Do you have a personal brand?

Of course you do!  Everyone does.  You may not realize it, and by all means it may not be what you want to be representing yourself, but none the less, you have a personal brand.  Now, you can and should be controlling it.  Follow the below steps to create your brand, and market yourself wisely no matter what your current employment situation.  Everyone needs a good brand!

1.  Create a mission statemnent for yourself.  Then shorten it to under five words and make it your tag line to life.  You may have several, you may have one for your personal life and one for your professional life for example, but you should always know and be ready to promote your tag line.

2.  Perfect your elevator speech and USE IT!  Use it at the supermarket, the bowling alley and on Facebook.  Make sure that anyone that asks about you can walk away with the impression that YOU want them to have.

3.  Examine your online presence.  Do you have a photo on Facebook of you and your besties at the bar clinking martinis?  If so, even though you may not know it, someone could see that.  It is fine to share those photos with friends, but leave off the tags so that they don't live on in your profile forever.  I have said it before, and I will say it again, you never know who knows who, so no matter how high you have your privacy settings, never post something on Facebook, Twitter or Linked In that you wouldn't want anyone and everyone to read.

4.  Market yourself.  If you are gainfully employed, sell yourself to your team and your managers.  Make sure you keep a brag book of sorts so that when self evaluation time comes around you can go back and reference all the great things you have done for them all year.  If you are looking for a job, put together the same thing.  Have a list in your head or on index cards to spark your memory so that when that behavioral interviewer asks you to give them an example of a time you XYZ, you can immediately have a story to tell in under 90 seconds of how you helped a former employer with just such a problem.  Make sure each story (one for each accomplishment on your resume) has a clear problem, evaluation, solution and result.

5.  Live your brand.  If your life isn't exactly what you want it, start living what your brand is.  If you have been out of a job for a while, it is very easy to fall into the frumpy side of life, but how seriously will that headhunter you run into at the playground take you if you try to sell yourself as a "Dedicated professional with meticulous attention to detail" if you are in your college sweatshirt and yoga pants?  You don't have to dress for success every moment of every day, but make sure that you are sharp, and could at least pass for business casual whenever you leave your inner circle.

Jennifer K. Hardie is an HR professional with more than eight years experience doing generalist duties.  She is currently seeking that next great role to take her to the next level.