This past week I spent some time as a mentor with PR students from Humber college at their Personal Brand Camp 2. It was great to experience the enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge as well as the considered and respectful approach that the students displayed.
Also last week I contributed to the PriceWaterhouse Coopers Personal Brand Week – an online initiative via Facebook and Twitter to share tips and tools for helping graduates manage their personal brands as they seek to start their careers.
A similar challenge faced by both groups that many of them felt was that with very similar experience (or rather lack of work experience), similar or identicial qualifications etc how can they develop and communicate a personal brand statement that is unique.
This challenge can apply equally to many of us.
Even though you may be offering a very similar service to another professional service provider or have very similar skills and abilities as a colleague in the office or another job candidate it does not mean that you cannot differentiate yourself.
Take a moment to conduct a skills and strengths audit of yourself.
A good place to start is to identify first of all what you have that is similar, such as your;
- Strengths
- Skills
- Credentials
- Attributes
Then think about what it is that is different about you. Look back at the similarities and determine what might be different, or not necessary to perform the role that you do or are looking to do. What are the unique aspects? What have others noticed in you that they might not say about others? What else have you been involved in or done that is unusual?
Very powerful points for differentiating yourself … but it seems that people don’t have time to conduct a skill and strength audit of themselves. People don’t want to go into the dark ally of self to see what reside there it could be either gym or jinn. People just presume that they know what is there.
The challenge is how to motivate people to do self audit!
Thanks for the comment, you are so right. That is why people need coaches! A good starting point could be just noting times when you are engaged in the work you do and when you are demotivated – understand what makes you tick and what turns you off.