it will be assumed that you are still searching and still trying to fathom your career out.
When you think about ‘you’ and your job, what is your personal brand? Now creating a ‘personal brand’ is the hottest topic as far as careers are concerned at the moment. ‘It is something you need to manage if you want to further your career’, says Sarah Berry. Companies spend millions of pounds per year creating and maintaining their brand market share. Isn’t it therefore only natural that personal branding has now become such a phenomenum?
Individual politicians, sportsmen, businessmen and celebrities can conjure up images of success, power, glamour and being at the very top of their chosen field. Now you may be asking yourself, ‘But does all this personal brand stuff really apply to me? The answer is ‘Yes, it does’. In fact, it has already been applying to you and it is continuing to happen. Most people are only aware of their personal brand once a year – which is at appraisal time. That’s the time when you get feedback from your boss in terms of your personal performance and personal input. If you have been for an interview and been turned down for the job, the company may also have made you aware in the rejection letter of how they viewed your personal brand.
Every day your very own personal brand is ‘out there’ representing you in a number of ways in the workplace. It is already either working for you or against you. So, it isn’t just well-known people in the public eye who need to manage their personal brands; you need to manage and take care of yours too. Do you wish to take more control of your personal branding? Listed below are the key elements of a personal brand.
Reputation. What is your reputation within your job? What do your colleagues think about you? Are you well-respected? Do people value your technical expertise? What do people think about your personal style?
Reach. Who knows about you within your profession? How many people would have heard of your name? Have you taken control of your personal reach by networking?
Purpose. Do you have a work purpose? What do you personally add to the job you do?
Presence. Do you have presence? Do people remember you? How do you make other people feel special and important? What impact do you have on the people you work with?
Passion. When you think about what you do for a living and building your personal brand, do you feel motivated and excited? Are you proud of what you do? Do you talk passionately about your career? Does your energy for what you do inspire other people to buy into your ideas?
Focus. What have you focused on to-date within your career? What have you achieved? How did you personally deliver within your job and role?
Persistence. This is the really, really crucial point. Do you have staying power? Do you make a consistent and concerted effort within your job?
Personal branding is the single most important thing you need to concentrate on as far as preparing for any job interview, whether that job interview is an external or internal one. Unless you take control of your personal brand, it will take control of you. If you manage your brand, other people don’t decide things for you – You decide. Isn’t this the position you want to be in? To have the decision of whether or not you accept the job on offer?
If you need help with defining and creating your personal brand, we offer a Career Choice Profile. If you need advice about how to communicate your brand on your CV, we offer a CV assessment service. Can we help you to achieve what you are looking for?
Free CV Scan and Analysis
Choosing your CVs Fixation Points
Putting the perfect CV together proves to be a challenge for most people. Unlike most documents is it rarely read from beginning to end. It is more like a webpage than a book. To help you, Career Consultants provide a free CV scanning and analysis service. All you need to do is upload your CV below and tell us a little about yourself.
It is quick, easy and free and can make all the difference between your new getting a positive response from employers and recruiters and no response at all.
Interview Advice
- Interview Advice – The secret of great interview preparation
- Interview Tips – How to prepare for an interview but not give yourself away
- Interview Technique – Top Tips
- Interview Question – Getting ahead at the interview
- Cover Letter – Fed up with rejection letters
- Interview Questions – How to cope with them
- Confidence at Interview – How to demonstrate your confidence at an interview